Flowering Spring

Professor Haverard has five children; Pippa and Chenda, the twins, are lively and pretty, Mary is clever, Laura wants to be an actress and Christopher is interested in nothing but farming. It seems that Laura will never achieve her ambition; she fails an audition for the Royal Institute of Drama and is unsuccessful in her attempts to impress her cousin, the famous actress Milly Kitson. She wants to leave school when she is sixteen but her parents insist that she goes to Heryot Friends School to do sixth form work, in the hope that she will take up teaching. At the same time Christopher is sent to Marston, the Quaker school for boys, because his father intends him to follow an academic career. Laura and Christopher are determined to choose their own careers, despite the disapproval of their parents, but Christopher has to take drastic action to convince Professor Haverard that he seriously wants to farm. Laura enjoys Heryot, contrary to her expectations, and learns more both about acting and about herself, but there are still obstacles to be overcome...