The Borrowers (book)

The Borrowers is the very first book in the Borrowers book series by English author Mary Norton.

It was first published in 1952 in the UK by J. M. Dent with illustrations by Diana Stanley, and in 1953 in the US by Harcourt with illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush.

Summary
Fourteen-year-old Arrietty (Ah-RIE-et-eeh) Clock lives under the floorboards of a house with her parents, Pod and Homily. As Borrowers, they survive through Pod's "borrowing" of items from the "human beans" who live in the home above the floor. One day, Pod comes home shaken after borrowing a toy tea cup. After sending Arrietty to bed, Homily learns that he has been "seen" by one of the big people — a boy who had been sent from India to live with his great-aunt while recovering from rheumatic fever. Remembering the fate of their niece Eggletina, who wandered away and never returned after (unbeknownst to her) her father had been seen and the big people had brought in a cat, Pod and Homily decide to warn Arrietty. In the course of the ensuing conversation, Homily realises that Arrietty ought to be allowed to go borrowing with Pod.

Several days later, Pod and Arrietty go on a borrowing trip to retrieve fibers from a doormat for a scrub brush. Arrietty wanders outside where she meets the Boy, and develops a friendship with him. At one point, Arrietty tells the Boy that there cannot be very many of his kind but there are many of her kind. He disagrees and tells her of times when he had seen hundreds and even thousands of big people all in one place. Arrietty realizes that she can't prove that there are any other Borrowers left in the world besides her and her parents and is upset. The Boy offers to take a letter to a badger sett two fields away where her Uncle Hendreary (father of Eggletina), Aunt Lupy, and their children are supposed to have emigrated. On a later borrowing trip, she manages to slip the letter under the doormat where the Boy agreed to look for it.

Meanwhile, Arrietty has learned from Pod and Homily that when big people approach, they get a "feeling." She's concerned that she didn't have a feeling when the Boy approached, so she practises by going to a certain passage over which the cook, Mrs. Driver, often stands. She overhears Driver and the gardener, Crampfurl, discussing the Boy. Driver is annoyed that the boy continually disturbs the doormat and Crampfurl is concerned about him after seeing the Boy in a field calling for "Uncle something" after the Boy asked him if there were any badger setts in the field. Crampfurl is convinced the Boy is keeping a ferret.

Arrietty becomes anxious and sets off on her own to find the Boy. As it turns out, he did find her letter, delivered it, and returned with a response — a mysterious note asking her to tell Aunt Lupy to come back. Pod then discovers Arrietty talking to the Boy and takes her home. Pod and Homily are frightened because the Boy will probably figure out where they live. They turn out to be right but the Boy, instead of wanting to harm them, brings them gifts of dollhouse furniture from the nursery. They experience a period of "borrowing beyond all dreams of borrowing" as the Boy offers them gift after gift. In return, Arrietty is allowed to go outside and read aloud to him.

Driver, in the meantime, notices a few items missing and believes someone is playing a joke on her. She stays up late and almost catches the Boy bringing his nightly gift to his new friends. She does, however, see the Borrowers and find their home. The Boy attempts to rescue the Borrowers but Driver locks him in the nursery. At the end of three days, the Boy is to be sent back to India. Driver cruelly takes him to the kitchen before he goes to see the ratcatcher smoke the Borrowers out of their home. The Boy manages to slip away and break off the grating outside. He never gets to see the Borrowers escape since the cab comes to take him away.

His sister (a young Mrs. May, the narrator at the beginning and end of the book) later visits the home herself and is able to go to the badger sett and leave gifts there, which are gone the next time she checks. However, the novel ends on an ambiguous note when she tells Kate that when she returns to the badgers sett she finds a book she believes to be Arriety's book of "Memoranda" - and that the writing in it bears a striking similarity to that of her brother.

The Borrowers

 * Arrietty Clock: An adventurous fourteen-year-old Borrower girl who is not allowed to go borrowing with her father until her mother decides to let her. She then meets the Boy. She knows how to read, owns a collection of pocket-sized books, and enjoys looking out the grating and writing in her diary.


 * Pod Clock: Arrietty's father and, according to his wife, the most talented Borrower.


 * Homily Clock: Arrietty's mother. She has a bony nose and untidy hair (though she starts curling it later on), is often cross, has a taste for fine things (such as dollhouse furniture), and is terrified of the thought of emigrating and living in a badger set.


 * Hendreary: Arrietty's uncle. He was on the fireplace mantel when the maid came to dust and attempted to pass himself off as a knick-knack but sneezed when he was dusted. He later emigrated to a badger sett with his family. He went fishing in a bowl of soup to see if he could reel up any chunks of food from inside the soup.


 * Lupy Clock: Uncle Hendreary's wife. Homily describes her as apt to put on airs because of her association with the Harpsichord family. She has three sons and a stepdaughter, Eggletina.


 * Eggletina: Uncle Hendreary's daughter by his first marriage. She wandered away and disappeared after a cat had been brought into the house, leading her family to think the cat ate her. Eggletina is used as a warning to Arrietty about what could happen if she is 'seen'; however, in the second book Eggletina is discovered alive and well.

The Big People

 * Kate: A "wild, untidy, self-willed little girl". It is through Kate that the story of The Borrowers is told. Not much of Kate is in the middle of the story.


 * The Boy: At ten-years-old he leaves his home in India to recover from an illness at the country home of his great-aunt near Leighton Buzzard. He discovers and befriends the Borrowers.


 * Ada May: The Boy's sister. As an elderly woman, she tells Kate the story of the Borrowers that was told to her by her brother.


 * Great-Aunt Sophy: The Boy's bedridden, elderly great-aunt who has a penchant for Fine Old Pale Madeira. Pod often comes to her room to borrow when she has had too much to drink - she believes that Pod is a hallucination. Also referred to as "Her".
 * Mrs. Driver: The housekeeper-cook. She's described by the Boy as fat with a moustache and constantly threatening to take her slipper to him.


 * Crampfur: The gardener.


 * Rosa Pickhatchet: A maid who once worked in the house. She gave notice after seeing Pod's brother, Hendreary Clock.

Awards
The Borrowers won the 1952 Carnegie Medal. In 2007, the novel was selected by judges of the CILIP Carnegie Medal for children's literature as one of the ten most important children's novels of the past 70 years.