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Jane Wright
Joanna Childe is one of the May of Teck girls. A clergyman’s daughter, Joanna is profoundly devout and disciplined. Having sworn off romance following a failed love affair, Joanna moves to the May of Teck Club in London and dedicates herself to her elocution studies, eventually taking on her own pupils and holding lessons in the club. Joanna’s recitations are threaded throughout the book, her crisp and unrelenting speech punctuating the different scenes that comprise the narrative. Though she recites psalms, too, she most often recites the Hopkins’s The Wreck of the Deutschland—fittingly, a poem about a group of nuns that drowns. Joanna dies in the fire that destroys the May of Teck Club after an old bomb goes off in the adjacent garden. Unable to fit through the narrow lavatory window and almost in a trancelike state as chaos unfolds around her, Joanna remains inside the house and recites her usual psalms, even as Nicholas and the other rescuers plead with her to climb up through the skylight before it’s too late. Though Nicholas never says so outright, the novel strongly suggests that it was witnessing Joanna’s death that compelled him to reevaluate his life, convert to Catholicism, and become a Jesuit Priest. Fittingly for her initials of J. C. (which evoke Jesus Christ), Joanna exists as the book’s original martyr. Joanna dies not just so that Nicholas may live, but so that he may know how to live a good and righteous life.
Joanna Childe Quotes in The Girls of Slender Means
The The Girls of Slender Means quotes below are all either spoken by Joanna Childe or refer to Joanna Childe. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2 Quotes
Nobody at the May of Teck Club knew her precise history, but it was generally assumed to be something emotionally heroic. She was compared to Ingrid Bergman, and did not take part in the argument between members and staff about the food, whether it contained too many fattening properties, even allowing for the necessities of wartime rationing.
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Chapter 3 Quotes
Jane went back to her brain-work and shut the door with a definite click. She was rather tyrannous about her brain-work, and made a fuss about other people’s wirelesses on the landing, and about the petty-mindedness of these haggling bouts that took place with Anne when the taffeta dress was wanted to support the rising wave of long-dress parties.
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Poise is perfect balance, an equanimity of body and mind, complete composure whatever the social scene. Elegant dress, immaculate grooming, and perfect deportment all contribute to the attainment of self-confidence.
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‘And again,’ said Joanna. ‘We’ve just got time before supper. I’ll read the first stanza, then you follow on.’
At the top of the house the apples are laid in rows,
And the skylight lets the moonlight in, and those
Apples are deep-sea apples of green. There goes
A cloud on the moon in an autumn night.
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Chapter 4 Quotes
The twittering movements at other points in the room, Joanna’s singular vice, the beautiful aspects of poverty and charm amongst these girls in the brown-papered drawing-room, Selina, furled like a long soft sash, in her chair, came to Nicholas in a gratuitous flow. Months of boredom had subdued him to intoxication by an experience which, at another time, might itself have bored him.
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Chapter 5 Quotes
‘Were you in the house at the time?’ said Felix.
‘I was,’ said Greggie. ‘I was in bed. Next moment I was on the floor. All the windows were broken. And it’s my suspicion there was a second bomb that didn’t go off. I’m almost sure I saw it drop as I picked myself up off the floor. But the disposal squad found only the one bomb and removed it. Anyway, if there’s a second it must have died a natural death by now. I’m talking about the year 1942.’
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Joanna Childe Character Timeline in The Girls of Slender Means
The timeline below shows where the character Joanna Childe appears in The Girls of Slender Means. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Back in 1945, Joanna Childe, a country rector’s daughter, is a smart and reserved woman. She attends a drama...
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One day, Joanna and the other May of Teck girls gather to read a notice Lady Julia Markham...
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Chapter 2
Joanna Childe gives elocution lessons to the cook, Miss Harper, in the May of Teck Club’s...
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The truth is that Joanna fell in love with a curate at the end of her schooling. The relationship didn’t...
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Joanna’s feelings for the second curate begin when she sees him in the pulpit at an...
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Joanna decides in that moment “to enter maimed into the Kingdom of Heaven,” though she “d[oes]...
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Chapter 3
...ages” who have, seemingly, committed themselves to living out the rest of their days alone. Joanna Childe’s room is here. The fourth floor houses the most worldly and beautiful girls. Of...
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...especially. Jane sits in the drawing-room with Nicholas, Selina, Judy Redwood, and Anne. They hear Joanna reciting poetry during an elocution lesson. “I wish she would stick to The Wreck of...
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...committee. Nancy Riddle is “one of the club’s many clergymen’s daughters.” Nancy takes lessons with Joanna to try to get rid of her Midlands accent.
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...Selina. By the time Selina finishes her sentences, Jane is done writing her letter. Meanwhile, Joanna’s voice echoes from the floor below. “One last time,” Joanna recites, wrapping up Nancy Riddle’s...
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Chapter 4
Nicholas asks Jane to tell him about the elocution teacher, Joanna. Then he asks “about the borrowing and lending of clothes.” Jane pauses for a moment,...
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Chapter 5
Greggie suggests the men tour the garden before they leave for Richmond. Joanna’s voice carries into the garden, and Nicholas comments on it. Jane explains that Joanna teaches...
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...a natural death by now.” Felix says it’s time he and Nicholas leave for Richmond. Joanna’s voice drifts through the garden as she recites poetry for her elocution pupils. Greggie remarks...
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Chapter 6
...letter to Dylan Thomas. Meanwhile, downstairs, Nancy Riddle has just finished her elocution lesson with Joanna Childe. Nancy, a clergyman’s daughter like Joanna, asks Joanna questions to establish common ground. Joanna...
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...Selina on the club’s roof. As Nicholas stands loitering in the hall, he listens to Joanna reciting poetry in an elocution lesson and decides she “needs to know more life”—though if...
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...looking exquisite. Nicholas greets her, Selina replies, “Come on then,” and Nicholas follows her up. Joanna’s voice as she recites a poem about “ethereal dances” and “eternal streams” wafts down the...
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Chapter 7
...in and out of love. As Nicholas speaks with one of the girls, he hears Joanna’s voice reciting poetry. “Poor Joanna,” he remarks. She doesn’t have any boyfriends, though she is...
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...least 50 pounds for Nicholas. Nicholas is coming to the club that evening, having convinced Joanna to perform a reading of The Wreck of the Deutschland. Jane heads downstairs to join...
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Nicholas arrives early on Friday. He has brought his tape recorder, ready to record Joanna’s recitation. Nicholas is sleepy, having spent the previous night on the roof with Selina. As...
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...out that the girls need to marry to “enjoy themselves properly.” The sexual innuendo makes Joanna blush. Greggie accuses Nicholas of trying to “shock” them and insists that it’s impossible. Joanna...
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...the letter “more authentic” and insists it’s better this way. The room falls silent as Joanna begins her recitation.
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Chapter 8
Jane can hear Joanna instructing her elocution pupil on the third floor, and she suddenly feels deeply envious of...
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...The girls who managed to escape look in horror at the destruction that surrounds them. Joanna and Nancy Riddle had just finished their elocution lesson when the bomb went off. When...
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...for now, are any of the girls slim enough to fit through the slit window? Joanna has a tape-measure, having retrieved it from her room sometime after the firemen confirmed that...
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From outside, a megaphone-amplified voice commands the girls to stand away from the skylight. Meanwhile, Joanna “mechanically recit[es] the evening psalter of Day 27, responses and answers.” Nicholas climbs to the...
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...burning building. Nancy Riddle exits next. Though Nancy has been practicing her elocution diligently with Joanna, from this day forth she will “always speak with a Midlands accent.” Jane darts up...
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Joanna remains inside, panicking. Her eyes look back and forth between the skylight and the window....
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Chapter 9
Nicholas’s tape-recording of Joanna’s recitation from that night is taped over, “for economy reasons.” Nicholas is furious—he wanted to...
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After agreeing to take Joanna’s father to see the site of Joanna’s death, Nicholas asks if he’s seen any of...
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When Nicholas speaks Selina’s name aloud, it triggers something in Joanna’s father’s memory. He recalls hearing one of the girls complain that a “Selina” had stolen...
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...article about Nicholas in the wake of his death. Nancy thinks it might have been Joanna who inspired him. “Joanna was very High Church,” Nancy explains. Jane doesn’t think so because...
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