Great-Aunt Margot and Me

A little girl goes to visit her Great-Aunt Margot on Mondays. Margot adores her and she adores her Great-Aunt. Margot is consistently lively and vibrant including teaching her great niece to roller-skate. Both love music and dancing and eating chocolates before tea.

Suddenly, Margot loses her sparkle. She forgets what day it is, doesn’t feel like she used to and no longer enjoys her usual activities. A double page spread shows Great-Aunt Margot looking at herself in the mirror, alarmed by what she sees.

The reader may wonder whether Margot has early-stage dementia. This appears not to be the case because her great niece is able to remind her of happier times. She does this with pictures and ticket stubs to a David Bowie concert and she and Margot end the story with a return to music and dancing and mutually happy expressions leading the reader to think that Margot had experienced depression, not dementia.

The colour palette used by Archard is stunning. It is possible to wonder also whether a reference is being made to Jenny Joseph’s poem Warning in Margot’s clothing. It would certainly suit her character.