REVIEW: The School at Skelton Hall
Aug. 13th, 2020 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllThe School at Skelton Hall: Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Girls Gone By Publishers, 2008
I almost feel unworthy of posting my reaction to ‘The School at Skelton Hall’, because after I read it, I went back to read Ruth Jolly’s considered introduction for this GGBP edition, which discusses the plot, setting and the creation of a new school by E B-D for the second time in a career that spawned the famous Chalet School. My mind had kept stumbling over the similarity between Skelton and Skeleton! So please read what follows with that in mind.
Perhaps I’m overly influenced by my initial impression from the first few books here, but I thought it was a bit generic.
On the very day that Sally Martindale has opened up to her lifelong friend (or supposed lifelong friend) that she would love to leave their large high school for a smaller school where she could get to know people properly and get taught maths in a way that stuck, guess what? Her godmother writes, offering to send Sally to a new, small school being started next term by the daughter of a friend! And Myfanwy’s parents were thinking of sending their daughter to a boarding school next year, so decide to send for a prospectus.
So, Sally and Myfanwy ‘Van’ Roberts set off for a ‘split-new’ school, run by Miss Skelton at most of Skelton Hall in Sussex. The history of smuggling in the Romney Marsh is introduced, but that isn’t the cause of adventure in the book.
The two girls are put in the lowest of four forms, although the school also sets pupils by ability for most subjects – something they did at my school, but not something you see much of in Girls Own schools. They’re in the Blue Room with Miss Curiosity aka Harrie (short for Herriot, not Harriet) Ellis, mischievous Hilary and the wetter Lalage. In true EB-D style, the girls of the dormitory become known as the Quintet. You get the impression that lively Viva, who makes an impression before the girls have even reached the school, would like to join their gang.
The story is about Sally coming out of her shell and becoming a leader, via an adventure that starts with her overhearing something mysterious at night. Of course, being 14 and influenced by Harrie, none of them do the sensible thing, but decide to find out what is going on in the forbidden wing of the hall from where the sound came all by themselves. There’s a touch of the Gothic about that and the mystery of why Mr Grey (not named Christian) keeps himself to himself.
The solution is both EB-Desque – don’t read this paragraph or the list of chapter headings if you like to be unspoiled - a sick girl, Mr Grey’s grand-daughter, who has refused the companionship that could change her attitude to her state in a way that would help her heal with a touch of hand-waving in the direction of thrillers, although they’re mainly seen as a bad influence on the girls. But there is a section where the headmistress is at a loss as to why the previously law-abiding Sally was found where she shouldn’t be, carrying something she shouldn’t, when she should be in bed. Sally, determined to keep a promise and protect the rest of her chums, will not speak. Indeed, she remains silent for longer than most heroines in this position manage. It all comes out eventually and justice is meted out.
It’s certainly more polished than the much earlier https://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/160437.html ‘A Head Girl’s Difficulty’, although it’s also shorter, apparently at the publishers’ request.
I almost feel unworthy of posting my reaction to ‘The School at Skelton Hall’, because after I read it, I went back to read Ruth Jolly’s considered introduction for this GGBP edition, which discusses the plot, setting and the creation of a new school by E B-D for the second time in a career that spawned the famous Chalet School. My mind had kept stumbling over the similarity between Skelton and Skeleton! So please read what follows with that in mind.
Perhaps I’m overly influenced by my initial impression from the first few books here, but I thought it was a bit generic.
On the very day that Sally Martindale has opened up to her lifelong friend (or supposed lifelong friend) that she would love to leave their large high school for a smaller school where she could get to know people properly and get taught maths in a way that stuck, guess what? Her godmother writes, offering to send Sally to a new, small school being started next term by the daughter of a friend! And Myfanwy’s parents were thinking of sending their daughter to a boarding school next year, so decide to send for a prospectus.
So, Sally and Myfanwy ‘Van’ Roberts set off for a ‘split-new’ school, run by Miss Skelton at most of Skelton Hall in Sussex. The history of smuggling in the Romney Marsh is introduced, but that isn’t the cause of adventure in the book.
The two girls are put in the lowest of four forms, although the school also sets pupils by ability for most subjects – something they did at my school, but not something you see much of in Girls Own schools. They’re in the Blue Room with Miss Curiosity aka Harrie (short for Herriot, not Harriet) Ellis, mischievous Hilary and the wetter Lalage. In true EB-D style, the girls of the dormitory become known as the Quintet. You get the impression that lively Viva, who makes an impression before the girls have even reached the school, would like to join their gang.
The story is about Sally coming out of her shell and becoming a leader, via an adventure that starts with her overhearing something mysterious at night. Of course, being 14 and influenced by Harrie, none of them do the sensible thing, but decide to find out what is going on in the forbidden wing of the hall from where the sound came all by themselves. There’s a touch of the Gothic about that and the mystery of why Mr Grey (not named Christian) keeps himself to himself.
The solution is both EB-Desque – don’t read this paragraph or the list of chapter headings if you like to be unspoiled - a sick girl, Mr Grey’s grand-daughter, who has refused the companionship that could change her attitude to her state in a way that would help her heal with a touch of hand-waving in the direction of thrillers, although they’re mainly seen as a bad influence on the girls. But there is a section where the headmistress is at a loss as to why the previously law-abiding Sally was found where she shouldn’t be, carrying something she shouldn’t, when she should be in bed. Sally, determined to keep a promise and protect the rest of her chums, will not speak. Indeed, she remains silent for longer than most heroines in this position manage. It all comes out eventually and justice is meted out.
It’s certainly more polished than the much earlier https://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/160437.html ‘A Head Girl’s Difficulty’, although it’s also shorter, apparently at the publishers’ request.
