REVIEW: The Head Girl at Wynford
Jun. 4th, 2023 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllThe Head Girl at Wynford: Winifred Darch, Oxford, 1935.
This book is a cut above the girls own stories I’ve been reading recently and haven’t posted about (they’ve been at about the level of ‘Shirley at Charterton’ so I wasn’t very motivated to post about them) if not top flight. It starts on the last day of term, when the departing Head Girl talks to one Nicola Tempest, who will be replacing her, and tries to open Nicola’s somewhat dreamy eyes. The school numbers are diminishing, only Nicola and her best friend Betty are staying on in the Sixth, the others will be girls who have moved up. The school and its furnishings are showing signs of age, and their town, Long Wynford, is hardly flourishing. She says the headmistress may need cheering up. Nicola has an idiosyncratic plan, however, for she loves her school, her home and her town deeply.
There is much discussion about how unusual Nicola’s first name is, but I’ve actually come across Nicolas. I have not come across Petronels, as Nicola’s younger sister is called. Petronellas, yes, but either in literature or in public life. Worse, Petronel’s twin brother is named Peter, which suggests their parents didn’t put much thought into her name. She’s nicknamed Nell, but still.
However, their surname is remarkable, and it turns out Nicola is a family name, after a Nicola Tempest from the days of James 1, the highly educated daughter of a would-be alchemist, who was falsely accused of witchcraft. Her name was cleared and when she inherited money, she chose to found Brown Maids’ School, the school that Nicky and Nell attend happily, used to its shabbiness, while for Nicky, its age is part of its charm.
That summer, the Tempests are hosting paying guests at their farm, the Duttons, who have come for a month of good country air for their daughter Edmée (this name is remarked upon and I was in agreement with that!) Mr Dutton is a businessman, indeed, he’s a property developer, and his daughter has been brought up to know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. She rubs up Nicky and Nell the wrong way, but Nell, who is a 12-year-old headed for the Lower Fourth, does something regrettable about it.
But both Nicky and Nell are aghast to hear that, on health grounds, Edmée will stay on in September and come to school with them for a year. Edmée is not best pleased to be rusticating, having hoped to go to a French finishing school. She’s also piqued that she can’t quite lord it over Nicola.
By this point, it has become clear that the Duttons represent Progress, and the Tempests, with their deep roots in the land, represent Conservatism. (The book is dedicated to the National Trust.) Mr Dutton wants to buy the land taken up by Witchmaiden’s farm and Brown Maids’ School respectively to build homes that he can sell to people from the local town. That is the backdrop for the school year, where Nicola takes up her new duties, while Edmée and her flash attract Nicky’s oldest friend. The Lower Fourth are loyal to Nicky and her call to arms for their school, but go about it in their own way.
If there were a moral to this story, it would be not to read things that aren’t meant for you, be that poetry or letters marked Private and Confidential, but when Nell idly reads another girl’s hymn book, fallen out of a satchel, and turns sleuth, it is to be commended. So, there isn’t really a moral, and Darch allows in some nuance to the raging battle for Long Wynford. There’s a bit more about economics here than is quite usual in Girls Own, although Nicola writing a play for the school to perform about the history of Brown Maids, or even its fundraising aim is more familiar. The story of the first Nicola, accused by a jealous rival, is echoed in the school setting, and Darch is thoughtful about people’s motivations. Given that I’ve talked so much about names, it’s interesting that Darch gave her (fictional) location of Long Wynford, which is to be found in the Cotswolds, a name that was so similar to her own Christian name.
I checked and saw I’d posted about ‘Gillian of the Guides’ by Darch, and it jumped out at me that there are some similarities in the time of year that the stories start, that both focus on three girls in the Sixth and consider the role of head girl, and in the other, two younger sisters play their parts – only one here. I think that book was better than this, though.
[Edited 22/5/25.]
This book is a cut above the girls own stories I’ve been reading recently and haven’t posted about (they’ve been at about the level of ‘Shirley at Charterton’ so I wasn’t very motivated to post about them) if not top flight. It starts on the last day of term, when the departing Head Girl talks to one Nicola Tempest, who will be replacing her, and tries to open Nicola’s somewhat dreamy eyes. The school numbers are diminishing, only Nicola and her best friend Betty are staying on in the Sixth, the others will be girls who have moved up. The school and its furnishings are showing signs of age, and their town, Long Wynford, is hardly flourishing. She says the headmistress may need cheering up. Nicola has an idiosyncratic plan, however, for she loves her school, her home and her town deeply.
There is much discussion about how unusual Nicola’s first name is, but I’ve actually come across Nicolas. I have not come across Petronels, as Nicola’s younger sister is called. Petronellas, yes, but either in literature or in public life. Worse, Petronel’s twin brother is named Peter, which suggests their parents didn’t put much thought into her name. She’s nicknamed Nell, but still.
However, their surname is remarkable, and it turns out Nicola is a family name, after a Nicola Tempest from the days of James 1, the highly educated daughter of a would-be alchemist, who was falsely accused of witchcraft. Her name was cleared and when she inherited money, she chose to found Brown Maids’ School, the school that Nicky and Nell attend happily, used to its shabbiness, while for Nicky, its age is part of its charm.
That summer, the Tempests are hosting paying guests at their farm, the Duttons, who have come for a month of good country air for their daughter Edmée (this name is remarked upon and I was in agreement with that!) Mr Dutton is a businessman, indeed, he’s a property developer, and his daughter has been brought up to know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. She rubs up Nicky and Nell the wrong way, but Nell, who is a 12-year-old headed for the Lower Fourth, does something regrettable about it.
But both Nicky and Nell are aghast to hear that, on health grounds, Edmée will stay on in September and come to school with them for a year. Edmée is not best pleased to be rusticating, having hoped to go to a French finishing school. She’s also piqued that she can’t quite lord it over Nicola.
By this point, it has become clear that the Duttons represent Progress, and the Tempests, with their deep roots in the land, represent Conservatism. (The book is dedicated to the National Trust.) Mr Dutton wants to buy the land taken up by Witchmaiden’s farm and Brown Maids’ School respectively to build homes that he can sell to people from the local town. That is the backdrop for the school year, where Nicola takes up her new duties, while Edmée and her flash attract Nicky’s oldest friend. The Lower Fourth are loyal to Nicky and her call to arms for their school, but go about it in their own way.
If there were a moral to this story, it would be not to read things that aren’t meant for you, be that poetry or letters marked Private and Confidential, but when Nell idly reads another girl’s hymn book, fallen out of a satchel, and turns sleuth, it is to be commended. So, there isn’t really a moral, and Darch allows in some nuance to the raging battle for Long Wynford. There’s a bit more about economics here than is quite usual in Girls Own, although Nicola writing a play for the school to perform about the history of Brown Maids, or even its fundraising aim is more familiar. The story of the first Nicola, accused by a jealous rival, is echoed in the school setting, and Darch is thoughtful about people’s motivations. Given that I’ve talked so much about names, it’s interesting that Darch gave her (fictional) location of Long Wynford, which is to be found in the Cotswolds, a name that was so similar to her own Christian name.
I checked and saw I’d posted about ‘Gillian of the Guides’ by Darch, and it jumped out at me that there are some similarities in the time of year that the stories start, that both focus on three girls in the Sixth and consider the role of head girl, and in the other, two younger sisters play their parts – only one here. I think that book was better than this, though.
[Edited 22/5/25.]
no subject
Date: 2023-06-04 10:05 am (UTC)This one has a nice dw!