OVERVIEW: Girls of Deepdene
Apr. 3rd, 2026 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI was less charmed by the heroines and their antics than I was meant to be in ‘Girls of Deepdene’ by Annie Kay. Mr Monckton has been bringing up a motherless son and daughter, and looking after his niece whose parents are abroad (Empire business). Lois and Barbara have been taught at home, but he’s come to think they ought to go to school, as Colin, Lois’s brother does. For one thing, there are some things they haven’t been able to study, such as science, and for another, he hopes it will help them to control their tempers.
There are places available in nearby Deepdene school, so unlike Colin, the girls wouldn't be boarders, and they girls sort-of know one of the girls who goes there, Mary. Fortunately, they are put in her class, Lower Fifth, chumming up with Mary’s friend Anne too to make a foursome. Their form mistress, Miss Ryall, is not widely liked, because she plays favourites, and soon starts to think the worst of Lois and Barbara, who are completely unused to school life. Her reports to the headmistress Miss Rutherford (‘Ruthy’ to the girls) set her against them too, even to the point of thinking them dishonourable, despite most of the other mistresses managing them fine. It’s only when Lois and Barbara turn out to be excellent tennis players, having been used to playing grown men, get into the school team and are modest about it that the headmistress starts to query her assumptions about them.
But her poor judgment about the girls and the weakest mistress in the school undermined her character’s supposed standing for me. Meanwhile, Lois and co. are high-spirited little monkeys. I just felt that the story lacked seriousness of purpose, and while it was readable enough, I wasn’t swept along by the heroines’ supposed victimhood and slight growth to see why order and self-control matter when you’re one of many. I enjoyed it less than 'Tenth at Trinder’s'.
I've had to update the 'the extraordinary new girl' tag to 'the extraordinary new girl(s)'!
There are places available in nearby Deepdene school, so unlike Colin, the girls wouldn't be boarders, and they girls sort-of know one of the girls who goes there, Mary. Fortunately, they are put in her class, Lower Fifth, chumming up with Mary’s friend Anne too to make a foursome. Their form mistress, Miss Ryall, is not widely liked, because she plays favourites, and soon starts to think the worst of Lois and Barbara, who are completely unused to school life. Her reports to the headmistress Miss Rutherford (‘Ruthy’ to the girls) set her against them too, even to the point of thinking them dishonourable, despite most of the other mistresses managing them fine. It’s only when Lois and Barbara turn out to be excellent tennis players, having been used to playing grown men, get into the school team and are modest about it that the headmistress starts to query her assumptions about them.
But her poor judgment about the girls and the weakest mistress in the school undermined her character’s supposed standing for me. Meanwhile, Lois and co. are high-spirited little monkeys. I just felt that the story lacked seriousness of purpose, and while it was readable enough, I wasn’t swept along by the heroines’ supposed victimhood and slight growth to see why order and self-control matter when you’re one of many. I enjoyed it less than 'Tenth at Trinder’s'.
I've had to update the 'the extraordinary new girl' tag to 'the extraordinary new girl(s)'!
