REVIEW: Phyllida in Form III
Jul. 16th, 2010 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI just put this down with a smile on my face...
Phyllida in Form III: Evelyn Smith. Blackie 1953?
I've written about Evelyn Smith here before, but feel I should point out that if you love girls' own and haven't read anything by her, you are missing out a treat.
Phyllida is quite a character, twelve and one of the youngest girls in a large family, with a quick temper and a decided outlook on life, influenced by her elder sisters and school. The book begins and ends with her, a loyal ally, an enemy and a swan. In between, the third former grows up as two very different new girls join her form at Queen Anne's. The outline couldn't be more generic, you will not be surprised by which out of Violet and Queenie our Middle heroine takes under her wing and which one she doesn't take to at all, but oh the characterisation. Phyllida is very flawed, black doggish at the start of the book, although slowly learning not to turn to violence, with a fondness for animals, but with a strong streak of honour and developing taste. Like all of the Shortt sisters, she has a certain something about her. All the girls are vividly drawn from artistic Tony to gruff Janet.
And it's funny! Here are some fifth formers arranging a floral gift for a nice mistress
"...It'll be a compensation to the Swift for having a birthday when she sees those."
"Do you think she minds? Do you think she's getting old?"
"I'm afraid she may be about thirty," said Tony sadly.
They thought it over.
"Oh, well, she can't help it," said Mirra.
Well, this thirty-year-old thought it was funny, and Smith has a nice knack of empathising with her characters as they work out the world of school and the world at large and being able to step outside too. The story has ingredients that you'd find generally in the genre, but some of the humour of Nancy Breary and the working-out-the world of Josephine Elder, and with the Shortt sisters and their friends, a generational thing going on too that gave me a feeling that this was a series. Based on a little research (hunting down my list of Books to look out for') has me thinking that Smith produced at least two other books about this family, although I think from the titles that they're precursours to this. (Seven Sisters at Queen Anne's, Septima at School).
Now, the burgeoning friendship between a more obviously 'strong' character and another girl was present in Nicky of the Lower Fourth, so Smith may have been guilty of mining the same theme in several of her books, but I thought this was a superior story.
Phyllida in Form III: Evelyn Smith. Blackie 1953?
I've written about Evelyn Smith here before, but feel I should point out that if you love girls' own and haven't read anything by her, you are missing out a treat.
Phyllida is quite a character, twelve and one of the youngest girls in a large family, with a quick temper and a decided outlook on life, influenced by her elder sisters and school. The book begins and ends with her, a loyal ally, an enemy and a swan. In between, the third former grows up as two very different new girls join her form at Queen Anne's. The outline couldn't be more generic, you will not be surprised by which out of Violet and Queenie our Middle heroine takes under her wing and which one she doesn't take to at all, but oh the characterisation. Phyllida is very flawed, black doggish at the start of the book, although slowly learning not to turn to violence, with a fondness for animals, but with a strong streak of honour and developing taste. Like all of the Shortt sisters, she has a certain something about her. All the girls are vividly drawn from artistic Tony to gruff Janet.
And it's funny! Here are some fifth formers arranging a floral gift for a nice mistress
"...It'll be a compensation to the Swift for having a birthday when she sees those."
"Do you think she minds? Do you think she's getting old?"
"I'm afraid she may be about thirty," said Tony sadly.
They thought it over.
"Oh, well, she can't help it," said Mirra.
Well, this thirty-year-old thought it was funny, and Smith has a nice knack of empathising with her characters as they work out the world of school and the world at large and being able to step outside too. The story has ingredients that you'd find generally in the genre, but some of the humour of Nancy Breary and the working-out-the world of Josephine Elder, and with the Shortt sisters and their friends, a generational thing going on too that gave me a feeling that this was a series. Based on a little research (hunting down my list of Books to look out for') has me thinking that Smith produced at least two other books about this family, although I think from the titles that they're precursours to this. (Seven Sisters at Queen Anne's, Septima at School).
Now, the burgeoning friendship between a more obviously 'strong' character and another girl was present in Nicky of the Lower Fourth, so Smith may have been guilty of mining the same theme in several of her books, but I thought this was a superior story.
