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On Windycross Moor: Mabel Quiller-Couch. Collins, inscribed 1936

I probably wouldn’t have posted about this book, although it features a minor character with a remarkable name Angela Brazil would have envied, Thirza, if it hadn’t been a while since I posted a book review. I haven’t read a lot of girls own books recently.

This is about ‘early Edwardian’ Alberta Jane Penlee, who, very understandably, goes by the name Jane. It has a lot of elements from the story of Cinderella, but not always told in the order you would expect. ( Read more... )

Terry’s Only Term: Ethel Talbot, Blackie

I had a quick look at what I’ve had to say about Ethel Talbot’s books in the past, and realised how much she likes this ‘Girl’s name descriptive word Term’ formula for titles. ( Read more... )

A quick word on the tennis, first, mainly the US Open. ( Read more... )

The Testing of Tansy: Winifred Norling, Ward Lock.

I don’t much rate Winifred Norling, and this book did not change my mind. A question is posed in the early chapters: ( Read more... )

[Edited on 31/07/23.]

Bright Island: Mabel L. Robinson, Hutchinson

You make assumptions when you pick up the next book on your ‘to be read’ pile, some of them encouraged by its design and age. In my defence, Hutchinson boasts that this is published in the same series as ‘Christine, Air Hostess’ and ‘The Intelligence Corps Saves The Island’, which I’ve read, although I haven’t reviewed them here. I don’t remember being impressed by either. So, I prepared myself for some children, probably girls, having not entirely credible adventures on an island. Well, it’s always salutary and a pleasure to have assumptions smashed to smithereens by something far better.

( Read more... )

Skate School: Stars on Ice: Kay Woodward. Usborne, 2010.

There are fewer pages without italics on them than there are pages with. This is the wrong ratio. It’s not just the dialogue of teen ice skater Frankie and friends, it’s the prose around it describing her thought process. Frankie attends ‘Skate School’ AKA the Ice Palace AKA the boarding school for potential GB competitive figure skaters( Read more... )

(Lightly edited on 5/4/21.)

Malory Towers, a Wise Children production (2019)

Starring: Izuka Hoyle (Darrell Rivers), Rose Shalloo (Mary Lou Askinson), Renee Lamb (Alicia Johns), Rebecca Collingwood (Gwendoline Lacey), Francesca Mills (Sally Hope), Vinnie Heaven (Bill Robinson) and, in this performance, Stephanie Hockley (Irene Dupont)
Adapted and directed by: Emma Rice.


This musical adaptation is to be found these summer holidays in ( Read more... )

A Song for Summer: Eva Ibbotson Quickbrew, 1998

Unless if I mis-tagged it, I don’t think I posted about ‘A Song for Summer’ here when I first read it.

( Read more... )

Triplets at Royders: Margaret Biggs and Jacqueline Blairman, Sampson Low.

I’m presuming that this book preceded Brent-Dyer giving Joey Maynard triplets! This is based on internal evidence in this book about the effects of what has to be the first world war. It’s a look at what it is to be a triplet as well as a good school’s influence on girls’ growing up. The triplets are Sheila, Robina and Anne Travers. ( Read more... )

Gillian of the Guides: Winifred Darch, Oxford, 1929.

This is the best girls own book I’ve read so far this year. It’s much more thoughtful about human nature and depicts it rather more credibly than the last couple of books I’ve reviewed. Also, ( Read more... )

A Fortunate Term: Angela Brazil, Blackie

I hadn’t read a new Angela Brazil this year, so I had to get this one in! Set in the 1920s, I think, when cars needed help to start and war memorials had been built, it’s the story of two sisters. ( Read more... )