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REVIEW: Neighbours at School

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:33:38 GMT

Neighbours at School: Ethel Talbot. Nelson.

In my defence, it’s over five years since I last read an Ethel Talbot book, so I’d forgotten about her breathless style and unique punctuation choices. (Really, woman, there’s no need for so many semi-colons in a children’s book!)

When I first started this, apart from said style, I ( Read more... )

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OVERVIEW: Hilary Leads the Way

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 08:05:42 GMT

I see I haven’t posted about any Irene Mossop books here before, although I have some of her books, ( Read more... ) I liked it more than ‘Girls of Deepdene’, but not as much as ‘Tenth at Trinder’s’ for what that’s worth.

( Read more... )

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OVERVIEW: Girls of Deepdene

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:22:03 GMT

I was less charmed by the heroines and their antics than I was meant to be in ‘Girls of Deepdene’ by Annie Kay. ( Read more... )

I've had to update the 'the extraordinary new girl' tag to 'the extraordinary new girl(s)'!

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REVIEW: Tenth at Trinder's

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 20:43:46 GMT

Tenth at Trinder’s: Dorothea Moore (Cassell, 1927)

Although its heroine, an extraordinary new girl, does ever more impressive stunts, even allowing for her being a good gymnast, this book is funny enough to get away with it. ( Read more... )

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REVIEW: The Lower Fourth and Joan

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 18:00:05 GMT

The Lower Fourth and Joan: Winifred Darch
(Part of ‘The New Winifred Darch Omnibus’, Oxford University Press, Reprint 1958)

I had intended to read this sooner, but such is life. I've still got another story to go in this omnibus.

Joan Miller gets to Towndon High School through ( Read more... )

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TENNIS: Australian Open 2026 Finals and overview

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 08:28:46 GMT

( Women )

( Men )

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TENNIS: Australian Open 2026 Quarter and Semi Finals

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 19:05:00 GMT

I meant to say in the previous post that ( Read more... )

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TENNIS: Australian Open 2026 R1-R4

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:31:02 GMT

The headlines of note from round 1 ( Read more... )

Round 2: ( Read more... )

Round 3: ( Read more... )

In the fourth round, ( Read more... )

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TENNIS: Australian Open 2026 predictions

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 15:21:29 GMT

For what it's worth, as I should have posted this before, my predictions are: ( Read more... )

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TENNIS: The United Cup 2026

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 08:28:04 GMT

I’ve been watching bits of this year’s United Cup, thanks to the Tennis Channel replaying matches after they happened, but because of the time difference, it was sometimes confusing and hard to follow. Every country has to put forward a men’s singles and woman’s singles player and mixed doubles team, and I think the points were more complicated than a simple win giving you a point, which played into who got out of the group stages, half of which were played in Perth – surely giving an advantage to the teams playing in Sydney, where the final stages were all played.

Most players won and lost ( Read more... )

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OVERVIEW: 2025 summary

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 08:51:47 GMT

I'll be writing about the books I read or reread, any films or TV shows that I posted about, and tennis.

I read 55 books (I think), which is up on last year. ( Read more... )

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REVIEW: The Chivalrous Fifth

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 19:35:14 GMT

What's this? A review of a proper Girls Own book? I admit they've been few and far between this year, but I haven't read many in 2025.

The Chivalrous Fifth: Christine Chaundler. Nelson.

I’m not entirely convinced that ‘chivalrous’ is the right adjective here, although I can’t suggest a better alternative. Anyway, Five B at St Cecilia’s is ( Read more... )

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TENNIS: news and TELEVISION: Sewing Bee special

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 08:56:19 GMT

I really should have posted this bit sooner, but on the tennis front, surprising news that Carlos Alcaraz has split from long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero. It sounds as if it came more from Alcaraz, and the tennis world notes that the timing is interesting, so close to the only Grand Slam that Alcaraz has yet to win.

I watched the highlights of the end of the Next Gen tournament ( Read more... )

The Great British Bee Christmas special 2025

( Read more... )

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REVIEW: Homestead

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 15:18:50 GMT

Homestead: Rosina Lippi. Flamingo (HarperCollins) 2001

The blurb describes this as a novel, I read it more as a collection of related stories, following the women of Rosenau, an amalgamation of villages in the western Austrian alps, over most of the twentieth century, ( Read more... )

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TENNIS: End of the year/Davis Cup

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 19:40:35 GMT

I’ve been keeping an eye on results although I haven’t posted about them this autumn. Rybakina played so well at the end of the year that she got herself into the WTA finals, as did Auger-Aliasseme and Musetti into the ATP equivalent, ( Read more... )

Thanks to the Tennis Channel (which mainly seems to be show Challenger events), I could watch Davis Cup matches. They call this the finals week, with eight teams starting in the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, ( Read more... )

Semi-finals: ( Read more... )

Finals day: ( Read more... )

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REVIEW: The Little Dancer

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 09:10:05 GMT

The Little Dancer: Lorna Hill. Award Publications, 1997

The latest in the ‘Dancer’ series about Annette Dancy and friends follows them from ( Read more... )

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REREAD: The Four Graces

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 17:50:19 GMT

The Four Graces: D.E. Stevenson. Collins, 1946

It’s over two decades since I first read this book, and I’d honestly forgotten that I owned it and had read it. It introduces us to the Grace family, but is connected to the Miss Buncle/Mrs Abbot books, which I’ve read subsequently.

I was going to say that ( Read more... )

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REVIEW: Mariana

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 19:33:11 GMT

Mariana: Monica Dickens
Persephone Books, 2022 reprint

Persephone tried to sell this as ( Read more... )

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REVIEW: The Whalebone Theatre

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 07:14:51 GMT

The Whalebone Theatre: Joanna Quinn
Fig Tree, Penguin 2022 (Free Proof Copy, acquired at a charity shop)

For some reason, I thought it was a children’s book, although I was quickly disabused of that notion just by reading the table of contents, fittingly laid out in acts rather than parts. We start off in 1919 ( Read more... )

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REVIEW: All Fall Down

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 19:02:19 GMT

All Fall Down: Ally Carter
Embassy Row 1, Orchard Books, 2015

I’ve read the Gallagher Girls and Heist Society series by Ally Carter, preferring the latter. One thing ‘All Fall Down’ shares with them is ( Read more... )

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TENNIS: The Billie Jean King Cup finals 2025

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 16:52:38 GMT

Last week was ‘the final’, the Davis Cup equivalent is later in the year. (Some top male tennis players were/are involved in the Laver Cup.) More by accident than design, ( Read more... )

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TELEVISION: The Great British Sewing Bee - episodes 9 and 10

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 18:47:45 GMT

Episode 9 – semi final

( Read more... )

Episode 10 – final

( Read more... )

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TENNIS: US Open afterword and sundries

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 07:17:51 GMT

Just to observe that, as so often, four different women won a Grand Slam this year, with Sabalenka being the only one to defend one, although Swiatek and Gauff were adding more to their tallies, while Keys won her maiden slam. Sabalenka’s record in tiebreaks is apparently record breaking.

I got the chance to watch the full men’s final on YouTube, ( Read more... )

Jack Draper won’t be playing for the rest of the season due to injury, which is such a shame, because that whole year he was healthy, we was so good.

More by accident than design, I found out that Prime was showing the Davis Cup. ( The first day of GB vs Poland. )I didn't manage to watch any other matches or ties. (I watched the men's French Open final on YT instead - in two sittings.)

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TENNIS: US Open 2025 week 2

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 17:00:05 GMT

I didn’t mention the controversy about the grown man caught on camera stealing a hat that a player had clearly passed to a child, getting named and shamed online. His ensuing apology made the early evening news.

There was a fourth round ( Read more... )

Quarter finals: ( Read more... )

Semi-finals: ( Read more... )

I read an article pointing out that tennis is the most popular sport on TV among women in the UK. There was some blether about men having more free time, but then, you never know how long a tennis match is going to take. Of course, it is one of (if not) the best sports on gender parity, and has had female stars going back to Suzanne Longlen – and I imagine most women are perfectly happy watching athletic young men like Jack Draper etc play too…

Women’s finals: ( Read more... )

Men’s finals: I listened to this live.

( Read more... )

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REREAD: The Dragonfly Pool

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:01:51 GMT

The Dragonfly Pool: Eva Ibbotson, 2008, Macmillan Children’s Books.

( Read more... )

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