feather_ghyll

Speaking From Among the Bones: Alan Bradley. Orion, 2014

It’s been a while (I checked, and it’s been over seven years), but I have returned to the Flavia de Luce murder mystery series. My motivation was that I'd bought other books from later on in the series second hand, so I thought I’d better get and read this. This, the fifth book is set during Easter (fun to read just after Christmas.) Our heroine is ( Read more... )

Shirley at Charterton: Christobel Marlowe, Nelson

This must be quite an early example of girls own – the fictional schoolgirls are daring to dream of becoming aviators or politicians when they grow up, but ( Read more... )

[Edited for typos and flow 13/4/25.]

Nansi’r Dditectif O. Llew. Rowlands & W.T. Williams, Gwasg y Brython, May 1953.

The title translates as ‘Nancy the Detective’. This is my translation of my post reviewing the book, with some added clarifications for non-Welsh speakers.

( Read more... )

Princess Susan: Ivy Russell. Nelson, reprint in a new series, 1958.

The title of this book intrigued me. Would it be something like Oldmeadow’s charming ‘Princess’ hooks? Then there was the name, for aside from those giantesses of children’s literature, Susan Pevensie and Susan Walker, the name seems rather down to earth to me. [ETA: Ugh, I forgot Susan Lyle. What's wrong with me?] What would this ‘Princess Susan’ be like? The dustjacket is an illustration of a girl with plaits, lying on her front, stroking a dog, ( Read more... )

Nelson’s Budget for Girls

I very rarely buy annuals or collections of stories like this as I generally dislike short stories, so the balance of stories I like to the ones I don’t makes me wish I hadn't bothered to purchase a book that takes up more space than a more satisfactory long story would. This book is massive. Put this purchase down to a moment of weakness.

In fairness, ( Read more... )

Oops, I didn't post at all during December, not to mention tennis or anything that I read. It was rather a busy month for me, so I was glad of what peace I could get to read over Christmas.

( The Mystery of Alton Grange: E. Everett-Green, The East End Murders: Killing Time: Anne Cassidy and United We Spy: Ally Carter )

Happy New Year!

Earlier this week, news came that a Nancy Drew TV show is being developed, but ( Read more... )

Deborah’s Secret Quest: Cecilia Falcon The Thames Publishing Co.

This is a reread – I was uncertain as to whether I already owned this book, but the copy before me was lovely and irresistible. I didn’t really remember the story, anyhow. It has a little of the feel of a serial story brought together within covers of its very own: occasionally chapters start with an unnecessary recap and it stretches a little beyond most book length school stories in terms of genre. ( Read more... )

There were some mysteries: one featuring bored redheaded twins in Rhodesia in Monica Marsden’s A Matter of Clues. The first Rhodesian-set story I’ve read in a while, it's extremely silly. I then read Out of the Past by Patricia Wentworth, a (late) Miss Silver mystery that features many familiar elements, but there is an attempt to reorder them.

There were two family adventures off the Irish coast, both featuring some extraordinary modes of transportation and Irish clichés, plus the handy deaths of some of those Irishmen who were only mourned for a chapter at best. The Golden Galleon by Eileen Heming ( Read more... )

Then there was Jonquil, Test Pilot by Eileen Marsh, about Jonquil and her brother Jack and sister Belinda, who love flying aeroplanes. ( Read more... ) This book featured a lot of illustrations, most of which I didn’t like at all.

Then finally, unseasonally, there was The Merryfield Mystery by Marjorie Cleves about a group of schoolgirls, two mistresses and staff who stay behind at their school over the Christmas holidays. They’re snowed in and ‘haunted’. I wished that the whole mystery angle, in which everyone was a part-time ghost hunter and sleuth, had been dropped by the author just to tell the story of how this mixed group had got on and entertained themselves.

Oh dear, that’s a grumpy overview, and the truth is, the fact that I managed to nearly burn three toasts this morning has nothing to do with it. I had a relaxing break! (A fuller review of a book that I enjoyed more will be coming next.)