feather_ghyll

A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity: Kathleen Gilles Seidel St Martin’s Griffin, 2007

The title comes from ‘Emma’, and in some ways this is a comedy of manners, a different look at school life, friendship, working out what you want and need. The different perspective is because ( Read more... )

Manners & Mutiny, Finishing School Book the Fourth: Gail Carriger. Atom, 2015

And so the finishing school series ends, ( Read more... )

I've changed the style of the journal. Who knows if it will stick, although I can be very lazy!?

Princess Candida: Katharine Oldmeadow, Collins

I wonder if the publishers or someone suggested that Oldmeadow ought to write her own version of ‘A Little Princess’, for there’s a flavour of that to ‘Princess Candida’, although it’s more in the girls own vein, and written with Oldmeadow’s style. ( Read more... )

A few weeks ago after I heard a little of Charles Spencer’s book about the physical and sexual, not to mention emotional, abuse he suffered after having been sent to a boarding school at eight, as a result of which there has been a debate about the damage sending mainly upper class children away from home to such institutions can and does cause. ( My views )

All that was in the background as I read Mary Todd’s Last Term by Frances Greenwood, the first boarding school story I’ve read in a while. ( Read more... )

Loyal to the School: Angela Brazil

I’ll sum up my reaction to this book with ‘Oh, Angela.’ ( Read more... )

Perhaps that was closer to a full review than an overview. Oh, well. I saw that Italy won the tie against Serbia in the Davis Cup yesterday, with Sinner beating Djokovic in three sets, even though Djokovic had three match points, and both men reappearing for the doubles, which Italy won in two sets.

I read these books in July, but they didn’t warrant a post of their own. I should also say I didn’t enjoy any of them much. ‘Two in a Tangle’ by Mary Gervaise ( Read more... )

I think ‘The Heart of The Family’ is the first book by Elizabeth Goudge I’ve read. (I’ve watched adaptations of The Little White Horse or The Secret of Moonacre.) ( Read more... )

L.T. Meade’s ‘A World of Girls’ ( Read more... )

The Head Girl at Wynford: Winifred Darch, Oxford, 1935.

This book is a cut above the girls own stories I’ve been reading recently and haven’t posted about (they’ve been at about the level of ‘Shirley at Charterton’ so I wasn’t very motivated to post about them) if not top flight. It starts on the last day of term, ( Read more... )

[Edited 22/5/25.]

Cream Buns and Crime: Robin Stevens, Puffin 2017

This book is subtitled ‘A Murder Most Unladylike Collection’, and reminded me of annuals and that types of books, but it’s in the same paperback format as the longer mysteries in the series. The conceit is ( Read more... )

Edited on 10/12/2022.

Barbara at School: Josephine Elder, Blackie

How lovely to be able to sink into a boarding school story where the characters are realistic and their doings are credible. It wasn’t unexpected given that Josephine Elder is the author of this book, but still, ( Read more... )

Over the past couple of months, there were two books that I read that I considered posting a review of here, namely, 'Twice Freed' by Patricia St. John (a reread) and 'Miriam' by Jane Edwards (a Welsh language book). ( Read more... )

Ha, I did have something to say!

As for ‘Barbara - Called Binkie’, well, I ploughed on with the collection, mainly shorter multi-chapter stories. ( Read more... )