feather_ghyll

The School on Cloud Ridge: Mabel Esther Allan. Fidra Books, 2008.

I believe this is the first book published by Fidra Books that I own. As well as the story itself, first published in 1952, this edition includes an abridged autobiography from Allan herself, focusing on ( Read more... )

This week, I’ve been following the twists and turns of Novak Djokovic’s visa problems and attempt to play in the Australian Open. I won’t try to record them all or my views on them, ( Read more... )

I meant to reread ‘Susan Pulls The Strings’ but I couldn’t find my copy (it’s probably in the house, but I can’t be bothered to remove all the furniture I’d need to to find it.) Fortunately, the following was on top f my ‘to be read’ pile:

First Term at Ash Grove: Mabel Esther Allan, Blackie 1988

Reading this book, I felt a slight pang that I hadn’t come across it when it was first published, when I was ( Read more... )

Over the Sea to School: Mabel Esther Allan Blackie

[This is a Welsh translation of my review of this book. The original will be posted forthwith.]

Nid oeddwn i’n deall bod y teitl yn chwarae ar y gân ‘Over the Sea to Skye’ tan i fi ddarllen y llyfr. ( Read more... )

As I did last year, I thought I'd do a very subjective overview of things I posted about or should have posted about here. My favourite ( Read more... )

Mullion: Mabel Esther Allan. Hutchinson

My copy of this book features a mostly intact dustjacket featuring two girls and two boys in a motorboat with a castle on an island behind them. If I’d looked at it more carefully, or read the blurb – but I just saw Mabel Esther Allan’s name under a title I didn’t own, so why did I need to? - I wouldn’t have come to the story under the misapprehension that ( Read more... )

Rachel Tandy: Mabel Esther Allan. Hutchinson 1958

This is a rather charming book that I enjoyed reading – it did have echoes of other Allan books, of which I’ve read many. ( Read more... )

A Popular Schoolgirl: Angela Brazil

I had an ‘oh, Angela’ moment when ( Read more... )

Sara Gay Model Girl in New York: Janey Scott

That's New York, 1961 - fit for girls. ( Read more... )

Dance with me by Victoria Clayton

Recommended. ( Read more... )

I look forward to reading more by Clayton (I think another book of hers may have been recommended by callmemadam.)

Finally I reread Three go to Switzerland: Mabel Esther Allan

It can’t have made much impact on me before, because I didn’t remember anything as I read it. ( Read more... )

I have a habit of reading completely unseasonal books. I read this book before the snow first fell, but even so, the contrast between what was going on around me and the opening segment of this book was pretty stark.

The House By the Marsh: M. E. Allan Dent 1966

( 'Somehow Norfolk sounded cold and bleak,' said Tam, as they disentangled themselves from the back seat. 'I never thought it would be like this.' The sun was, in fact, extremely hot on the weed-grown gravel sweep before the front door, bees were busy in the overgrown masses of roses, phlox, marguerites, and stocks, and the big house basked in sunny peace. )

I saw that Greyladies has published Allan's only book for adults, which has a similar setting and is on my list to get/read.

I've read several children's books over the past few weeks, but I'm not in a position to type up full reviews at present, so here are some one-sentence responses. The Potato Riddle by Agnes and Norman Furlong was a boys' story, a change for me, and definitely operating by a different set of rules to the one I'm used to, which may have been a factor in how entertaining I found it i.e. novelty. Pamela at Peters' by Edna Lake flubs its central mystery horribly, ignoring the gun in the first act rule, but is otherwise a tight story with a new girl and a secret society fighting for a school's honour. Dimsie, Head Girl by DFB is the real deal though. Yes, the title makes the first half mildly irritating as you wait for the story to catch up and for Dimsie to step into the biggest shoes a schoolgirl heroine can, all to save the Jane Willard Foundation from drift - actually, there's a thematic sympathy between those last two books.

Then I read Plough Penny Mystery by Lavinia L. Davis, which features younger characters over a summer, and offers a genuinely perceptive character study in the shadow of the second world war. Catrin in Wales by Mabel Esther Allen is what you'd expect from MAE, first person narrative, coming of age story with romance amidst friendships, good on local detail - although there was something in there about a play about a Welsh valley being drowned performed in Liverpool that the sixties (Tryweryn) rendered a howler.

Finally, there was something in the news a few days ago about land girls and lumberjills (a term I'd never come across before) finally getting recognised for their war work by the UK Government. How? Badges. How very Blue Peter. (I'm not sure how tongue in cheek I feel about this).