This year has been no exception; I mentioned on Saturday my delightful jaunt to Woodstock where I picked up two books. Prior to that I had a little bit of a splurge getting some Girls Gone By books. I don’t feel in the mood for anything very literary at the moment, and school stories seem A Good Thing. I’ve finally dipped my toe into the waters of Chalet School fill-in fiction. I have read all of the Chalet School books so many times that I am desperate for some new stories featuring my favourite characters, and despite having previously been very dismissive of this “fan fiction”, I enjoyed the Antonia Forest fill in so much that I thought I would give it a go. A number of authors have written fill-ins, but I feel that being published by Girls Gone By is probably a good seal of approval, so I randomly chose a few. I also bought The scholarship girl by Josephine Elder having enjoyed some of her other books for both girls and adults.
These books have all arrived in the last week and I am looking forward to some fairly easy reading and escapism into the world of school (how is it that school stories become escapist? I’m sure when I was a child school was anything but, but now that I work full time I hearken back to the days where I got to spend time with my friends every day and go home at 4pm).
I do so love school stories!
ReplyDeleteme too!
DeleteI've never read any of the Chalet School fill-ins: I'll love to hear what you think.
ReplyDeleteSo far so good, only read one so far, not pictured so I can't remember which title it was!
DeleteI never knew about the Chalet School books when I was a child, which seems a horrible omission now! I didn't know about Enid Blyton's Malory Towers books either, even as I was reading The Naughtiest Girl series. Sigh. My father was able to introduce me to all sorts of classic adventures novels but this was where having a mother who was raised in a non-English-speaking country really made an impact.
ReplyDeleteChalet School books would be perfect adult comfort reading I think. You raise an interesting point about how we find books as children which is somehting I was thinking about wuth relation to a blog post that I'm putting up today so might ask people about that next week!
DeleteI'm another fan of the Chalet School books and have been for at least 40 years. Yes, the Girls Gone By fill-ins are worth reading, some more than others, but it is always delightful to return to characters you know. I've read a few of the privately printed ones and they annoy me intensely as the grammar and editing is so poor. Have you tried Mabel Esther Allan?
ReplyDeleteYes, I have read some of the Fidra Mabel Esther Allans. I am not sure whether I would try a privately printed fill in - I feel GGBP is a good seal of approval as you can see by the criteria they have on their website for the submission of one.
DeleteI bought The School on North Barrule by M E Allen, fairly recently. I thought it would be good to read as I lived in the Isle of Man when I was a baby as my Dad was doing officer training at Jurby RAF Station there during the war. He was also on bomber/training raids from there too.
ReplyDeleteIt's about a family living in the South, the father had died, he was Manx and his daughter was so obsessed with the Island and someone sponsored her and her brother to go to this co-ed school. Quite juvenile(ish) but if you like these 'old school' books, lovely.
I've only read one Chalet school book. I should read more, as I really enjoyed it.
Yes, I have read the Allen book and quite a few of hers (as well as her dancing books written as Jean Estoril).
DeleteI am very envious that you have only read one chalet school book as you have nearly 60 more ahead of you!
These are lovely Verity! Have you read any Gwendoline Courtney? I'm so happy that GGBP have republished so many of hers. Think you might like them too!
ReplyDelete