In case of emergency, escape into a novel

I'm still feeling flat and unmotivated, despite the intermittently brilliant sunshine today. There seems little point in ordering more greetings cards to sell, if we're really on the edge of a pandemic. 'My' market hall is not large, but if people are not going out....I hope people don't stop coming to WEA classes.


I washed my hair a billion times (we had a head lice scare ages ago and I've been fine combing every day since) and did a load of laundry, then retreated into a children's book world, as I occasionally do. This one was recommended by Slightly Foxed a few years back. While the plot is clearly dramatic, I got fed up of the snobbery and the girls being described endlessly in terms of their looks.

I used to adore the books, as a young girl at a boarding school that was horrible compared to the chalet school. I particularly admired the fact that the girls were all trilingual. (My guess is that the girls stopped speaking German out loud after the school was exiled to the Channel Islands. It wouldn't have been tactful). It's a shame I can see the faults now, such as the parade of minor characters that I can't keep up with, and the Anti-Irish accent agenda. However, the innocence of reading these books for the first time, after lights out on a summer evening, remains with me. There will forever be a Mary Lou at the chalet school, even if I can't remember a thing about her!

PS the Mallory Towers and St Clares series by Enid Blyton were not better. They led to highly unrealistic expectations of midnight feasts, rescuing girls from fires with knotted sheet-ropes, and great sporting prowess. As far as I'm aware, no great series of boarding school books ever used the library as its principal setting!

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