[Andrew999]

I’m currently enjoying the Beeb’s Malory Towers. If anything, it shows some of the gaps in Enid Blyton’s writing but the series is well-made and presented and Jennifer Wigmore’s a scene-stealer as the Head.

So, naturally, on Random 12 today, I was sucked into this edition of Schoolgirl – a week before a war began that would claim fifty million lives. It feels like the last whisper of lost innocence as the girls battle for the pendant at Pinebay holiday camp. Bessie’s ventriloquism is to the fore (hurrah for the Better Bunter) but what is the dreadful secret that Janet is forced to keep from her chums – and who occupies the haunted manor causing bumps in the night?

Part of the fun was ‘Hilda’ Richards’ answers to readers’ letters and Thomas Laidler’s wonderful drawings defined an era - you know, I really should cut them out and paste them in my scrap book as Hilda suggests

Link to the book: The Schoolgirl 525