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Good Reading : August 2007
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18 goodreading ı AUGUST 2007 Before the advent of the internet, Newcastle public servant Di Henley thought she was the only adult in the world who still enjoyed reading girls’ school stories. ‘Friends would occasionally make comments like “Oh, the ‘Chalet School’ – I loved those books when I was a kid”, but I didn’t know any other people who collected them,’ she recalls. Then came the internet – and Di, now 36, discovered several online forums dedicated to books in what is ter med the ‘girls’ own’ genre. She then realised that her interest was shared by many other adult women, not just in Australia but throughout the former British Empire. While traditional girls’ own stories, deemed too old-fashioned for today’s sophisticated youngsters, have long been discarded by mainstream publishing houses, demand for the books among women eager to complete collections begun in childhood has resulted in the establishment of three British small-press publishers reprinting sought-after titles. The first of these, Bettany Press, appeared in 1994, set up by Australian Rosemary Auchmuty and British journalist Ju Gosling to publish a book of critical essays to coincide with the centenary of the birth of Elinor M Brent-Dyer (the author of the ‘Chalet School’ books). Since then, Bettany Press have built up a list that includes the rarest titles in Jane Shaw’s ‘Susan’ series, Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s only novel for adults, and several critical works on the genre, including a study of girls’ friendships in school stories, Friends in the Fourth, which was released this northern summer. Next up was Girls Gone By, now the largest of the three small- press publishers, and with a formidable line-up of authors that includes the ‘big three’ school-story writers: Elinor M Brent- Dyer, Dorita Fairlie Bruce and Elsie J Oxenham. They also publish titles by Antonia Forest, Monica Edwards and New Zealand school-story writer Clare Mallory, plus ‘Chalet School’ fill- ins and critiques of the genre – Tasmanian farmer and writer Anne Heazlewood’s study of the works of Antonia Forest, The Marlows and their Maker, will be published this northern autumn. Girls Gone By was established in 2001 by Clarissa Cridland, who had spent more than 20 years in publishing, and Ann Mackie-Hunter, a former Sydney secondary school teacher.Their publishing company grew out of their jointly run Friends of the Chalet School organisation, established by Ann in 1989, when she was living in Australia. The most recent small-press arrival is Fidra Books, set up in 2005 by book- seller Vanessa Robertson because ‘I was bemoaning the fact that no one was publishing the sort of books I like’. Her eclectic list includes fantasy novels and adventure stories as well as pony and school books – but some of her authors are ‘stock’ girls’ own writers, including Josephine Pullein-Thompson, Mabel Esther Allan and the writer of the popular 1980s ‘Trebizon’ school series, Anne Digby.Vanessa’s plans for expanding her list include taking on new writers in the genre via the Fidra Books Novel Competition, which closes on 31 August. ‘We think there is a market among our readers for new fiction in the same vein,’ says Vanessa All three publishers are huge fans of the books and collectors in their own right. ‘When I’ve got a cold or some other ailment, the best remedy is an afternoon by the fire with copious hot chocolate and a pony book,’ says Vanessa. ‘They are stories in which I can completely lose myself, and belong to a the old school tie Old-fashioned and quintessentially British they may be, but many Australian women still consider vintage girls’ school stories and pony books to be … well, bonzer! LIZ FILLEUL takes a look at their popularity. shelf life
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