Five great new titles from Girls Gone By Publishers just arrived!
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This
is the first issue of 2021, and time to think about the past again. In
my book collection, I have dozens of books from the golden age of
children's book publishing - the 1950s-1960s, including many that I
originally had when I was approaching my teenage years. Even now, the
art of being able to read opens up so many new worlds and universes
it's difficult to overestimate the importance of this fantastic skill.
I try to follow what's going on in the children's literature publishing
world, and come across all kinds of strange and wonderful titles in the
course of putting together the children's books page of Books Monthly.
But I can't help thinking that the old way, of telling a story, of
sending your readers off on an adventure, is the best way. Of course,
times change, and so do people's reading tastes, but when you think
about the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter stories (and the
continued success of J K Rowling as she continues the adventures of
Cormoran Strike - for adults, of course), I'm drawn to the fact that
some people were meant to write, and some people weren't. I want to
concentrate on the people who, in my opinion, were born to write,
starting with some of the authors I used to read when I was a lad,
growing up in a completely rural environment in the heart of
Gloucestershire, at the foot of the hill we knew as Cheeseroll Hill, or
Cooper's Hill to give it its proper name. At first I was drawn to
children's adventure stories, such as the Barney Mysteries by Enid
Blyton. I don't remember when people started to become anti-Blyton, and
it's an episode of her life I would rather forget, and indeed, would
rather it had never happened in the first place.  Enid Blyton wrote
adventure stories. Her Little Noddy stories contained references
to golliwogs, and I suppose it was this that got the dreaded do-gooders
thinking that she was some kind of racist monster. Enid had a following
for her stories all over the world. She loved children and wrote to
excite and to please them. Nowadays, maybe, her "adventures" were tame
compared with the weird and wonderful adventures today's children can
read. But there again, you can still find children's adventure stories
that are really very similar to those that she wrote, and, after all,
Harry Potter's adventures at Hogwarts are an extension of Darrell's
adventures at Malory Towers. I can happily pick up a Famous Five or one
of Enid's Adventure series and read and enjoy them for what they were
originally intended - to entertain and stimulate. Equally, I can pick
up a brand new children's adventure story and enjoy it. And the fact
remains that people of all ages are clamouring for nostalgic
publications from the 1950s and 1960s - which is why a new series of
Malory Towers was made for television at the beginning of this year.
It's also why His
Dark Materials is on right now and being enjoyed by millions (It
finishes this Sunday 20th December). It's the
best fantasy series since Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy,
far better than the Hobbit trilogy, in
my opinion, and proves a point: that children and adults continue to
enjoy good quality literature, and also enjoy it when such literature
is translated into prime-time television (and film). I learnt to read
at the hands
of Miss Paige and Mr Rossiter at Brockworth New County Primary School.
It opened up a universe of thrills and adventures that no child or
adult should be without access to. My
favourite books until I started Grammar School in 1957 at the age of
ten, were the Regent Classics editions of ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRIE
MEN, and KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, which I read
over and over again. Occasionally I found comic strip versions of both
stories in my comics - not in TIGER or LION, but in the many other
comics that found their way into my possession courtesy of my Uncle
Lesley. My Mum and Dad were a little worried by the amoount of comics I
read at that time, especially the American ones: Superman, Batman,
Supergirl, Superboy, Tarzan of the Apes etc., etc., but I always got
through all of my homework, I always did well at school, never
finishing lower than third in a class of thirty-four at the Crypt
Grammar School, Gloucester, and the only comics I kept were my Tigers,
Lions and Tarzans. The rest went in the bin or were passed on to my
school friends. Another favourite author in the late 1950s was Frank
Richards. His stories of Greyfriars School, featuring Billy Bunter and
the original famous five, Harry Wharton, Frank Nugent, Hurree Ramset
Jam Singh, Bob Cherry and Harold Skinner were what started me on
a long road to enjoyment of school stories in general; and it was my
sister's School Friend comic that hooked me onto girls' school stories
with The Silent Three. But
by the time I went to the Crypt Grammar School, I was starting to
appreciate other types of fiction than that specifically written for
children, and I soon discovered The Saint stories by Leslie Charteris,
the detective stories of Delano Ames, which I found hilarious, and
featured a husband and wife team named Dagobert and Jane Brown. I also
started to read ghost and horror stories - there was an excellent
series of Pan paperbacks edited by Herbert van Thal, which featured the
tales of M R James and others which frightened the life out of me, but
were hugely enjoyable. I turned my attention to the classics, again
with the aid of the excellent Regent Classics series, and read
Wuthering Heights, Heidi, What Katie Did, Little Women and its sequels.
Everything and anything, in fact, rather than the reading list for
English Literature we were given at Grammar school! I started this with
the
intention of harking back to the 1950s and 1960s, and I'm still in that
era.I was thirteen years old in 1960... when the world changed forever.
Not to worry. I have many more memories to share
with you, and you'll just have to wait until the next issue, when I
shall be fully back to normal after my adventures with cancer (which I
thought would never happen to me!)Happy reading!
Yours
Retro Magazine - the latest issue - out now!
 The
October
2020 issue of Yours Retro magazine kicks off with a fresh look at
Natalie Wood. There are articles on Steve McQueen, the assassination of
John Lennon, Joyce Grenfell and much much more! It's crammed
with brilliant articles, information and pure nostalgia - best magazine
on the newsstands! Get your copy now!Keep
scrolling down for five brilliant new titles from Girls Gone By
Publishers - 1: Lorna
Hill: The Secret Published
24th November 2020
The Secret is
the 14th, and final, title in the Sadler’s Wells series. GGBP first
published this in 2002, and ever since then have been constantly asked
to reprint it.This is the story of Vanessa and Sam – two babies found
in the rubble of a theatre after an earthquake in Lorna Hill’s
favourite imaginary eastern European nation Slavonia. One is the
grandchild of a Northumbrian baronet whose daughter was dancing at the
theatre when the earthquake hit, the other is the child of one of the
theatre’s dressers. But which is which? The grandparents don’t know the
sex of their baby, so both are brought to England. In the end, the
little girl, Vanessa, stays with the baronet, takes up ballet and goes
to the Royal Ballet School. The little boy, Sam, is brought up in Byker
by the sister of a village woman who couldn’t have a baby of her own.
But are they the right way around? Jim Mackenzie has written an
excellent introductory article on ‘The World of The Secret, focussing
on the Newcastle area he knows so well. Lorna
Hill’s daughter, Vicki, wrote an article for our first printing of The
Secret, which we have included here – on how her mother saw the
story continuing in the next book (never, alas, to be written). It's
every young girl's dream to be a ballet dancer, and Lorna's Sadlers
Wells series encapsulates that dream to perfection. In a kind of
parallel to Monica Edwards's pony-driven series, and inspired by her
daughter Vicki, who actually lived the dream, Lorna's stories are
inspiring, character driven and fulfilling. The Secret, the final
Sadlers Wells story, combines the compelling mystery of the babies,
Vanessa and Sam, found following an earthquake in Slavonia, with the
fulfilment of Vanessa's desire to be a ballet dancer. This is the kind
of story that was serialised (in picture strip form) in Schoolfriend
and Girls Crystal comics and annuals in the 1950s, and was required and
desired reading for schoolgirls of that era. A superb story,
brilliantly told. 2:
Sylvia
Gower: The World of Elizabeth Goudge Published
15th December 2020 
The World of Elizabeth Goudge was
privately
published by the late Sylvia Gower in 2001, and is incredibly difficult
to get hold of now. There are copies advertised on Amazon from £800! We
are delighted to be publishing a new edition at a somewhat cheaper
price … £13 + overseas postage. Sylvia Gower wrote about Elizabeth
Goudge’s life and writing, and shared her experience of visiting the
locations which inspired the settings in her books – for instance,
Wells which becomes the fictional Torminster. Sylvia Gower also
explored “the
reasons for their success and evergreen appeal for today’s readers”.
Since 2001, many of Elizabeth Goudge’s books have remained consistently
in print.
GGBP have published not only those we have in print today but
also Sister
of the Angels, currently out of print. We have discovered that the
Goudge Memorial Cross in New Milton has disappeared, just leaving the
grave. We should like to restore this, and a Just
Giving page has been set up to do
this. If you would like to donate, please do so – please do *not* send
money to GGBP if you are unable to donate through the Just Giving page
– ask someone else to do it for you. Elizabeth Goudge is best known to me as one of the romantic novelists I discovered and devoured during the 1950s, when I was reading anything and everything in sight! I had no idea at that time that she had also written children's stories, and I had quite forgotten that fact until GGBP sent me this wonderful insight into the life and career of one of Britain's most popular romantic novelists of the 20th century. Sylvia Gower's book is a fascinating read, and as books about authors go, it's one of the best I've read for a long time. A comparatively long and fruitful life saw Elizabeth established as a firm favourite for hundreds of thousands of eager readers. Superb. 3:
Helen
Barber: The Bettany Twins and the Chalet School Published
16th October 2020 
Which Bettany Twins? Read below … It’s
1944. A world war is raging and the girls of the Chalet School are
determined to play their part. But for Peggy and Bride Bettany, there
is exciting news: their father Dick, twin brother of the School’s
founder, is on his way back from India in spite of the war, and with
him will be their mother and the young brother and sister they have
never met. How will they adjust to living together as a family under
one roof – First Twins Peggy and Rix, singletons Bride and Jackie, and
Second Twins Maeve and Maurice? How will Maeve settle in at the Chalet
School, so different from anything she has ever known? And what is the reason
for the mysterious burglaries at the new Bettany home, The Quadrant?
Helen’s latest contribution to the annals of the Chalet School is a
typical EBD mix of school, family and adventure. It answers many of the
questions fans have been asking years. How could Dick resign his job in
India in Tom but
still have it in Three
Go? How did eight-year-old Maeve react to being given woolly reins
as a welcome-home gift? Did Peggy really ‘come the eldest sister’ over
Maeve, as suggested in The
Wrong Chalet School, or was Maeve simply reacting to having an
elder sister at all? And why, oh why, was Dick returning to England
when clearly it is still the middle of the Second World War? Three sets
of Bettany twins: Madge and Dick, Peggy and Rix, Maeve and Maurice. One
Chalet School, the pivot around which their lives revolve. And a most
intriguing quest! The Bettany Twins and the Chalet School was published on 16th
October 2020. Now
the first of two new Chalet School stories by the two best known and
best of the new generation of Chalet School books. The Chalet School
remains by far the most popular girls' school series, and whilst there
are upwards of fifty excellent original titles by EBD, the new authors
continue to thrill with their fill-in stories. First off, Helen Barber
takes a long hard look at Dick, Madge's brother, and in the course of
this adventure, answers several mind-puzzling questions that have beset
CS readers for many years. The Bettany Twins and the Chalet School is a
thrilling mix of adventure and family and will be essential reading for
all fans of the series. A beautiful front cover heralds what's inside
and the story never disappoints. You can read about Katherine Bruce's
The Chalet School in Guernsey below, but first it's time to look at the
fourth Daneswood title by Phyllis Matthewman. 4:
Phyllis
Matthewman: A New Role for Natasha Published
23rd November 2020 
A New Role for Natasha is Daneswood No 4 Every
girl has to be a new girl at some time or another but this difficult
stage soon passes. It did not pass too easily for Natasha Vaughan.
School life to her was strange and bewildering. To the girls at
Daneswood the new girl was odd and incomprehensible. Her careful and
correct speech, her precise manners and her prim politeness set her
apart from the others. The cover of this most excellent adventure is reminiscent of the pulp fiction covers of the 1950s, but really, it's just an excellent, beautiful illustration of a pivotal scene in A New Role for Natasha. Once again, it's the kind of story I used to read in my sister's weekly comics, and the big mystery? No spoilers, just to say that it has something to do with the Lorna Hill title above. A superb, romantic (in the broadest sense of the word) mystery that has all the elements of a smashing super girls' school story! Excellent! 5:
Katherine
Bruce: The Chalet School in Guernsey Published
13th November 2020 
After fleeing the terrors of Nazism, the Chalet School has settled into their new home in Guernsey and now the second term on its island home begins. Some old friends are delighted to return to their beloved school, but in among the new arrivals is one who has a history with the school. Mélanie Kerdec was a member of a group called the Mystic M who terrorised the school some years previously, where their bad deeds culminated in the kidnapping of Sybil Russell. Now Mélanie has come as a pupil to the school she detests and is determined to show that she has by no means forgiven or forgotten the past. Even
with that excitement, outside affairs cannot be ignored and the war
continues to intrude as rationing affects both lessons and Guiding. An
island-wide air raid drill gives the senior girls an exciting evening,
and the war on the Continent leaves one mistress grief-stricken. Worse
is to come as an investigator arrives to learn more about the previous
term’s dramatic plane crash. When he cannot promise that the Channel
Islands will be safe from future conflict, those in authority must
consider leaving Guernsey to find a safe place for them to live for as
long as the war lasts. And
finally, the new Chalet School "fill-in" by Katherine Bruce. Both
Katherine and Helen produce CS stories that are actually (for me) hard
to tell apart from those written originally by EBD. It's a well known
fact that the Germans eventually occupied the Channel Islands, but the
events in this stirring tale occur before the occupation, giving free
rein to the girls to indulge in their usual high jinks and secret
society stuff. I really can't fault this one as a CS story, it has
everything! Absolutely enthralling! The small print: Books Monthly, now well into its 23rd year on the web, is published on or slightly before the first day of each month by Paul Norman. You can contact me here. If you wish to submit something for publication in the magazine, let me remind you there is no payment as I don't make any money from this publication. If you want to send me something to review, contact me via email at paulenorman1@gmail.com and I'll let you know where to send it.
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My very good
friends at Girls Gone By Publishers just sent me a package of five of
their latest books, and you can read about them at the bottom of this
page:
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