Quote of the Day

Piet cautiously reconnoitred. This was a sight better than picking those foul blackberries, he thought. "No sign of them," he whispered.

"We'll keep on high ground," whispered John, "and make for those elder bushes. Careful at that open bit, keep behind the bracken. Come on."

The two boys wriggled happily off on their stomachs.

From THREEPENNY BIT, Chapter 11, Poor Mr. Port.

Buried Treasures 7

Miss Johnson is nearly run over by her own car.  Susan, Midge, Elizabeth and Tessa have to get to Moreton Grange for the hockey game.

A Timeline for Susan

Sorting out the timeline of the Susan series is not an easy task and it has to be admitted that there are insoluble problems. Unlike the Penny books, which were written and published over a period of five years and in a clear order, with numbers in their titles, the events in the Susan series did not occur in the order in which they were written, part of this complication lying in the four short stories. For example, the first story published about St. Ronan’s was Susan’s School Play. This takes place at the end of the school year and sees Susan and Midge upset with Aunt Lucy for bringing Selina and Peregrine Gascoigne to the show. The story ends with Lord Dulwich announcing that a new hall will be built on the school grounds. The second story about the school was Susan at School, which was the fourth book in the series but the second one chronologically, as Jane Shaw and her publishers decided to go back in time and show Susan’s introduction to St. Ronan’s immediately after her first Christmas in England, as portrayed in Susan Pulls the Strings. Then, after Susan Muddles Through, set about eight months later, it is announced that Gabrielle Gascoigne will become a pupil at St. Ronan’s too, meaning that by the time of the school play at Christmas, Selina should be going along as Gabrielle’s mother rather than a guest of Aunt Lucy. However, there is a different play staged at the end of Susan’s Trying Term and the money raised is to be used to help pay for the new hall, which has already been built! So it is impossible to reconcile the short story and the novels. One solution could be to ignore the short stories, but a clear reference to The Wilsons Won’t Mind is made in Susan at School, when Midge mentions that after her enthusiasm for nursing, Charlotte had become keen on baking. Furthermore, in Susan and the Spae Wife, there is a reference to the events in Susan Muddles Through. This is proof that the original intention was for the short stories to be considered part of the canon. However, the same cannot be said for Susan's School Play and Susan and the Home-made Bomb, which do not blend in with the novels. As mentioned above, the former cannot possibly be reconciled with the novels; the latter stands on its own. Another confusing point is the children’s ages. When Susan goes to live with the Carmichaels, she is fourteen years old. She spends three summers without her parents and yet she is only fifteen in the last book of the series. On top of that, despite the three summers away from her parents, we are told in A Job for Susan that she retained much of her Scottish dialect despite a “two-year sojourn" in England. In the first book, Bill is 10, Susan and Midge are 14 and Charlotte is 16. In the last book, Charlotte is 18, Bill is 12 and Susan and Midge are 15. In fact, Susan and Midge celebrate two Christmases at the age of 15, as clearly stated in No Trouble for Susan and A Job for Susan. This, of course, was necessary to allow the characters to retain their endearing traits. It would be hard to imagine Susan, Midge and Tessa at the age of 17 behaving in the rather childish way that they do. Another point worth mentioning has to do with the changes that take place in society. As the stories were written over a period of eighteen years, it is hard to chronicle the books over any specific space of time. In A Job for Susan there are very casual references to watching television. In the early 1950s, when the series began, much more would be made of having a television in the house, as very few people actually had one. Therefore, total coherence in the Susan stories is not possible. But, just for fun, I’ve had a go at putting the jigsaw together.

Year 1:

Circa November: In Susan Pulls the Strings, 13-year-old Susan is informed by her mother that she will be going to live with her cousins the Carmichaels in London while her parents go to Africa to build a bridge. On 23 December Susan, now 14, arrives in London to live with the Carmichaels. Susan Pulls the Strings chronicles her first Christmas and New Year in London, during which Susan helps to smash a smuggling ring. The events of The Wilsons won’t Mind also take place during this holiday, with Aunt Lucy’s friend Madame Polinskaya springing to the aid of the hitherto down-on-their-luck Wilson family.

Year 2:

January: Susan at School. Susan is a new pupil at St. Ronan’s, where she befriends fellow new girl Tessa, gets a respectable place on the hockey team and hunts for Ronan’s Heap.

Easter: In Susan’s Helping Hand, Susan and Midge return to Wichwood, but they have caught chicken-pox and the family go to Cousin Barbara’s farm in Kent. Susan’s Helping Hand chronicles their adventures with the mysterious Belle and the criminal activities of the Mad Collector.

Summer: Susan Rushes In. Susan and Midge come home for the holidays and meet the Gascoignes, to whom they take an immediate dislike. Susan sets out to save an elderly lady, Mrs. Thorne, from eviction. Midge and Charlotte publish a book about a dragon. The packed summer continues with the trip to Switzerland in Susan Interferes and is immediately followed by Susan Muddles Through on the island of Arran, with the gang getting caught up in Cold War adventures. In the former story, they help the son of a Czechoslovakian dissident seek refuge in London and in the latter they find themselves trying to stop a scientist from defecting to the Soviet Union. They are also obliged to take the Gascoignes to Arran. At the very beginning of the story, Selina marries Sam Pilkington, but the nanny who was meant to look after Gabrielle and Peregrine during the honeymoon breaks her leg, and Aunt Lucy comes to the rescue by offering to take them on holiday for two weeks. When the two weeks are up, the Gascoignes leave. It is after their departure that the short story Susan and the Spae-wife takes place. We know this because the holiday lasts a month and the Gascoignes only stay for two weeks, allowing plenty of time for the arrival of Mr. Rock Carlisle on the island and the robbery at the post office before the fête. Furthermore, when Susan reads Charlotte's fortune, she makes references to Andrew Macphail, the archaeologist Charlotte spends a great deal of time with in Susan Muddles Through. So we can see that The Wilsons Won't Mind and Susan and the Spae-wife fit neatly into the chronology.

September: Gabrielle Gascoigne joins Midge and Susan at St. Ronan’s in Susan’s Trying Term. Susan becomes captain of the hockey team. There is a school play at the end of the term, with Selina and Peregrine taking along some bigwigs from the entertainment industry. It is here that the first broken link in the series occurs.

Christmas: In No Trouble for Susan, Midge and Susan, now 15, return to Wichwood for the holidays. They help out Louella at her book shop and get involved in a play with the Wichwood Players. Susan also helps to save another elderly widow, Mrs. Gregson, from eviction and deals with a gang of Cockney trouble makers. In this book, we are also introduced to Sir Arthur Symes, Mrs. Gregson’s skinflint landlord.

Year 3:

Easter? In Susan and the Home-made Bomb, the gang are back in Wichwood Village, perhaps during the Easter holiday, and help Jennifer Harding take up the offer of a scholarship at the Sloane School of Art. We can imagine that this story is set around Easter time because of the references to the coming school year, which begins in September, explaining why Jennifer is in such a hurry to guarantee her place at the Sloane. We can place the story at Easter time for two reasons: first, this holiday would be just about the only opportunity for the girls to be home from St. Ronan's; and there is a reference to the weather, with the winter being "not far behind" them. Easter usually occurs in the early spring.

Summer: Susan’s Kind Heart. Following their all-time low marks in French, Susan and Midge are sent to Brittany with Charlotte, who has now left school, to improve their French. This story affords Susan and the Carmichael sisters an opportunity to have their own Breton adventure, with all of Jane Shaw's main characters now having visited Binic. There are echoes of the Moochers stories, with the girls tackling a smuggling operation and a ghost, in the shape of a phantom horseman.

Christmas: The Christmas of this year is not recorded, with the series jumping ahead to the end of the next school year.

Year 4:

September: Susan and Midge fly to Venice to meet Susan’s parents on their way back from Africa in Where is Susan? Charlotte is now studying in Perugia and Mr and Mrs Lyle are stuck on their ship due to fears of an outbreak of a contagious disease. There is also a mysterious “Russian spy” following Susan and Midge all over Venice.

Christmas: In A Job for Susan, Mr and Mrs Lyle have rented a house in Wichwood Village and Susan and Tessa are staying there for Christmas. Bill has to earn ten pounds to donate to Oxfam after making a rash promise to one of his teachers. He gets a job as a cleaner and paper boy to achieve this. Susan believes she can hit the jack-pot by finding and selling valuable old coins. And dastardly Sir Arthur is up to his old tricks, trying to buy what he believes to be a valuable painting for a very low price. Susan wants to help Maggie Zimmerli, her landlady, to raise money to go to Paris and train to be a cook.

Year 5:

Easter: In the incomplete twelfth book, Susan in Trouble, Tessa finds out she is going to spend the summer in the USA and Mexico. Susan and her parents are going too and Susan wants to find a way to raise money for Midge to go with them. Susan suggests that Midge should write another story and Midge is not very enthusiastic. The manuscript comes to an abrupt halt at this point.

So there we have it. The events of Susan’s School Play cannot be worked into the timeline at all and no clear explanation is offered regarding when the events in Susan and the Home-made Bomb take place. No attempt was made to reconcile all the short stories with the novels. It is strange that from the summer adventures of Susan’s Kind Heart, the author decided to jump forward a year in Where is Susan? when there was room for more St. Ronan's stories. Her correspondence with her publishers showed that the original plan was to write four or five stories set at the school. There are two reasons why they never materialized, although they are not entirely convincing. First of all, Jane Shaw claimed that she disliked writing school stories. Secondly, by the 1960s, school stories in general were in decline. But that does little to explain why she undertook the Northmead stories for Nelson and A Girl with Ideas for Collins in the 1960s. The huge gap in time in the Susan books may also be accounted for by the fact that two Christmas novels were already part of the series and to add a third one so quickly might seem repetitive. This actually happened later in any case. Readers today often confuse No Trouble for Susan with A Job for Susan. Another consideration is that the content of the stories might be determined by the time of year they were set to be published. Christmas stories may go down as good presents in the festive season, but not if the book is published in time for the summer holidays. I also suspect that the author wished to reunite Susan with her parents and thought that a trip to Venice in summer would be the best way to do this. It would not be a good idea to set this story in the middle of winter, so it was necessary to jump forward a year so that Susan and Midge could enjoy their gondola rides and sightseeing in the summer sunshine.

I often wonder how the series might have continued and what Susan's trip to America would have been like. The series may have got its second wind if the plans to reissue the stories in Armada paperbacks had gone ahead. These paperbacks certainly breathed new life into other series like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and The Three Investigators. We could have had a very 1970s Susan, perhaps emigrating to Australia, which might have been fun. But perhaps it was best to have the series end when it did, with Mr. and Mrs. Lyle back from Africa and settling in London. In the end, that seemed the right way to do it.

Fula Fiskar, Fifi!

Here's another of the Swedish covers, this time Susan Muddles Through, depicting the dramatic scene when Dr. Maxwell attempts to defect to a "Foreign Power" behind the Iron Curtain with a hoard of atomic secrets after faking his death. The title in Swedish, according to Eva Löfgren in Susan and Friends, means Ugly Fish or Ugly Customers.

Jane Shaw Guide: Miss Pershore

Miss Pershore, nicknamed Miss Plum or The Plum by the Carmichaels, is a character in Susan Pulls the Strings. She lives at Number 14 Tollgate Road. She is a petite woman who is always very elegantly dressed and uses a blue rinse in her hair. A culture vulture, she frequently attends the ballet and theatre and visits art galleries, appreciating modern art in particular. At the beginning of the story, Susan discovers that Miss Pershore has become a close friend of Aunt Lucy, whom she calls Lucia (pronounced Loocher), and that Aunt Lucy has come under her spell and is becoming something of a culture vulture herself, buying alternative-style Christmas cards and hanging strange paintings around the house. Although Miss Plum lavishes expensive Christmas presents like puppets and paintings on Susan and the Carmichaels, the children do not care much for her. Susan is especially put off her because of her blue hair. The Plum makes constant short visits to Paris, ostensibly to soak up the culture. However, Susan accidentally stumbles on a cache of smuggled watches and discovers that Miss Pershore is a member of an elaborate smuggling ring, the proceeds of which finance her expensive lifestyle. When Miss Pershore discovers that Susan knows about her criminal activities, she pretends she has a gun and ties Susan up, leaving her bound and gagged while she makes her escape. But Miss Pershore, for all her skill in the underworld, seems to be of limited intelligence and blabs her escape route to Susan before she leaves, making it easy for the police to arrest her. When she is arrested and out of their lives, the Carmichaels are happy that her cultural influence on Aunt Lucy is removed and life can go back to normal. Polite, well-to-do and thoroughly middle-class, Miss Pershore is the first of a long line of unlikely crooks in the Susan series. Her nickname is derived from the market town of Pershore in Worcestershire, famous for its plums.

Jane Shaw Quiz 76

What is Susan's favourite kind of chocolate?

The answer to Quiz 75: Midge plays the recorder.

Quote of the Day

But after a time things began to sort themselves out and Susan suddenly found that she knew the way to the dormitory without asking Midge or to the various form-rooms without feeling that she would never find her way back and that she would be discovered, days later, still wandering round crazed with cold and hunger. She went to her first house meeting; she heard about the school societies - the Dramatic Club, the Debating Society, Birdwatchers' Club, Puppet Club, Stamp Club - and joined them all.

"You can't," said Midge, "not even a busybody like you can attend all the meetings because half of them are held on the same evening at the same time."

"Well, I'll leave out the Birdwatchers," said Susan. "As a matter of fact I'm not so keen on that because the only bird I know is a sparrow and I'd get jolly sick of watching sparrows. I'll leave out the Birdwatchers-"

From SUSAN AT SCHOOL, Chapter 2, Super Fags.

Anything Can Happen

A different angle of the front cover of the first Dizzy and Alison story, Anything Can Happen. At the age of 18, these girls are the oldest of Jane Shaw's leading characters. The book was illustrated by Thelma Lambert.

Jane Shaw Quiz 75

Which musical instrument does Midge play when the cousins relax in their schoolroom?

The answer to Quiz 74: Peregrine takes an air-gun to Switzerland in Susan Interferes.

Quote of the Day

"Oh, there's Cracknell, you know - I like Cracknell. I think he's a rogue, but I like him. He's a comic turn in himself, and keeps me amused, but he's too often away at the garage on the mainland tinkering with the car. Look, Sir Henry thinks he's a heaven-sent humourist, and if you don't laugh your head off at his jokes he thinks you're being deliberately rude."

Fanny slackened her pace. "Father," she said, "I don't think I feel like going to lunch with him."

"Come on," said Pips.  "I expect the food's gorgeous. Is it, Father?"

"The food is magnificent," her father assured her.

"There you are then, Fanny. Don't be so soft."

From THE CREW OF THE BELINDA, Chapter 15, Re-union.

The Cable-car to Wissifluh

This is the little red cable-car that conveyed Susan and the Carmichaels from Vitznau to Wissifluh and back. Only Bill enjoyed the sheer drops and hanging over empty space in this contraption. Midge, especially, was terrified, claiming that she had "seen a more substantial door on a toy motor-car". When the cable-car arrived for the return journey, the gang were amazed that it came up with a large length of drainpipe tied to the roof and carrying a man and an Alsatian dog that "jumped out nonchalantly, followed by the man, who then leant dizzily over open space and untied his drainpipe". The text then goes on to say that "For perhaps the first time in her life, Susan didn't offer to help". When Susan later suggested a return to Wissifluh, she was met with a firm No from Midge, who for once could not be browbeaten into falling in with Susan's plan. The terror of the Carmichaels and Susan on this trip is very convincing, and that is because Jane Shaw went through the same experience herself and recorded it in detail in her journal.

Jane Shaw Quiz 74

In Susan Interferes, which "toy" does Pea-green take to Switzerland?

The answer to Quiz 73: In Susan Interferes, she discovers that she has a fear of heights.

Quote of the Day

What happened was that in a very few minutes a tiny speck began to swing down the thin silver thread and eventually there arrived at their feet a small red tin box.

Susan felt quite faint. She glanced at the others and was relieved to find rather anxious expressions on all their faces, which gave her courage to say, "Are we supposed to go up a sheer mountain-side in that tin can?"

"I expect it's stronger than it looks," said Charlotte in a quavering voice.

"It had better be," said Midge.

From SUSAN INTERFERES, Chapter 5, Looking for Fräulein Amacher.

Griselda Makes Toffee

A scene from The Magic Basket.

Jane Shaw Quiz 73

In Susan Interferes, which phobia does Susan discover she has?

The answer to Quiz 72: Susan's favourite pantomime is Cinderella.

Quote of the Day

"Oh, Madame Bertholet," I said, "Raoul didn't mind a bit once he got his taxi back. He was a nice boy. Let's forget about these things, we all make mistakes sometimes, let's talk about something else." I cast around in my mind for something to cheer the old lady up, and as usual on these occasions, my mind went completely blank.

From ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, Chapter 13, Surfeit of Bracelets.

Susan's Kind Heart cover

Sara and Caroline visited Brittany in 1939 in Breton Adventure. The Moochers sailed over to Binic in 1951, and Penny paid a visit in 1954. In 1965, Jane Shaw decided that it was time for her most popular character Susan to visit the north of France. The result was Susan's Kind Heart. In this book, the name of Binic is changed to St. Clos. The cover is unique in that it does not depict a scene from the story and has an enticer that makes use of alliteration. The dark-haired girl is Damienne, whom Susan and Midge befriend at the villa. Like its predecessors, Susan's Kind Heart has painstaking descriptions of the region. There are some signs of modernization such as faster cars, more electricity and improved indoor plumbing. But the activities that the previous characters enjoyed like swimming in the grève, long walks round the shops and feasting at the pâtisserie are all part of Susan's holiday too. And, like Caroline and Sara, the original purpose of Susan and Midge's trip to France is to improve their French. The story begins with Aunt Lucy "shuddering" at the girls' report cards from St. Ronan's. She follows Charlotte's suggestion that Susan and Midge should accompany her to Brittany, where she is going to stay with a French family. Predictably, like Caroline and Sara, the girls make very little (if any) improvement to their French. When they arrive in Brittany, they find that the other people they encounter are either English themselves or are foreigners eager to improve their own mastery of our native tongue. As a result, the girls have very little need to actually speak French. It is hard to understand how the families of Jane Shaw's characters are willing to spend so much on their education when virtually no progress is made in any subject.

Jane Shaw Quiz 72

What is Susan's favourite pantomime?

The answer to Quiz 71: Miss Bracken is Uncle Charles's receptionist.

Quote of the Day

And as if things weren't awkward enough, the next day was wet, with a real Blackwaterfoot special which blotted out the whole valley with its steady grey downpour. The domestic arrangements of the cottage being in the hands of Sara at the moment, the girls had been forced over to the Renasay drawing-room for warmth, where a huge fire glowed pleasantly and sent its peaty smell round the room.

From HIGHLAND HOLIDAY, Chapter 7, Sara's Familiar Spirit.

Susan Pulls the Strings

This weekend I re-read Susan Pulls the Strings. It is an interesting story because it is the first in the series and also quite different from all the others that came after it. Several of the Jane Shaw hallmarks are there, such as the coincidences, unlikely crook and Charlotte's impulses, but if you look closely you see that there are some aspects that would never resurface in the later books. First of all, the usually active Susan spends a good part of the story laid up with a chill. There is also a slightly darker side to her. The Susan of the subsequent books would never pull Aunt Lucy into a freezing pond and try to make her ill. Midge is a lot more active. Although there are references to her laziness and how she loves to sleep late, she is on the move a lot more and doesn't keep complaining every time she is asked to do something that involves more than lifting a finger. Aunt Lucy is portrayed as more of an oddball. Like Charlotte, she too has her sudden urges and enthusiasms, but that would be greatly toned down as the series progressed. She would go on to be merely naive in the next few books, unable to understand her charges' dislike of the talented and gifted Gascoignes. By the end of the series, even that trait in her character would disappear and she would just become like everyone's favourite aunt. The story is also different because there is less madcap banter and slapstick comedy. As the 1950s drew to a close, Jane Shaw's editor at Collins would note that her characters were becoming more caricatured. She worked hard to bring this under control, but Susan became more of a busybody, Midge became lazier and the Gascoignes became ghastlier. A possible reason for this is that at Collins she no longer had the editorial advice of Jocelyn Oliver. When he moved to Nelson, Jane Shaw wrote the Penny series for him. There is a marked difference between the slapstick style of the Susan books and the light humour of the Penny series. But whatever the reason for its being different, Susan Pulls the Strings is a unique reading experience.

Jane Shaw Quiz 71

In the Susan series, who is Miss Bracken?

The answer to Quiz 70: Selina Gascoigne marries artist Sam Pilkington, assuming the ridiculous double-barrelled name of Selina Gascoigne-Pilkington.

Quote of the Day

"No, Aunt Lucy," said Susan, "I was lying bound and gagged next door."

"And as for you. Charlotte," went on Aunt Lucy, "I ask you to set the table and you just calmly go off in the middle - what did you say, Susan?"

"I said," said Susan, "that I was lying bound and gagged in the empty house next door."

Aunt Lucy burst out, "Now look here, Susan, I might as well tell you here and now that these stories have got to stop. Nobody thinks it's funny, nobody thinks it's clever, nobody-"

"Aunt Lucy," Charlotte interrupted before Aunt Lucy could work herself up any further, "it's quite true."

From SUSAN PULLS THE STRINGS, Chapter 12, New Year Resolutions.

Buried Treasures 6

The cover of my personal favourite of all of Jane Shaw's books: A Job for Susan (1969). This scene from Chapter 2, A Job for Bill, shows the girls discovering Sir Arthur Symes, a.k.a the Wicked Baronet, a.k.a. the Bad Bart, spying on Susan's house, more specifically the room she has baptized as Bluebeard's Chamber. The artist, whose signature appears in the bottom right-hand corner, is Roger Hall, who would go on to illustrate the British editions of the Three Investigators series.

Jane Shaw Quiz 70

Which local personality does Selina Gascoigne marry in Wichwood Village?

The answer to Quiz 69: The museum that Ricky, Julie and Fay visit in Paris is the Musée Grevin, a waxworks museum.

Quote of the Day

Suddenly Susan, who had apparently been doing some mental arithmetic, said, "Bill, even if they all pay half a crown, which isn't very likely, that only comes to twelve-and-six. It'll be years before we collect enough to buy one truck far less a whole railway."

"I'm trying not to think of that," said Bill.

"But we must think of that," said Susan. "I wish we could sell the puppets for a large sum."

"Nobody in their senses would buy them for a large sum," said Bill.

"Oh, I would," said Susan.

Bill looked at her speculatively. "How much?" he said.

From SUSAN PULLS THE STRINGS, Chapter 8, The Empty House Next Door.

Willow Green Mystery illustration

A scene from Lost Boy, the sixth chapter of Willow Green Mystery. Miss Woodward loses her patience with Bella the cow, who has trampled on her prize-winning garden.

Jane Shaw Quiz 69

Which Parisian waxworks museum do the girls visit in Crooks Tour?

The answer to Quiz 68: Lynette du Toit is the new girl at Northmead who has just arrived from Africa. Despite early misgivings, she becomes friends with Nicky and Kay. 

Quote of the Day

One of the nice things about getting back to Johannesburg was that we plunged into a wild whirl of gaiety. Aunt Helen had a terrific party to meet some of our relations' friends. You never saw such a spread in your life, cold meats of all kinds and the most wonderful salads, not just a bit of lettuce and a tomato, oh no, but glorious mixtures of pineapples and celery and avocado pear and cream cheese and nuts and green peppers and red peppers and asparagus to name but a few, some of them formed into moulds. Even apart from their delicious taste, you never saw anything so pretty.

From NOTHING HAPPENED AFTER ALL, Chapter 8, Interlude in Civilisation. Once again we see Jane Shaw's mastery of long sentences that do not leave the reader feeling out of breath. One sentence in this quote has 64 words.

The Adventures of a Snowman

An illustration from The Adventures of a Snowman (1954, reprinted 1959). Clarissa culminates a night of adventure by catching the poacher. Click on the picture for a much larger view.

Jane Shaw Quiz 68

In New House at Northmead, who is Lynette du Toit?

The answer to Quiz 67: When they returned to Scotland from Africa, Jane Shaw and her husband set up home on the isle of Arran.

Quote of the Day

Operation Peach went off without a hitch. As usual Belinda and Mike were awake as soon as the sun began to stream in their windows. They found a big basket in the kitchen and crept out through the yard in their pyjamas, and quickly filled the basket with big luscious ripe peaches, and secreted them in the 'stable'. Really, the only snag was that they forgot that the grass was still wet at that hour of the morning, and they were horrified to discover on returning to their rooms that the legs of their pyjamas were soaking wet.

From VENTURE TO SOUTH AFRICA, Chapter 9, Looking After Stella.

Looking After Thomas illustration

A scene from Chapter 3 of Looking After Thomas: Night Prowler. Thomas accidentally attacks David in the corridor of their Paris hotel.

Jane Shaw Quiz 67

When Jane Shaw and her husband retired to Scotland, where did they set up their home?

The answer to Jane Shaw Quiz 66: the Carmichaels' maid is Joe Taylor's mother.

Quote of the Day

But Charlotte wasn't going to be mollified by any feeble little jokes, even Susan's; she was still furious. "Why should it upset him to hear that this Julian Gascoigne, whoever he may be, is your uncle?"

"Because we can check up on this bird-watcher, of course," said Gabrielle. "I don't believe he's what he says he is, I don't believe he's an ornithologist. I don't believe he has anything to do with St. Jude's at all."

From SUSAN MUDDLES THROUGH, Chapter 6, Investigating Cap'n Dan.

Crooked Sixpence illustration

A scene from Chapter 3, Fair Waved the Golden Corn: Penny and Laura help Mrs. Greenwood.

Jane Shaw Quiz 66

In the Susan books, what is the relationship between the Carmichaels' maid and Joe the policeman?

The answer to Jane Shaw Quiz 65: Miss Phillimore is the head mistress at St. Ronan's.

Quote of the Day

By tea-time it wasn't Susan that was up, but her temperature. Throughout the afternoon the family had dropped into her room at intervals to commiserate with her, and the cause of all the trouble came down and settled with her under the eiderdown when Aunt Lucy wasn't looking. Susan was very glad to see them all, but she couldn't help wishing that she was in better trim, as she put it, for vistors. Really, she felt very peculiar indeed, and in spite of two hot-water bottles, four blankets, an eiderdown and Chang, she just couldn't get warm.

From SUSAN PULLS THE STRINGS, Chapter 7, Chang Breaks the Ice.

Threepenny Bit illustration

This scan from the opening of Threepenny Bit shows the Carters' car drawing near Bath for their first visit to the Mallory family. In this book they meet Marietjie and Piet from South Africa.

Jane Shaw Quiz 65

In the Susan series, who is Miss Phillimore?

The answer to Quiz 64: Belinda's nickname is Blinky.

Quote of the Day

"No, no," said Diana heartily, "these will be fine. A bit squashed perhaps, but they'll be all right when we pick all that fluff off them."

"Delicious tea we're going to have," murmured Hermione.

Susan had bustled forward and was giving the buns a dust down with the sleeve of her cardigan. "Susan," cried Diana when she saw what was going on, "don't use your cardigan, for goodness sake!"

"It's quite all right, Diana," said Susan, "they won't hurt it, I use it for wiping up ink and jam and everything-"

From SUSAN AT SCHOOL, Chapter 2, Super Fags.

Susan Interferes: Children's Press with Spine

This Children's Press cover scan from 1965 includes the spine. Susan is not enthusiastic about Peregrine being armed during the holiday in Switzerland... 

Collins Annual 1954

The cover of the original Collins Annual 1954 with the first Susan short story, The Wilson's Won't Mind.

Susan Pulls the Strings spine (Children's Press)

A nice scan of the spine of the Children's Press edition of Susan Pulls the Strings. Here we see Susan at the beginning of the very first chapter of the book, doing her maths homework and feeling quite proud that she has worked out a theorem. The subject that she is working on is geometry. She comments, rather oddly in my point of view, that she "quite likes" geometry, if she has a decent point on her pencil. Even more curiously, she goes on to add that algebra is "not bad", but that she doesn't like arithmetic. As arithmetic is the easiest aspect of maths, preferring geometry and algebra sounds unusual, especially in the case of Susan as we gradually come to know her as the not-so-very-dedicated pupil she turns out to be at St. Ronan's. As noted in a previous post, which you can read here, maths teachers turned out to be the most unpopular instructors in all of Jane Shaw's school stories. But the main focus of the first chapter of Susan Pulls the Strings is to let the reader know that Susan will be moving to London to stay with the Carmichaels during her parents' sojourn in Africa, so the subject of her homework is not meant to be very important.

Det Fixar Fifi!

This is the last of the scans that Eva Löfgren has sent me so far, the cover of Susan Interferes in Swedish. The title means Fifi will fix it. The Swedish covers certainly cast the series in a different light.

Jane Shaw Quiz 64

In Venture to South Africa, what is Belinda's nickname?

The answer to Quiz 63: Jean Patrick graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in English Language and Literature.

Quote of the Day

Jill and John and Laura, who had been unobtrusively - they hoped - peeping behind the girl as she and Penny were talking, were itching to get inside. Penny, who was wondering why the girl had been crying, said without much conviction, "We don't want to bother you-"

"Bother us!" said the girl. "We haven't spoken to anyone in a fortnight! Come in."

From THREEPENNY BIT, Chapter 5, Showers of Pennies.

Fulle Rulle, Fifi!

Thanks once again to the indefatigable Eva Löfgren for sending me this scan of the Swedish cover of No Trouble for Susan. This is my favourite of the Swedish covers and it shows the hilarious scene where Charlotte gets the pot stuck on her head just before she's meant to go on stage. Hilarious! And the clothes are quite different from what British readers were used to. Midge looks somewhat like Daphne from Scooby Doo...

Jane Shaw Quiz 63

In which subject did Jean Patrick (Jane Shaw) earn a degree from Glasgow University in the 1930s?

The answer to Quiz 62: Susan's favourite cake is a walnut cake from Fuller's. The picture shows this delicious cake that Susan and Tessa enjoyed in A Job for Susan on a bitterly cold afternoon in Wichwood Village on their return from St. Ronan's in the Lyles' new house just down the road from where the Carmichaels lived. I always smile when I read this part of the book because although the girls are described as feeling bloated after a huge tea, Mrs. Lyle immediately sets to preparing dinner even before they have even begun to digest this hearty meal. Food is an extremely important element in Susan's life. No matter how much she eats at breakfast, lunch or dinner, there is always plenty of room for ices and snacks with cold drinks in summer or extra cakes and sandwiches with hot drinks in winter!

Treasure Book: The Wilsons Won't Mind

This is the cover of The Treasure Book for Girls 1958, which includes a reprint of The Wilsons Won't Mind, the first of the Susan short stories. Collins certainly made sure they got their money's worth out of Jane Shaw's short stories. Many of the stories she wrote for her publishers were included in a number of different annuals over the years. However, anyone imagining that the author rubbed her hands with glee over the extra royalties she would receive with every reprint should think again. As was common practice in the 1950s, the stories were sold outright for a flat fee. It was only in the mid 1960s that contracts began to include royalties for every copy of a book sold. By that time, Jane Shaw's career was winding down and she was only entitled to these extra royalties from the last few Susan books, which were not as widely circulated as their predecessors. Consequently, all the extra mileage eked out of the Susan books and Crooks Tour in the Children's Press editions was exclusively to the benefit of the publishers.

Quote of the Day

Susan didn't think that Pea-green had had nearly such an exciting day as she had had - who had had all the worry of the blessed silkworms anyway? Still, Pea-green temperaments weren't her concern, luckily.

From SUSAN RUSHES IN, Chapter 12, A New Career for Charlotte. The word HAD appears six times in one sentence, to great comic effect.

Jane Shaw Quiz 62

What is Susan's favourite cake?

The answer to Quiz 61: In Bernese Adventure, when Sara realizes she has no money, she pays for her lemonade with a book.

The Treasure Book for Boys and Girls

This Treasure Book for Boys and Girls (dating from the late 1940s or early 1950s) is quite a special Collins annual because it contains not one but two Jane Shaw stories, namely The Lonely Giant (Page 69), immediately followed by Griselda and the Rain Fairies (Page 77). A real treat...

Maths Teachers in Jane Shaw

I wonder whether Jean Patrick had trouble with mathematics when she was at school. I say this because I've noticed that all of the most unpopular teachers in her stories are maths teachers. In the Caroline and Sara books and The Crew of the Belinda, we only see the characters during the holidays or on the last day of school, so we know little about their teachers. But starting in The Moochers and recurring in all the other school stories she ever wrote, the maths teachers are the ones who get the hardest deal. The Moochers mention that at their bankrupt co-educational school, Percie, they had a maths teacher called Mr. Williams, whom they describe as having a "lashing tongue". At Pendragon Manor, the most horrible teacher is Miss Perry, known to the girls as The Winkle. She is sarcastic and has an "acid voice"; the girls take an instant dislike to her and she to them. In the Northmead books, we do not actually get to meet the maths teacher, but we are told that her name is Miss Pratt-Paton, known as P-squared and described as "an old meanie". Later in the 1960s Jean Bell wrote A Girl with Ideas, set at Thornton Combe in Somerset. The dreaded maths teacher at this school is Miss Parker, whom the girls predictably nickname Nosy Parker. She is a nasty piece of work, never hesitating to tell the girls how useless and stupid they are and springing surprise tests on them out of the blue. At one point she even demands that the whole form should be expelled for cheating in their homework. However, when it comes to really horrible teachers, first prize has to go to Miss Ferrier (picture), the dreaded maths teacher at St. Ronan's, known to the girls as The Ferret. Susan, Midge and Tessa detest and fear this woman. She too has an acid tongue and indulges in cruel sarcasm. But there is more: she is apparently devoid of any redeeming qualities. In The Moochers and A Girl with Ideas, there are times when the reader feels sorry for the teachers or can at least sympathise with them. Miss Perry takes up with a crooked local councillor who just uses her to obtain inside information about the school so that he can force it to close and Miss Perry is let down because she believes this connving man actually wishes to marry her. Katherine and Fiona can't help thinking that this is more than even she deserves. Miss Parker is not 100% bad because the girls actually did cheat and she is quite right to be angry about it. But Miss Ferrier possesses no attributes that soften her character at all. She doesn't hesitate to punish the girls with extra maths even on a Saturday afternoon and is oblivious to their appeals that they should be playing hockey, even when it is a big match and the honour of the school is at stake. The only characters that come off worse than her are the Gascoignes.

So why is it that the maths teachers come across as such unlikeable people? I suspect that the author had some bad times with them at school. When I was growing up in Glasgow, I too had some awful experiences in maths classes. Most of the teachers of this subject that I came up against were sarcastic and seemed to adopt the attitude that if you couldn't understand maths that was just hard lines. I remember one teacher, whom we called Big Bob D or Bob the Slob. He would come in, scribble an equation on the board that always seemed to end with x=2 and tell us to "dae the exercise" while he stomped out of the room for a smoke. The only time I sought help from him while struggling with the bewildering maze of algebra he mockingly said with his unforgettable big cheesy grin "So ye cannae understand it? Aww..." Then, to add insult to injury, at a parents' meeting, he told my mother to tell me to "just ask him" when I found the going too tough! I did have one maths teacher who was nice, a Mr. Durkin. He did strange things like explaining, giving clear examples and even repeating if you didn't get it, something his peers seemed incapable of. But if I were to write a book about a school, the maths teacher would probably come out like one of Jane Shaw's.

Quote of the Day

So then I began to feel better and tried to thank Pierre for dashing to my rescue, but Pierre only laughed and said that it was easy to be courageous when an important member of the Sûreté was right behind you.

"The Sûreté?" I gaped. "That's the French equivalent of Scotland Yard, isn't it? Then he really is a flic after all?"

From ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, Chapter 14, Show-down.

Susan in Swedish: Fiffigt, Fifi!

Thanks once again to Eva Löfgren, who sent me this scan of Susan's Trying Term in Swedish. While the  UK edition shows an illustration of Gabrielle Gascoigne's arrival at St. Ronan's, the Swedish edition shows a scene from Chapter 4, when Susan catches the young boy who was thrown off the roundabout at the fair. The title in Swedish means Smart Girl. All the Swedish covers were drawn by Heidi Lindgren. Although the name Fifi is used in the titles, Susan's real name is used in the stories. However, Midge's name is changed to Myggan, and Pea-green becomes Grinus, meaning Whiner or Complainer. For more about the Swedish editions, you can read Eva Löfgren's chapter in Susan and Friends, entitled Fifi and the Fish, which is the sole source of information on the Swedish books and translations.

Jane Shaw Quiz 61

In Bernese Adventure, when Sara finds she has no money to pay for the lemonade she has just finished drinking, how does she resolve the situation?

The answer to Quiz 60: The Folding Letter is the handwritten letter by William Shakespeare in Susan's Helping Hand that is stolen by the Mad Collector.

Quote of the Day

But she couldn't just stand there, feeling sick. She made a dart at the bed, remembering her own invariable hiding-place for illicit comics when she was small, and pushed back the mattress. There lay a solitaire diamond ring and a crescent brooch, the very bag with Midland Bank on it that she had handed to the unknown at the gymkhana, a soft pigskin purse.

("I was right," she though, "I was right!")

From FOURPENNY FAIR, Chapter 15, Proof.

Treasure Box: The Lonely Giant

This is another very rare annual that contains a Jane Shaw story, The Lonely Giant. In Susan and Friends, it is listed as having appeared in The Treasure Book for Boys and Girls. This annual is called The Treasure Box for Boys and Girls. However, I don't think that the listing in Susan and Friends is in error. Both titles existed and it is perfectly conceivable that the story was printed in both. Jean Evans herself does not seem to have kept a copy of these Treasure Box annuals, otherwise they would have been found during preparation for Susan and Friends.

Quote of the Day

Margaret Scott was more encouraging. "I'm going to do it," she announced, "the Library, I mean. I think it might be quite a success: and if not, I'd rather hang for a sheep. If you come along at ten to-morrow, or is that too early?... All right, ten to-morrow and I'll hire you for the day - And will I make you work for your shillings!"

From THE CREW OF THE BELINDA, Chapter 12, Financial Crisis.

The Dog Who Couldn't Learn Tricks

While doing some browsing recently, I came across this annual called The Treasure Box, undated but from the late 1940s or early 1950s. I was surprised to see that the first item in the contents was The Dog Who Couldn't Learn Tricks, by Jane Shaw, surprised because it was the first I had ever heard of this story; it's not even listed in Susan and Friends. This story doesn't seem to have been reprinted elsewhere. I've found three annuals with The Wilsons Won't Mind, and the same goes for Susan's School Play and even The Onion Man. However, the stories for very young children don't appear to have got the same mileage. Most of them are easy to find because they were printed in the Collins Children's Annual, which enjoyed a wide circulation. However, the three Treasure Box annuals obviously were not printed in such large numbers. But now this long-lost treasure has been unearthed. 

Griselda and the Giant (colour illustration)

The colour illustration of Griselda and the Giant.

Collins Annual: Griselda and the Giant

This is the cover of the Collins Children's Annual that features Griselda and the Giant. Like all the Collins annuals it is undated, but is probably from 1958.

Jane Shaw Quiz 60

What is the Folding Letter?

The answer to Quiz 59: Sid has a bad stutter.

Quote of the Day

It wasn't until the train reached Rigi Kulm that their true situation dawned on them. All the passengers left the train and handed their tickets to a ticket inspector. Susan and Midge looked at each other.

"We haven't got a ticket!" said Susan.

"No," Midge agreed.

"We haven't any money!" Susan's voice went up to a high squeak.

"No," said Midge.

"What are we to do?" said Susan.

"Nothing," said Midge.

From SUSAN INTERFERES, Chapter 2, Up the Airy Mountains.

Fritt Fram, Fifi: Susan's Helping Hand

And Eva Löfgren came through once again with this scan of the cover of Susan's Helping Hand in Swedish. This is my favourite scene from the Susan stories, the runaway lawnmower at Cousin Barbara's farm. Eva informs me that a possible translation of the title is Susan at Large, which sounds just like a title that Jane Shaw herself might have used if she had continued the series. Eva, who contributed a chapter to Susan and Friends about the Swedish editions, often points out to me that the characters' clothes may look a bit strange to English-speaking Jane Shaw enthusiasts. Certainly, when the books were published in the 1950s, the characters would never have worn jeans, but at least the artist got the girls' hair colour right, although Bill has been given grey hair... Note that the name of the author has been included as a signpost, which Cousin Barbara would never have put in the middle of a field on her own farm! Flickböcker means Books for Girls. According to Eva in Susan and Friends, B. Wahlström is a well-known publisher of children's books in Sweden that has been publishing juvenile books since 1914.

Jane Shaw Quiz 59

In the Penny books, why does the little orphan Sid have problems communicating with people?

The answer to Quiz 58: David and Tish are twins.