Susan at School (Review)

Susan at School, published by Collins in 1958, is the fifth book in Jane Shaw’s Susan series, although chronologically it is the second. The story backtracks to early January just after the events of Susan Pulls the Strings and The Wilsons Won’t Mind to chronicle Susan’s first term at St. Ronan’s.

The story begins with Aunt Lucy dropping Charlotte, Midge and Susan off at St. Ronan’s. Susan is soon introduced to many of the most memorable characters in the series. First of all, there is her dreamy friend and fellow newcomer, Tessa. Then there are Charlotte’s fellow prefects, the boisterous but likeable Hippo and the nasty Hermione Pennington-Smith, known to her many enemies as H. P. Sauce. Susan also befriends Ann Burton, the girl with a lisp, and Elizabeth Rogers, the budding actress. However, and unusually, it is on Susan and Tessa that the story mainly focuses, with Midge in many chapters taking a back seat. Other characters that are still remembered years later by readers are the teachers: Miss Phillimore, the imposing head mistress, “Dotty” Johnson, the Latin teacher and the dreaded Miss Ferrier, a.k.a. the Ferret, the maths mistress.

The story that follows is one of Jane Shaw’s most humorous and is also interesting because it goes against the grain of the school story genre. The girls do not form a tight bond with the school. They tend to be underachievers and very little learning takes place. They go through prep and classes with the minimum possible effort. But Susan does win her place on the hockey team and is anxious to help provide funds for the new and badly needed school hall. Not surprisingly, there is a long-lost treasure supposedly buried on the school grounds that can help achieve this. And there is the added mystery of dotty Miss Johnson’s mysterious comings and goings to an old shed.

Unlike other Jane Shaw stories, this tale thrives on anti-climax. Miss Johnson’s supposed secret has Susan and Tessa chasing all over the place, but turns out to be an ancient car that everyone else in the school already knew about. And the most hilarious is the uncovering of the so-called Ronan’s Heap, the long-lost priceless treasure. Susan and Tessa are convinced that the location of this collection of jewels and gold is marked on an old map they find in the school library by the cryptic message “R. H. Here”. A hilarious scene has the girls unearthing a collection of broken kettles and other 19th century trinkets. However, not all is lost, as these items turn out to be worth a few pounds. The story rounds off with a triumphant Susan helping her team to win a hockey match away from home. Even getting to the hockey match involves adventure, with Miss Johnson’s ancient car saving the day, transporting Susan and the team’s equipment to Moreton Grange just in time.

The book is not run-of-the-mill Jane Shaw in other ways too. The author gently pokes fun at the school genre throughout the story by having Tessa compare everything that happens to her with what she has read in her mother’s old books about boarding schools (supposedly books penned by the likes of Angela Brazil). Everything that happens in Tessa’s books is in contrast with the reality of St. Ronan’s. There is no permanent threat of expulsion, the mistresses have no big secrets and the prefects do not bully their charges, rather it is the younger pupils who get the better of them. This story also depends more heavily on slapstick comedy than any other Jane Shaw story. A lot of humour is derived from Tessa’s slow intellect, and there are times when this is laid on a little too thickly. A final point of note is that it is at St. Ronan’s, ironically, that Susan actually excels at something, i.e. hockey. In all the other stories, her busybody nature usually does more harm than good, with only the predictable coincidences saving her at the last minute, but here she actually has a skill that she can proudly call her own.

Although the author claimed that she did not enjoy writing school stories, Susan at School is an excellent, well-plotted piece of work and was a huge success in its day with many memorable characters. I give it a ten.

Jane Shaw Encyclopedia: Mrs. Carmichael

Mrs. Carmichael is the deceased mother of Charlotte, Midge and Bill Carmichael, wife of Dr. Charles Carmichael and sister-in-law of Margot Lyle and Lucy Carmichael. She is only referred to in the stories as having passed away when Bill, her youngest child, was very young. Very little information is provided about her. She studied at St. Ronan’s and was in St. George’s House. She probably studied with Lucy and Margot and it is likely that they introduced her to her future husband during visits to their home during the school holidays. All the children appear to have come to terms with her passing and the hole that she left in their lives is partially filled by Aunt Lucy. It is likely that the author decided that the Carmichael children would have no mother to enable their household to be run by an “eccentric” Aunt Lucy, as Lucy’s behavior in Susan Pulls the Strings would be more acceptable coming from an aunt than a mother. However, the concept of an eccentric Aunt Lucy soon fell away and she became a more “sensible” maternal figure, and in the subsequent books the absence of the children’s birth mother was always quickly explained away in the opening pages. The cause of Mrs. Carmichael’s death is not given, nor is her first name, although it was possibly Margaret.

Quote of the Day

Susan too found it very disappointing; so far as she could judge, Tessa's tales were all a lot of rot, boarding-school was just as bad as day-school had been - boring to a degree - hours and hours, days and days, weeks and weeks passed without anything exciting happening at all; instead of mistresses with sinister secrets there was nothing but boring old lessons and prep; instead of prefects persecuting girls and making their lives a misery the boot was on the other foot, as she heard that afternoon when Diana came in and, with a gusty sigh, flung herself as usual into the one armchair.

From SUSAN AT SCHOOL, Chapter 5, Miss Johnson's Secret.

Crooks Tour Retro Press

The Retro Press cover of Crooks Tour. The spine shows a scene from Chapter 2, Crook in the Station, where Julie, Ricky and Fay collar the young man rushing through the train station at Basle. Thanks to Jan Johnson for this nice scan.

Quote of the Day

Susan didn't want to be a dog-in-the-manger, but really it was asking more than flesh and blood could stand to stay and watch Tessa playing in B game, and she certianly wasn't going back among the rabbits in G game, she was tired of scoring goals. Nobody would miss her, she thought, mournfully, feeling feeling sorry for herself; she would go for a long walk to Maidstone perhaps, or to Tunbridge Wells.

From SUSAN AT SCHOOL, Chapter 3, Tessa is Promoted.

Bernese Adventure (Retro Press)

In 2008, as part of their Retro Press series, Robert Fredrick Ltd. published Bernese Adventure and Crooks Tour in the United States. Why only these titles were selected is not clear. The covers are very nice laminated boards and the texts are unabridged. Thanks to Jan Johnson for the idea for this post.

Quote of the Day

Eventually she stood on a chair, and with a lot of puffing and blowing and straining she managed to heave her suitcase and hook it on to the front of the wardrobe. She had just got down and pushed the chair away when suddenly to her horror the whole contraption, wardrobe, suitcase, dresses, the lot, swayed slowly forward and crashed to the floor.

From FIVEPENNY MYSTERY, Chapter 2, What Happened in Athens.

Crooks Tour (Children's Press)

The 1969 edition of Crooks Tour, published by the Children's Press. A drawing very similar to the  original drawing from 1962 is used, but the girls have had their clothes and hair modernized.

Quote of the Day

They all bustled about getting more stuff to burn, and then at last Cousin Barbara thought the potatoes would be ready. She poked them out of the fire with a long stick. "Oh, just a minute, Susie!" she cried. "They're burning hot, let them cool a little!"

"But it's half the fun, surely," said Charlotte, "to get your fingers burnt---" and she seized the charred object, which didn't look as if there was an edible bite in it, and broke it in two and began to eat the delicious, flurry inside. Cousin Barbara came in for much praise for her excellent timing, the potatoes were cooked to perfection.

From SUSAN'S HELPING HAND, Chapter 7, Bonfire.

SKH on Goodreads

This week is carnival week in Brazil and we had a big holiday. I used some of my time to apply for librarian status on Goodreads and it was granted. There wasn't all that much about Jane Shaw on the site beyond the Susan books and one or two other titles, so I set to and added all the Penny books, Venture to South Africa, the Dizzy and Alison stories and a lot of reviews and comments. The works. So now Jane Shaw's page on Goodreads has been beefed up. I wrote a new review for Susan's Kind Heart as well:

When Aunt Lucy receives Susan and Midge's dreadful report cards and sees that their French marks have dropped to an all-time low, she decides to "punish" them by sending them off to Brittany for the summer. The traditional Jane Shaw mixt of adventure, hearty meals, smuggling, ghosts and treasure keep the girls busy throughout their time in St. Close on the coast of Brittany. And of course, they don't learn much French. St. Clos is a thinly disguised Binic, Jane Shaw's beloved haven in Brittany, which had already been the setting for Breton Adventure (1939), The Moochers Abroad (1951) and Twopence Coloured (1954). As all the author's other heroines had visited Binic, in 1965 it was time for Susan to venture to the sands across the sea. Like all of Jane Shaw's books, this one is tightly plotted and entertaining. Susan's Kind Heart is the 9th book in a series of eleven, all of which were of very high quality. This book is a must for all Jane Shaw enthusiasts.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/534885599

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/305257.Jane_Shaw

Threepenny Bit frontispiece

A nice cleaned up scan of the frontispiece to Threepenny Bit, showing the shop opened by the le Rouxs.

Quote of the Day

"Och, I'm not going to spend your old five pounds," said Susan, "but we could get five pounds' worth of pennies and go through them quietly at home for the important dates--" Tessa supposed there could be no harm in that, "--and if we had no luck we could take them back and change them for another lot--"

"Give ourselves hours of harmless fun," said Midge sardonically, but as she usually found that it saved  trouble in the long run to give in to Susan's dotty ideas, she didn't object, and the girls and Bill made their way to the bank.

From A JOB FOR SUSAN, Chapter 9, Easy Money.

Venture to South Africa

A very high resolution (200 dpi) scan of the frontispiece of Venture to South Africa. The illustration is of a scene in Chapter 12, Big Game. Ten miles from Skukuza, they come across giraffes, which Belinda claims she wanted to see more than anything, even the lions. By the way, there is no grammatical error in the subtitle. The children discover that people out in the big game parks do not talk about "a lion" or "lions"; instead, they call them simply "lion". The same goes for the other animals, so when you're out in the big game camps, it's correct to say "I saw giraffe".

Quote of the Day

Lilias was often deeply impressed by Pip's knowledge of practical matters; but she scarcely ever let her suspect it. Indeed, when she was cross with her, she often managed to convey the impression that the things Pips knew weren't worth knowing.

From THE CREW OF THE BELINDA, Chapter 4, Belinda. 

New House at Northmead (frontispiece)

A nice cleaned up scan of the frontispiece to New House at Northmead.  Newly arrived from Africa, where she was used to having servants chasing after her, Lynette is having trouble adapting to the English way of life.

Quote of the Day

The next half hour was very confusing for Susan and very nasty, a muddle of strange stairs and strange corridors leading to strange dormitories while crowds of strange faces loomed at her, grinning, and disappeared again, rather like the faces in the kind of dream you had when you had a high temperature or had eaten too much supper, she thought.

From SUSAN AT SCHOOL, Chapter 1, New Girls.

Buried Treasures 11

The frontispiece of The Moochers Abroad (1951), showing Binic Harbour and the lighthouse at the end of the Jetée de Penthièvre.

Quote of the Day

At that moment we heard quick footsteps echoing in another part of the villa, and a door at the far end of the gallery opened and a man, tall, dark-haired and long-nosed strode in and stopped abruptly at the sight of us. He was the most tall, handsome, saturnine and thrilling creature that I had ever seen in my life, but obviously, alas, I wasn't having the same startling effect on him, because he was staring at me with such a look of malevolence and cold fury that I took a nervous step backwards - of course on to James' toe but I had more on my mind than worrying about him.

The Renaissance prince - for that's what he looked like in spite of the superb Italian men's suiting - spat something at me in Italian. My jaw dropped even lower. I tried to take another step backwards only I couldn't because James was in the way.

From the unfinished manuscript THE MAN AT THE VILLA CARLOTTA. This manuscript is undated but was probably written in the early 1960s because of all the references to art and the fact that the heroine, Flora Hamilton, is older than Jane Shaw's previous heroines. Flora is going to work as a governess in Italy and is travelling on her own. She also has two possible love interests by the end of the first chapter, which would certainly not be the case in any story penned in the 1950s. It is a very promising story, but not without the usual flare for the ridiculous. An Italian woman that Flora befriends, a certain Signora Pacitti, is convinced that she has a genuine Bellini painting hanging on her wall. However, despite the fact that the painting has been featured in an English newspaper, the Signora is convinced that no one will ever try to steal it, even though other thefts in the neighbourhood having occurred recently. It's a real pity that this story was never finished because the characters and premise are very interesting.

Jetée de Penthièvre

The Tackle

An illustration from The Prowler, Chapter 9 of Threepenny Bit. Piet and Marietjie mistake each other for burglars and Piet tackles his sister and knocks her down the stairs.

Quote of the Day

"Oops - here it is!" Tessa passed the thing up to Susan.

"But - but," said Susan, examining it, "this looks like a kettle! A kettle with a hole in it!" That was rather an odd thing to find in Ronan's Heap, surely? She hadn't thought of there having been kettles in Henry the Eighth's time, it just showed how ignorant she was - all this fnding of treasure would be good for her history.

"Here comes a jug," said Tessa, passing up a tall, narrow-necked jug, with a lip and a handle, "and here's... something... else." She dragged at the object and handed it to Susan, another small round pot with a broken handle.

But that last effort was too much for the sides of their excavation. With their support dug away and nothing to hold them up, the walls of earth fell in, almost covering Tessa.

From SUSAN AT SCHOOL, Chapter 10, Ronan's Heap.

Places in Jane Shaw: Binic Harbour

Binic Harbour at low tide. This harbour will be a familiar sight to Jane Shaw readers because it features on the cover of Breton Adventure and is the frontispiece of The Moochers Abroad. The southern quay is called the Quai de Pordic. The northern one, with the lighthouse at the end, is the Jetée de Penthièvre.

Quote of the Day

"And he'd clap us in irons and batten us to the hatches and keelhaul us, and make us splice the mainbrace," said Belinda, getting a bit mixed up. The children had caught glimpses of the Captain as he made his round of the cabins each morning and found him a grim and terrifying man.

From Venture to South Africa, Chapter 3, Cheering up Jennifer.

Fula fiskar, Fifi!

A better scan of the cover of the Swedish edition of Susan Muddles Through than the one I posted some time ago.  This illustration is a depiction of a scene from Chapter 13, Stowaways by Mistake, with Pea-green, Bill, Susan and Midge watching the crooks. At first they think they are smugglers, but it turns out to be a Cold War defection that they have stumbled on.

Quote of the Day

Everybody says that the chairman of the governors, a benevolent old boy called Lord Dulwich, who had a daughter at the school away back in the dark ages, would give us a hall right away but that he is restrained by the clerk to the governors who is a very disagreeable lawyer called Pennington-Smith and who says that the school can't afford any extras like building a hall. We know he's disagreeable not only because of not letting us have a hall, but also because his daughter Hermione is a prefect in our house and she's ghastly.

From SUSAN'S SCHOOL PLAY, a short story written in the first person by Midge. This is the first story based at St. Ronan's and, consequently, the first mention of Hermione Pennington-Smith. She has not yet been given the nickname of H. P. Sauce, but it is already clear that she and Susan and Midge will never get on.

Escape from the Manoir de la Falaise

An illustration from Rescue, Chapter 14 of Twopence Coloured. Louise makes her dramatic escape from the Manoir de la Falaise and the evil Black Maria.

Quote of the Day

Actually, they all came rushing out of the little log hut. When they saw Dizzy and Clare standing there, with guns in their hands, they looked a little taken aback, to say the least of it.

"Where did you get those guns?" Rod demanded.

Dizzy gestured rather helplessly towards Rupert and the pony. "In the saddle-bags," she said. "All covered in mealie-meal."

From NOTHING HAPPENED AFTER ALL, Chapter 12, Mealie-Meal.

Places in Jane Shaw: Arran

Aerial view of the west coat of Arran, the setting for Highland Holiday. Note the Drumadoon and the golf course. Click on the picture for a much larger view.

Quote of the Day

As it happened, they were both sheltered from the rain and at the same time quite hidden from the big door leading into the street. The rain was coming down, like slate pencils said Fay, but the girls were nicely sheltered in their doorway, and Julie was feeling  much better now that the rain was not going down her neck any longer.

From CROOKS TOUR, Chapter 13, Crook in the Rain.

Adventures of a Snowman

Quote of the Day

Next morning we went into the village to buy our lanterns for the celebration of the Swiss National Day. The lanterns were nice, like round paper balls with a candle at the bottom and with sticks with which to carry them. They were all different colours, but the ones we liked best were the striped ones and the red ones with the white cross of Switzerland on them. They were rather expensive, we thought, so we only bought one each.

From THE TALL MAN, Chapter 8, The First of August.

Binic at Low Tide

A recurring theme in the books set in Brittany is that it is impossible to go bathing at low tide because the sea simply disappears. In Breton Adventure, Sara decides to test whether this is actually the case, as she finds it a little hard to believe. In Chapter 2, They Meet Artichokes, Ajax - and Raymond, it is stated that:

"Sara, who liked to prove things for herself, declared that they ought to put this to the test: Caroline thought it was probably a waste of time, but wanted a bathe anyway, so they put on their bathing dresses at the grève, although the sea was not actually in sight. They walked hopefully over wet sand for what seemed about a mile, and less hopefully over sand and sea-weed for another: they did finally reach the sea, all right, but as it obstinately refused to  become any deeper than knee-high, they gave up in disgust, before they reached home and mother, Caroline said. And Sara thereafter was more ready to believe that when Madame said there was no bathing, there was no bathing."

However, at low tide, the Roches de Saint Quay islands appear, allowing the characters to go on la pêche, or shrimping.

Quote of the Day

The journey to the art room was not nearly so spooky as she had imagined, and she was half-way along the covered way that led to the classrooms when suddenly, over to her left, a strange and brilliant flash illuminated for a second the ancient cloisters that were part of the original old house of Northmead.

From NEW HOUSE AT NORTHMEAD, Chapter 7, Danger! Girls at Work.

Places in Jane Shaw: Mont Saint-Michel

Today's quote is from Chapter 13 of Breton Adventure, describing Madame and the girls' arrival at Mont Saint-Michel off the Normandy coast. Madame signs up for a guided tour, during which Caroline "drinks in every word". But Sara is bored, and manages to slip away from the tour guide at the impressive Crypte des Gros Piliers. 

Quote of the Day

They left the car, and passed through the Porte de L'Avancée, the only opening in the ramparts, and Madame rather proudly pointed out to the girls the two cannon which the English had abandoned when they had unsuccessfully besieged the Mont St. Michel in the fifteenth century. Caroline was frankly incredulous that the English had besieged any French stronghold without success, but she had no time to argue, for they went through two other ancient picturesque gateways, and the sight of the one street, a narrow lane with gabled and overhanging houses climbing up at its farther end by slippery and cobbled steps to the Abbey, was greeted with a chorus of Ohs and Ahs of appreciation.

From BRETON ADVENTURE, Chapter 13, Sara Does Some Rescue Work.

Twopence Coloured

Drumadoon Point (2)

The Drumadoon, where Sara wrote her play in Highland Holiday, on a more typically Scottish day than the abnormally long sunny spell the girls enjoyed in the story. The golf course is on the left. Click for a larger view and see the flags.

Quote of the Day

"Oh, come off your high horse, Liz-bags," said Pips, without animosity. "I'm not going to rob them. In fact I'm going to be the little ray of sunshine in their lives. How their eyes will light up on dull wet days, when they see the gay Loch Lomond Library boat plunging eagerly towards them out of the mist--"

"Someone a bit speedier than you two will have to rowing that day," Lilias remarked.

From THE CREW OF THE BELINDA, Chapter 9, Pips Has An Idea.

Family Trouble illustration

A scene from the 1961 short story. Nicky sneaks up behind Ruth and speaks in a witchy voice, frightening her sister. This delightful short story is set in Cornwall, the location being described as just over the fields from the sea, just within sight of the isle of Lundy on a clear day.

Quote of the Day

"Oh, John!" said Sara, in an agony lest her long-cherished dream of nonchalantly handing over a bunch of crooks to Scotland Yard was to be denied fulfilment by over-caution on John's part. "Of course we know they're crooks, and the book will prove it, somehow. And look - if we don't lay too false a trail, just enough to give us sufficient start to collect the evidence in Rhöndorf, then we could have them arrested when they make up on us!"

"I'm having no dealings with foreign policemen if I can help it," said John, with a firmness which brooked no argument. "With the language difficulties and so on, you never know where you'll land."

From BERNESE ADVENTURE, Chapter Twelve. 

Buried Treasures 10

Only the original Collins edition of Susan at School has this wonderful colour frontispiece. Both the frontispieces of the St. Ronan's stories depict scenes in the school library. The scene pictured here is from Chapter 4, The Mysterious Map. While reading a book about the history of St. Ronan's, Susan and fellow new girl Tessa come across a map with the cryptic message "RH here" in faint writing. Susan immediately jumps to the conclusion that the map points to the legendary buried treasure known as Ronan's Heap. This treasure is supposedly made up of gold chalices and jewelled cups and gold plates.

Quote of the Day

The stone hut where we were to spend the night was not so much a rondavel as an oval-davel. It had once, according to Rob, been very nicely equipped by the Natal Mountain Club with mattresses, stores of food, wood and so on, but the Basuto tribesmen had found all these things too temptng, and now all that remained was a dubious-looking pile of coir in a corner, which was, all the same, a softer place to lay our sleeping-bags than on the floor. The tribesmen had even found the windows too tempting, so the hut was, to put it mildly, a trifle draughty.

From NOTHING HAPPENED AFTER ALL, Chapter 10, Don't Get Mixed up in Politics.

The Book of Hours

Many of Jane Shaw's stories involve restoring the fortunes of impoverished middle-class people. This theme is touched on in her very first book, Breton Holiday, when Raymond wishes to join the cavalry but the family does not have enough money, so he has to sit a civil service exam instead. A little treasure would change all that. In Susan and the Home-made Bomb, the Harding family are unable to afford to send Jennifer to the Sloane School of Art because of her grandfather's unusual will forbidding the sale of their large house. The discovery of a Fra Angelico hidden under a hideous painting solves the Hardings' problems. And in No Trouble for Susan, poor, forgetful Mrs. Gregson is about to be evicted from her cottage by the heartless Sir Arthur Symes and is saved at the last minute when John Hunter announces that the little book she had found among her late husband's belongings and had hoped to get a few pounds for turns out to be a Book of Hours, worth £15,000.

In previous posts, I've looked at the dubious claims made in Jane Shaw's books concerning the value of the treasures her characters uncover and compared them with how much they are worth in real life. Her claims in Where is Susan? that an 1862 one-shilling Deep Green stamp was worth £900 and in A Job for Susan that a 1954 half-crown was worth £12,000 turned out to be totally untrue, with the real value being only a fraction of the prices stated in the books. Therefore, I began to wonder about the Book of Hours.

A Book of Hours is a medieval prayer book, elaborately written by hand on vellum and lavishly decorated. They were originally commissioned by devout catholics who wished to follow a monastic prayer cycle, hence the name. However, they soon became the status symbol of the Middle Ages, the medieval equivalent of a Rolex watch. The longer and more lavishly illustrated, or illuminated, they were, the higher the price. They were mostly owned by royalty and the nobility. As the fifteenth century progressed, shorter and less luxurious books appeared and they became more affordable. They are by no means rare. The fact that they are made of vellum means that they are durable, and the fact that they are considered by many people to be the most beautiful books of all time has resulted in their careful preservation and enduring popularity among collectors.

But how much are they worth? A little research shows that the less lavish books can be had for a sum in the low five-figure range. The highest price ever paid for a Book of Hours, according to Abe Books, was £8,600,000 for the Rothchild Prayerbook in 1999. So we have a wide range of prices to work with. The really high prices are paid for the larger and very lavish books that are illustrated by famous artists. Mrs. Gregson's is constantly described as being small but beautifully illustrated. The fifteen thousand pounds that Sir Arthur ended up paying for the book would be equivalent to around three hundred thousand today. I suspect that this figure is somewhat inflated but theoretically possible. So, unlike the 1862 one-shilling Deep Green and the 1954 half crown, the Book of Hours in No Trouble for Susan may, with a little stretch of the imagination, actually be worth the price it is given in the story.

Places in Jane Shaw: The Drumadoon

In Chapter 9 of Highland Holiday, faced with the challenge of writing a play, Sara retires to the Drumadoon in search of inspiration. From the top, she can see the sea and the golf course. "She found a little grassy hollow which just fitted her, and was sheltered from the wind." She then sees her little twin brothers Robin and Rufus walking to the caves and "she diverted herself for a few moments by rolling lumps of turf and bits of heather down on her brothers". She then goes through some ideas for her play. But the inevitable happens: "And the sun became very hot, and she struggled for a little, but finally she put her head back against the prickly, springy heather which smelt so nice, like honey... and went to sleep." Here we get four pages filled with nothing but Sara's scatterbrained train of thought as her mind drifts from Vanessa and Joyce playing golf, to Caroline and Jane and her brothers and then the play. Some people have found Highland Holiday to be overdrawn and long-winded, but I enjoy this plot and the fact that it is not rushed and lets us see the essence of the characters. And, surprisingly, Sara actually does end up writing a play called The Witch of Boguille.

Quote of the Day

"You can hardly blame Mr. Manson," said Katherine reasonably. "We haven't exactly taken him into our confidence."

"How could we?" said Fiona. "We haven't really got a confidence to take him into, have we? And we still haven't anything against Miss Grey, however much this shows M. Martin in his true colours. Party indeed! Dozens of pairs of nylons in those boxes I'll bet, and my poor-"

"Your poor mother hasn't a pair to her name," interrupted Katherine, "we know."

From THE MOOCHERS ABROAD, Chapter 7, Eclairs. When this story was published in 1951, Britain was still suffering from rationing in the aftermath of World War II. This explains why Fiona is bristling with indignation at Miss Grey and M. Martin having access to so many pairs of tights while "her poor mother" has none.

Places in Jane Shaw: Arran

This week I'm re-reading Highland Holiday. Every night, Sara gazes out of her window to see the sunset over Blackwaterfoot.

Quote of the Day

A car-load of monkeys could not have been more restless. They hurled themselves from side to side, pointing out the old familiar landmarks as the car left Brodick behind and slowly climbed the String Road, the small white farms of Glen Sherraig lying far below them on the right. At the top of the String they insisted on the rite that was always performed - the car was stopped, and the fact which never seemed to pall, that the sea on both sides of the island could now be seen, was remarked on again. The ususal argument about the names of the peaks in the fierce and jagged range lying to their right started.

From HIGHLAND HOLIDAY, Chapter 2, Arran Revisited.

Places in Jane Shaw: Binic

Jane Shaw's most beloved location, visited by Caroline and Sara (as St. Brioc), the Moochers (also as St. Brioc), Penny (as Kerdic) and Susan and the Carmichael girls (as St. Clos), Binic in Brittany.

Quote of the Day

No-one spoke; and suddenly there was a jagged flash of lightning from the storm clouds, the garden was bright for a second, and between the trees not far from the window they saw a figure. It was the figure of a man, round him hung the Loden cape, the Tyrolean cape, and in his cupped hands he carried a candle. As the flash of lightning died the figure turned, and the watchers saw the candle flame, straight and still in the breathless air, illumine his face.

"The Stranger comes, with face afire!" breathed John.

From FIVEPENNY MYSTERY, Chapter 3, More Mystery.

Places in Jane Shaw: Weggis (Rosendorf)

The picture shows a view of the Lake of Lucerne from the Swiss village of Weggis. In Susan Interferes, the Carmichaels and Susan stay in the village of Rosendorf, a thinly disguised Weggis. In Susan and Friends, Beverley Garmston explains that Weggis is situated right where Rosendorf is located. The famous Weggis Rose Festival began in 1926 and this may have inspired Jane Shaw to call her ficitonal town "Rose Village", the translation of Rosendorf. Furthermore, Uncle Charles tells the children that there is a monument to Mark Twain in the village. There is indeed such a monument in Weggis, which you can see below. The famous writer described Weggis as "the most charming place for repose and restfulness". For further information, see Susan and Friends, Chapter XXI, Adventures in the Alps. 

Quote of the Day

Bill was staring at a plate of hot rolls and croissants and things called swieback (which turned out to be a kind of thin sweet rusk, done up in packets) and a pot of steaming coffee - for Aunt Lucy and Dr. Carmichael, and a pot of steaming chocolate - for himself and Charlotte. He whispered anxiously, "Is this all?"

Aunt Lucy said that it was, that this was the Continental breakfast.

"No bacon and eggs?"

"No."

"No scrambled eggs?"

"No."

"Not even boiled eggs?"

"No."

"Oh crumbs," said Bill.

From SUSAN INTERFERES, Chapter 2, Up the Airy Mountains. Bill is dismayed by his first encounter with the continental breakfast.

Buried Treasures 9

First read of 2013. A trip to Switzerland.

Quote of the Day

The tea could hardly be called an unqualified success. Mrs. Taylor had, fortunately, made piles of sandwiches, and the little Wilsons spooned eagerly at the extra-rich rock cakes, but after one bite of the  beautiful frosted layer-cake, Charlotte noticed that they unobtrusively put down their slices. She couldn't help feeling slightly offended, and passed the plate of iced cinders.  They didn't look at all bad, she thought, although she had had a lot of trouble with the icing - first it wouldn't set, and then it set too much and was now as hard as bricks.

From THE WILSONS WON'T MIND.

Places in Jane Shaw: Dulwich Park

This is the entrance to Dulwich Park on College Road. In the books, the Carmichaels have their own entrance to Wichwood Park. The park is especially featured in Susan Pulls the Strings and No Trouble for Susan, where the children go skating and Susan and Bill flee the wrath of the angry Major Banks.

Quote of the Day

Midge leant forward and peered through the window too. "Oh, my giddy aunt!" she said. "Here come the subordinate Clauses!"

For coming up the street was a small, round, cheerful Father Christmas, in full regalia; and at the same moment a very tall thin one roared up on a motor scooter. They both stepped outside the bookshop and glared at each other.

Susan said, "Am I suddenly seeing double or something? Where did they come from? Who are they?"

"Well, the big one is David Hepburn," said Midge, "I'd know those feet aywhere. And the little one must be Jeremy Vernon. I suppose this is to curry favour with Charlotte."

From NO TROUBLE FOR SUSAN, Chapter 7, Surfeit of Santas.

Places in Jane Shaw: Lullingstone Castle

This is the gatehouse to Lullingstone Castle in Kent. Aunt Lucy took Susan, the Carmichaels and the Gascoignes to this castle to visit the silk farm that it housed in Susan Rushes In. Peregrine stuffed lots of silkworms into the pockets of Susan's blazer. Everyone was surprised at the ravenous behavior of the "voracious little creatures".

Quote of the Day

Jennifer didn't expect to enjoy Christmas, she didn't see how anyone could in this blazing sun; but Mrs. Eliot said that although she was a lover of snow and robins, nobody more so, it was certainly much easier to do one's shopping in the comfort of the sunnier weather; and the others all said loudly that Christmas was Christmas, and it didn't make any difference what the weather was like, and at least in this climate you were spared the worry of a last-minute cold coming on you and cheating you out of all the festivities.

From VENTURE TO SOUTH AFRICA, Chapter 10, Christmas Holidays.

Buried Treasures 8

The cover of Venture to South Africa. The Elliot family arriving at Cape Town on the Dumbarton Castle.

Quote of the Day

The dinner table was a dream. In the centre of the table was a tiny, real Christmas tree with miniature decorations and candles and crackers and even parcels on it; trails of holly led from the tree to little golden angels (which had been painted by Charlotte and cut out by Bill on his fretsaw) holding up red candles. There were crackers piled round the foot of the tree and they were gold and green and red too. And after they had finished eating the delicious Christmas food, there was a present for everyone off the little tree.

From SUSAN PULLS THE STRINGS, Chapter 4, A Blow for Bill.

Threepenny Bit illustration

An illustration from Chapter 5 of Threepenny Bit, Showers of Pennies. Penny and Jill, along with Laura and John Mallory meet Marietjie. Although the caption mentions the four children, John doesn't appear. We can only assume that he is behind the door waiting for the others to file in.

Quote of the Day

Holy smoke!" said Midge. "It's Major Banks!"

Bill groaned. "Holy smoke," he said. "We're in the wrong house!"

Well, that situation took a bit of straightening out. Major Banks was a sort of village ogre, feared by all the Wichwood children for his fiery rages and stern persecution of young jokers, apple-stealers and such-like. None the better for that crack on the head, he thought for quite some time that he was the victim of a gang, half of whom were singing carols at his front door as a distraction while the other half made a burglarious entrance at the back; when he discovered that the gang were his own doctor's children and their cousin, his rage know no bounds. Midge, Bill and even Susan couldn't get a word in edgewise, couldn't even begin to explain.

From NO TROUBLE FOR SUSAN, Chapter 8, Carol-Singing.

Paddy Turns Detective

In 1967, under the pen name of Jean Bell, Jane Shaw published two books for the Collins Spitfire series. Here is the cover of Paddy Turns Detective. The other book was The Penhallow Mystery, which you can read about in an earlier post by clicking here. The author also wrote A Girl With Ideas as Jean Bell, although this story was only published in 2002 in Susan and Friends. Both A Girl With Ideas and the two Spitfire books were aimed at younger readers and it may be that Collins was planning to relaunch her career. However, she continued to publish as Jane Shaw too, writing the last Susan books and Brer Rabbit before retiring in 1969.

Quote of the Day

Miss Perry, glancing round the form, saw Ricky's studiously bent head, which was enough in itself to make her suspicious. She paused in what she was telling the form to say in her sarcastic way, "Erica has, I suppose, such a thorough knowledge of the causes of the French Revolution that she doesn't need to listen?"

Ricky, absorbed in her cutting, paid no attention.

From CROOKS LIMITED.

Wichwood Gallery

Dulwich Picture Gallery is featured as Wichwood Gallery in the plot of Susan Rushes In, when Susan, Midge and Pea-green foil a robbery there, although Peregrine gets all the credit in the local newspaper. The Gallery is described in Chapter 13:

Opposite the Carmichaels' house there was a small but quite famous picture gallery. The Carmichaels - naturally, seeing that they lived opposite - had scarecely ever been in it, but as children their nanny had often taken them into the very pretty garden which surrounded it. 

Jane Shaw Encylopedia: T. I. S. Harrison

T. I. S. "Tizzy" Harrison is the Children's Book Editor at Hamilton Press and a friend of Selina Gascoigne. In Susan Rushes In, Midge writes a story called The Greedy Dragon and Charlotte adds illustrations to it. At Mrs. Gascoigne's suggestion, Charlotte submits The Greedy Dragon to Hamilton Press using the pen name of Marjorie Charlotte Carmichael. Mr. Harrison buys the story for ten guineas. He also expresses interest in any other stories about the same dragon, believing that it would be possible to build a small series. 

Quote of the Day

Midge refused to have anything further do do with the Gascoignes that day - or any day for that matter - as she had enough of them she said to last her a lifetime. She also refused to let Susan off the rest of the washing-up in order to rush in and remind Pea-green about the silkworms' diet. However, she couldn't do anything to stop her going next door after the washing-up was finished. But when Susan knocked at the Gascoignes' front door and inquired for Peregrine, Gabrielle said that he was in bed.

"Stomach-ache again?" said Susan tactlessly.

Gabrielle looked at her coldly. "Peregrine is a very highly strung and temperamental child," she said. "All the excitement to-day has made him sick."

From SUSAN RUSHES IN, Chapter 13, A New Career for Charlotte.

11 College Road/10 Tollgate Road

Yesterday I took to Google Maps and went for a walk along College Road, or Tollgate Road as it is called in the Susan books. This is a photograph of the house at Number 11, where Jane Shaw lived during her time in London. She did not occupy the whole house, only the flat on the top floor. However, in the Susan books, the Carmichaels had the whole house at 10 Tollgate Road to themselves. The house is a character itself in the books. One woman even told me that it was her ideal house while she was growing up. I recently commented about how Jane Shaw made her settings more compact to create a cosy feeling. This is especially true of Dulwich/Wichwood. College Road is very long and the walks that the characters go for would have taken a good deal longer in real than they do in the stories and would justify Midge's reluctance to be dragged around the village by Susan.

Quote of the Day

And that was the end of the adventure; next day we met Aunt Maddy and Uncle James - looking rather pale - at Interlaken and from then on, our holiday ran on more usual lines. But very nice lines - trips on the lake, excursions up the mountains, cream-cakes and 'caffy-glassys' in Interlaken.

From THE TALL MAN, Chapter 9, The End of the Adventure.

Magic Ships illustration

Jane and Robin are back in the playroom of the Queen Mary, reunited with their father and Uncle Archie, after their adventures on the seven seas. Magic Ships is a book for very young readers and was published in 1943. It is printed on high quality paper and lavishly illustrated. The name of the artist is not given. 

Quote of the Day

Amanda sniffed. Elizabeth, she thought, was all too prone to attach a false importance to mundane things like food. Was her country's fate nothing to her? But, all the same, Amanda suffered herself to be led to where their little rowing-boat was beached, and graciously permitted Elizabeth to row her down the Loch towards the house and lunch.

From AMANDA'S SPIES, Jane Shaw's first short story, published in 1941.

Recurring Themes in Jane Shaw: Hidden Paintings

From the late 1950s to the end of her career, art featured heavily in Jane Shaw's work. Looking After Thomas was about a daring art robbery at the Louvre. A painting by or thought to be by the French artist Maurice Utrillo was part of the plot of Crooks' Tour, The Picture and A Job for Susan. In the latter book, the Lyles' landlady is the grand-daughter of a respected artist and his work also features in the story. In other books, the characters  visit galleries in Paris and Venice. Charlotte Carmichael is a gifted artist and ends up going to Perugia to study art professionally. So, paintings are definitely a major plot device in the works of Jane Shaw. She also wrote about an aspect of art that has been included in many children's books over the years: hidden paintings.

Many masterpieces have been found hidden under other paintings by impoverished artists wishing to economize on materials. For example, experts estimate that around one third of Van Gogh’s early paintings have hidden treasures underneath. More recently, lost masterpieces by N. C. Wyeth and Rembrandt have also been found. The hidden masterpiece, perhaps inevitably, due to her penchant for long-lost treasure, worked its way into two Jane Shaw stories: Susan and the Home-made Bomb and Susan’s Trying Term.

In Susan’s Trying Term, when Susan, Midge and Tessa are cleaning out and reorganizing the school museum, they come across an old painting of a hunting scene. Midge thinks the painting is horrible because the horses’ legs are too long. But Susan thinks that if the picture is cleaned up, it will look better. Therefore, she decides to "restore" it by wiping it with a handkerchief soaked in turpentine. Lo and behold, the top layer of paint is removed and another painting is partially revealed underneath. Midge and Tessa are afraid that they might get into trouble for ruining the painting and suggest that it should be dumped back into the cupboard where it was found so that it might remain forgotten by the school authorities. But Susan, with her characteristic  honesty, insists that they have to own up, and the girls take the painting to Miss Phillimore. The headmistress suspects that it is a masterpiece by the 17th century Dutch artist Peter de Hooch. The painting is given to Lady St. Ronan, who invites the girls to tea to thank them and announces that the painting is worth twenty thousand pounds.

In Susan and the Home-made Bomb, hard-up Jennifer Harding needs money to support herself while she studies at the Sloane School of Art. Gabrielle Gascoigne says she can introduce Jennifer to the director of the school and accompanies Susan and the Carmichaels to tea at the Harding house. Peregrine goes along with them and plants his home-made bomb in the drawing room. The bomb explodes and the explosion causes the lustres to shatter. A shard of glass streaks across a painting on the wall. Jennifer thinks she sees another picture underneath. It turns out to be a Fra Angelico, worth a small fortune. Jennifer can go to the Sloane and all the Hardings’ problems are solved

The comic nature of these finds is obvious. Uncovering hidden paintings is an intricate and painstaking process that can only be done by experts. That a masterpiece could be found by wiping a painting with a turpentine-soaked rag is unbelievable. That a shard of flying glass could simply rip off the first coat of paint and unveil the one underneath without damaging either it or the canvas is even more incredible. These are further examples of the author's subtle sense of humour.

Quote of the Day

Susan had never skated before, but she was longing to try - it looked so graceful and so easy. At lunch-time Aunt Lucy wondered whether she ought, after being in bed, but Uncle Charles seemed to think that it would be all right if she didn't get overheated and so get another chill.

"Overheated!" thought Susan later, lying on her back on the ice for the twentieth time, "I shall die of exposure. And be glad to-"

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

Fara pa färde, Fifi!

Here's a Swedish book that I hadn't seen before, Fara pa färde, Fifi! (Susan Rushes In). We can see the scene where Susan cuts Pea-green's hair and is interrrupted by the furious Selina. The title means Danger Lurks Ahead, Fifi.

Quote of the Day

Caroline, assisted by the accused, apologised to the gendarme as well as she could for troubling him and lamely explained that there had been a mistake and that Monsieur the thief was a very old friend. The representative of law and order unwillingly took himself off, followed by the disappointed crowd who had expected great things of this little affair, the taxi was paid off, and the Man of Mystery sat down on the running-board beside Sara.

"Thank you for not handing me over to the police, Sara," he said gravely. "Now will you tell me what I'm supposed to have done?"

From BRETON HOLIDAY, Chapter 14, Capture of a Car Thief.