Reading: Nancy at St Bride's

[white_hart]

I think that Nancy at St Bride's was the only one of Dorita Fairlie Bruce's novels I encountered as a child. It stuck in my memory because it didn't follow the standard school-story pattern of the problem new girl becoming a reformed character and a proper, upstanding member of the school by the end of the book, and I was pleased to find a copy in a second-hand bookshop in Cromer last summer. I picked it out of the pile by the side of my bed this weekend because I was feeling grotty and full of cold and an undemanding school story seemed like just the thing.

Although Nancy at St Bride's is ostensibly the story of Nancy Caird's first term at school on an island in the Firth of Clyde and the troubles her determination to have fun lead her and her form-mates into, I now realise that it's as much or more the story of the effect Nancy's arrival has on the friendship between prefects Chris Maclean and Sybil Grierson. Like so many school stories, it's really very strong on character and relationships, forgiving of human weaknesses and quite clear on what constitutes good leadership; more than most, it's also concerned with how tough being a leader can be sometimes. The characters were interesting and likeable and having spent a holiday in a flat overlooking the Firth of Clyde a couple of years ago I found it very easy to picture the setting. I'd like to read more of Bruce's books, if I can find them.

Comments

[green_knight]

Following the vague feeling of 'this rings a vague bell but I definitely haven't read them' I googled and struck gold: Apparently Phillip Larkin wrote fanfic for this series

They don't sound like my cup of tea, but I am now even more curious to read the original.

[antisoppist]

Nancy at St Brides is odd because it was written after the others. The first Nancy book in publication order is That Boarding School Girl in which Nancy lands at a day grammar school after being expelled from St Brides and having vowed never to tell anyone there what happened at St Brides, which causes noble complications of schoolgirl honour. Then later on Bruce went back and wrote Nancy at St Brides, possibly because she had run out of things for Nancy to do by the time she'd grown up and become a professional organist. So it's not typical of the Nancy series as mostly they are day school stories set in England. That doesn't mean they're not good - there are feuds between the rival day schools whose juniors fight in the streets on their way home - but you might be surprised if you find another one and it isn't anything like Nancy at St Brides.

Bruce's Springdale series is set in a boarding school in Scotland, and the Dimsies are boarding school on the English south coast (with secret tunnels).

I have nearly all of Bruce's books if you would ever like to borrow. My username comes from the Dimsies.