Linda Newbery

It feels like a fanfic. I loved flambards - it was a craze in my teens when the TV show aired, and I had horsey friends who were drawn in by that element. And I expected to love this more. Linda Newbury is superb, flambards is iconic: this was going to be great.

However.

This is an authorised fanfic in that Newbury is working off Peyton's notes for what happened after the books. The modern day thread of the story, about Grace Russell in 2018, was both too much and too little - the 2018 story was not gripping. It involved disability dislocation ptsd and swags of genealogy research, but I didn't buy that a 14 year old was that obsessed by her great grandparents On the other hand, like Grace, I felt more interested in Christina than any of the other characters. Christina, by the way, seen through other people's eyes and written by a fan, has become a flawless fearless ravishing MarySue. I did want maximum Christina and I got it. Now I wonder what this book would be like if Newbery had a free-er hand to make stuff up.… (more)

This book started well, to the point I didnt realise that it was a Young Adult book. It is a story much in the vein of Jane Eyre, Northhanger Abbey and Wilkie Collins - young peniless artist joins a family as a teacher, only to find mysteries abound and it is the governess and art teacher (neither family or housefold staff) that end up investigating. [return][return]However, I got bored halfway through (any sense fo the dramatic is too laboured) and I skipped ahead, only to find topics never to be approached in even the most racy Wilkie Collins book - incest, suicide, homosexuality, murder, adultery, children out of wedlock.....on one hand it's too subtle, on the other hand the book is covering stories never covered in the very stories it's attempting to emulate, so fails on both counts.[return][return]Gave up halfway through, so disappointing… (more)

Barrington Stoke novel set in 1914 when 17 year old Lizzy has a job working in an office but dreams of something bigger. Into her life comes Julia and Elsie who are part of the Suffragette movement, fighting for the right for women to vote and immediately Lizzy is captivated by the cause. She starts doing more and more illegal and dangerous stunts to help the others in the cause and eventually she is arrested and thrown into Prison. Here she goes on a hunger strike but is let out when war breaks out. Lizzy loses her job but signs up instead to help in the war effort.
Short historical book. Easy to read on sepia paper.… (more)