Seven Sisters at Queen Anne's

"They weren't the ordinary type of school nuisance; they hadn't any pricking desire to break rules for the sake of breaking them, or to be objectionable to mistresses and prefects just because they were in authority. But they had their own ways, which were not school ways..."

"They" were the "long family of Shortt," seven sisters who - when their beloved governess married - descended all together upon Queen Anne's school, in Queen's Norbridge. It was the beginning of the summer term, and head girl Thea Tennant was determined to do credit to her position, but the disruptive Shortt sisters seemed destined to involve her in trouble. The eldest, seventeen-year-old Pamela, was in Thea's own form, and excelled in both her studies and in show more tennis. But her standoffish ways soon created a tense environment amongst the senior girls, and Thea found herself caught between the new girl, and her long-time friend Trix.

Gwen Shortt seemed solid and dependable, and beautiful Sylvie was too gentle to cause much harm. But thirteen-year-old Tony (christened Antony Edgar by mistake) was either trying to read her novel-in-progress, The Bittersweet of Life, to her unwilling peers, or bolting in panic when anything went wrong. Unlucky Septima, whose hair was always sticking out like straw, and whose clothes seemed to be in a permanent state of disrepair, was prone to dashing about madly, and required a great deal of care. And then there were the infants - "fierce" Phyllida, who snarled, and had the face of a "tiger's cub," and Gerry, who had an unfortunate habit of eating anything to hand. Their many hilarious exchanges - "Phyllida dear, I don't think it's very nice of you to hold that jar in your arms when you know it's mine." "Gerry dear, it isn't a bit well-behaved of you to try to snatch it from me, when it's mine. What must the other girls think of you?" - lead inevitably to violent confrontations that are soon the talk of the school. But although Thea despairs of ever integrating the Shortts into life at Queen Anne's, a crisis reveals that the sisters - particularly Pamela and Tony - are the "right sort" after all, and everything ends happily...

Delightfully entertaining, Seven Sisters at Queen Anne's is the first in a trilogy featuring the Shortt sisters, whose adventures continue in Septima at School and Phyllida in Form III. A wonderfully humorous tale, that reminded me at times of Joanna Lloyd's Bramber Manor books, it offers a sensitive depiction of girlhood friendships and familial relations. Evelyn Smith understands young women, and whether it is Pamela, who longs to cast off responsibility, or Tony, who just wants a "bit of peace," her characters are well-drawn, and their story engrossing. I can easily understand why school-story critic Sue Sims considers this title to have been the point at which the author's talent truly became evident. I enjoyed it so much that I had hardly finished with it, when I was picking up the sequel. show less