Jenny and the Syndicate

Jenny Baily comes to Balcombe Hall, the girls' boarding school where her two older sisters are established pupils - Mary as a member of a group of rebellious Lower Fifth Form girls calling themselves "The Syndicate," and Jessica as the Head Girl, a position she must forego for a time, when an illness keeps her at home - in this engaging children's novel. Our eponymous heroine soon finds herself fast friends with Ariel Fortescue, the rebellious daughter of a famous actress, and involved in all kinds of trouble. There's the Syndicate itself, led by Mary's friend Sylvia, that has taken it upon itself to torment the staff, and foment every kind of scheme and rebellion. This group may have met their match in the form of the new teacher, Miss show more Hamilton. Then there's the dissension in the upper ranks of the school, after timid vicar's daughter Helen is named temporary Head Girl in Jessica's place, rather than the ambitious and bullying Olive. It is in relation to the latter that Jenny takes her first real stand at school, speaking out in Council Meeting to question the right of girls who are not Sixth Form seniors to command the younger pupils to do tasks for them. In doing so she exposes the rule-breaking of Olive and her set, and becomes a heroine to the girls in the Third Form. Other adventures follow, over the course of the year, but all ends well, with the return of Jessica, and the reform of the Syndicate...

The first of a trilogy of school stories set at Balcombe Hall - the subsequent two titles were Jenny and the New Headmistress and Jenny and the New Girls - Jenny and the Syndicate was first published in 1982, and was apparently inspired by its author's love of the genre. According to Sue Sims and Hilary Clare's The Encyclopaedia of Girls' School Stories, 'Harriet Martyn' was a pseudonym used by Lady Sarah Collins, the daughter of the 7th Earl of Donoughmore, who began the series as part of a mother-daughter project, before continuing on by herself. Whatever the case may be, I found this an engaging tale, and a fun addition to the girls' school-story genre. The theme of the rebellious cadre of girls is not so unusual in this sort of book, but the way in which Miss Hamilton dealt with the Syndicate - having them strip off their offending articles of clothing, worn in a gesture of defiance, in the middle of class, and continue for the rest of their lesson in a state of semi-dress - had me chuckling. That isn't something one would have seen in older examples of the genre! I was more than a little surprised, and considerably less charmed at some of the language here - the use of "bitchy" and "bitchiness" by some of the schoolgirl characters - which is also something one wouldn't have seen in older books. To be honest, I'm a little shocked to find it in a children's book from the 80s. I know that 'ass' is considered uncontroversial in children's books in the UK, as it is used to mean "idiot" or "fool" - something I discovered when I encountered it in Antonia Forrest's Autumn Term - but surely "bitch" is considered to be just as nasty and denigrating a word there, as it is here in the states?

Leaving aside that one discordant note, this is a book I would recommend to all fans of the girls' school story genre. It can be a little difficult to track down - I read it at my university library, when taking my masters - but it is a pleasant little creampuff of a story, if one does manage it. show less