The Sixth Form at St. Clare's

The last St. Clare's continuation novel chronologically, this book gives us the chance to see the twins as joint head girls. Nothing to surprise us at this point: the story hits all the familiar elements that we expect from the series, but I count that as a good thing in a continuation novel: if it feels like the originals, what more can you ask of it?

I prefer Malory Towers as a more perfect implementation of this formula, but St. Clare's really is at a similar level. Very enjoyable for Enid Blyton fans, or fans of boarding school fiction.

Enid Blyton wrote 6 St Clare's books, but neglected to tell us what happened in the 3rd and 6th forms. Luckily we have the answers in Authorized Fanfiction - books written with Blyton's characters, in all new situations. This is the first of the two books written by Pamela Cox and I had avoided them until now.

The book feels weird from the first chapter, as if Cox is either trying to modernise the story, or is unfamiliar with the time/style of the other books. It gets a little more comfortable as you get into it, but a lot of our favourite characters are neglected as we explore the 'new girls' in more distinct stop-start story lines than Blyton had. I don't think I'll be seeking out the Third Form book.

The St. Claire's girls are all growed up, as it were, and quite nicely, too, it turns out.

Sold to Lynn