Nancy at Saint Brides

This month I am going to write a bit about a book which taps into part of me but was even when I was growing up was seen as part of a series that were more in the past more what we'd be handed down or bought second hand.

This copy is the 2002 Girls Gone By paperback reprint.

 Nancy at St. Brides was written eight years on and after the second in this series (That boarding school girl) but in a lot of ways the first proper book in that this is where the main character Nancy makes here appearance as a relatively unschooled 14 year old dispatched to St.Brides  with instructions to be kept an eye on being very ahem spirited which soon shows in the dares she was only too willing to perform and caught out by the Sixth form prefects.
You could say she was impressionable which I was too at this age and this is the the story of her first unhappy term as she gets to grips with school structures, rules and consequences.
Nancy's problems were less the stuff of theft, insubordination, refusal to apply ones self or bullying  but more about what can be seen as maturity or rather the  lack of age appropriate maturity at least in part because she was never really 'schooled' so failed to see how her impulsive reckless side so resulted in one child almost drowning and another catching a serious cold.
For Nancy this lead to the matter of her being 'asked' not because  to return not formally expelled by Head Mistress Miss Cawdwell because she feels Nancy lacks the maturity a girl at boarding school needs. It also leaves the door open for her to return with a clean slate made easier for Nancy making a attempt in her last three weeks to do some good such as doing well in the swimming competition.
It's an enjoyable read not just for her spirit but also how working at channelling her interests starts to pay off.