What do you think?
Rate this book
The Abbey Girls #11
The Abbey Girls Go Back To School
Light wear to the covers. Orders received by 3pm Sent from the UK that weekday.
- GenresSchool StoriesChildrens
246 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1922
About the author
Elsie J. Oxenham
114 books21 followersA celebrated English girls’ school story writer, Elsie J. Oxenham's was born Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley in 1880 in Southport, Lancashire, She was the daughter of writer John_Oxenham, born William John Dunkerley, who had chosen the pseudonym ‘John Oxenham’. And Elsie decided to adopt the same surname for her writing career.
Her father was a clear influence upon her own writing. Her brother, Roderic Dunkerley, was also an author (published under his own name), as was her sister Erica, who also used the 'Oxenham' name.
She grew up in Ealing, West London, where her family had moved when she was a baby, living there until 1922, when the family moved again, to Worthing. After the deaths of her parents, Oxenham lived with her sister Maida. She died in 1960.
Oxenham, whose interests included the Camp Fire movement, and English Folk Dance traditions, is primarily remembered as the creator of the 38-book 'Abbey Girls' series. In her lifetime she had 87 titles published, and another two have since been published by her niece, who discovered the manuscripts in the early 1990s.
She is considered a major figure among girls' school story writers of the first half of the 20th century -- one of the 'Big Three,' together with Elinor Brent-Dyer and Dorita Fairlie Bruce.
Her father was a clear influence upon her own writing. Her brother, Roderic Dunkerley, was also an author (published under his own name), as was her sister Erica, who also used the 'Oxenham' name.
She grew up in Ealing, West London, where her family had moved when she was a baby, living there until 1922, when the family moved again, to Worthing. After the deaths of her parents, Oxenham lived with her sister Maida. She died in 1960.
Oxenham, whose interests included the Camp Fire movement, and English Folk Dance traditions, is primarily remembered as the creator of the 38-book 'Abbey Girls' series. In her lifetime she had 87 titles published, and another two have since been published by her niece, who discovered the manuscripts in the early 1990s.
She is considered a major figure among girls' school story writers of the first half of the 20th century -- one of the 'Big Three,' together with Elinor Brent-Dyer and Dorita Fairlie Bruce.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 6, 2021
I keep trying with EJO and she keeps testing me and yet, I keep coming back. Why I cannot quit this series, I do not know. I keep putting them all in a bag to go to the charity shop and then, regular as clockwork, they come back and sit on the shelves with the air of books that know they're never going anywhere. The sticking power of them. The sheer, stubborn, sticking power. And then I keep adding to them! I keep buying more!
Honestly, if only I knew what was going on here, I tell you.
So! The Abbey Girls Go Back To School isn't really anything to do with their school. They're all off to a country dancing school to dance and then dance some more and then a little bit more, and when they're done dancing, they're going to give EVERYONE a nickname and never use their real names and then they're going to swoon over each other a bit and then Joy's going to be hideous and there will be some. more. dance. And more swooning. And more nicknames. And it's all kind of fabulously fabulous and yet immensely ridiculous all at the same time, until the last few pages which STEP IT UP in suitably dramatic and eye-catching style.
Basically, this book. It's a lot. It's interminably interminable until suddenly it's mad dramatic and yet, I love it. God knows why, but I do.
Honestly, if only I knew what was going on here, I tell you.
So! The Abbey Girls Go Back To School isn't really anything to do with their school. They're all off to a country dancing school to dance and then dance some more and then a little bit more, and when they're done dancing, they're going to give EVERYONE a nickname and never use their real names and then they're going to swoon over each other a bit and then Joy's going to be hideous and there will be some. more. dance. And more swooning. And more nicknames. And it's all kind of fabulously fabulous and yet immensely ridiculous all at the same time, until the last few pages which STEP IT UP in suitably dramatic and eye-catching style.
Basically, this book. It's a lot. It's interminably interminable until suddenly it's mad dramatic and yet, I love it. God knows why, but I do.
February 20, 2021
I loved this. But, despite the title, this is not a school story. It begins, instead, as a "leaving school" story, when Jen announces that she will be leaving at Christmas, even though she is only sixteen. Living with her parents in Yorkshire, she begins teaching country dance to local working girls to keep herself busy. A chance encounter during a visit from the mummers and a "blue-eyed stranger" provide further intrigue. And then Cicely and Joan insist that she join them and Joy at a country dance summer school in Cheltenham — where the girls get the surprise of their lives! Recommended.
January 2, 2018
I was looking forward to reading this one and getting back to the originally written stories rather than the fill-ins I've been reading lately.
It was an interesting one, as it was old characters in new locations and a much higher concentration of folk dancing. I don't know much (or really, anything) about folk dancing, so those specific details slipped past me, but I did enjoy the interactions between all the new and old characters.
I'm still struggling with names and the number of significant characters is exploding, so that's a bit of a challenge, but I'm still having fun.
It was an interesting one, as it was old characters in new locations and a much higher concentration of folk dancing. I don't know much (or really, anything) about folk dancing, so those specific details slipped past me, but I did enjoy the interactions between all the new and old characters.
I'm still struggling with names and the number of significant characters is exploding, so that's a bit of a challenge, but I'm still having fun.
December 24, 2020
The Abbey is my least favourite of the Big Three Girls Own authors, but I’ll admit I have read many of them. This is more than usually bonkers, with endless nicknames, sweater knitting - but not in vulgar colours - and endless folk dancing.
July 31, 2021
I can see why so many people are fans of the Abbey Girls books. Personally the dancing puts me off.
February 24, 2022
I very much enjoyed this one, a real dancing book!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews