Requirements: .ePUB reader, 5.3mb
Overview: Elsie J. Oxenham
A celebrated English girls’ school story writer, Elsie J. Oxenham’s real name was Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley. Born in 1880 in Southport, Lancashire, she was the daughter of writer William John Dunkerley, whose chosen pseudonym – ‘John Oxenham’ – was a clear influence upon her own. Her brother, Roderic Dunkerley, was also an author (published under his own name), as was her sister Erica, who used the ‘Oxenham’ name as well. Oxenham 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 twentieth century — one of the ‘Big Three,’ together with Elinor Brent-Dyer and Dorita Fairlie Bruce.
Robins in the Abbey (Abbey #32)
This is the book 32 of 38 in the Abbey Girls Series by Elsie J. Oxenham. Robin Brent (featured in The Girl Who Wouldn’t Make Friends and New Girls at Wood End by the same author) comes to stay at the Abbey when after her father is injured in a plane crash. She makes friends with the Abbey crowd, and finds romance with Rob Quellyn, a distant relative of Joy’s second husband. There are numerous of references to characters from previous books, including Rosamund Kane, who has two sets of twin during the story.
Rachel in the Abbey (Abbey #35)
An engaging title in the Abbey Girls series. In this book, Rachel and Damaris Ellerton are living in Gracedieu Abbey owned by Joan Raymond, Rachel as Abbey guide (Guardian) and Damaris as gardener, after Damaris’s former career as a ballet dancer had been cut short by an accident. In their roles in the Abbey they are able to provide support and advice to the schoolgirls living in the Hall next door. A theme running through the book is finding your purpose in life, and how you can make a difference. The story opens with Benedicta who wants to find a job where she can be useful. The three schoolgirls staying at the Hall want to remove themselves from the Hall so as not to be in the way, but are assured that there is a useful role for them in guiding and helping the younger girls.
If you have not read other books in this series you might be bewildered by the many characters who walk through the pages of the book.
Queen of the Abbey Girls (Abbey #16)
Jane Irish Nelson rated it really liked it:
Jen’s coronation is swiftly followed by Joy’s wedding. But before she leaves, Joy arranges for Mary-Dorothy to come to the Hall as companion-secretary to look after her aunt and the two schoolgirls, Maidie and Rosamund. Jen, though twenty, is resisting growing up as hard as she can. But when tragedy strikes, she is suddenly forced to. Another excellent entry in this enjoyable series.
The New Abbey Girls [original] (Abbey #13)
In this book we meet Maidlin (Magdalena) and Rosamund, who remind me of Snow White and Rose Red in the fairy tale. I can’t think who the bear would be, though. Maidlin has difficulty adjusting to life in England, but Joy is almost like a mother to her, and Maidlin adores her.
Maidlin Bears the Torch (Abbey #26)
Maidlin becomes a torchbearer.
Jen of the Abbey School (Abbey #12)
This book overlaps with The Abbey Girls Go Back To School. Jen meets the girls of Rocklands School, and they become interested in county dance — though a new girl, Rhoda, does tell Jen she’s been doing things wrong! (Which she learns in the aforementioned book). Rhoda and one of the Rocklands’ mistresses begin teaching the other girls. After Jen returns, and a few adventures, both the school and Jen send teams to a dance competition.
Reissued in three parts, as The Girls of Rocklands School (1929), The Second Term at Rocklands (1930), and The Third Term at Rocklands (1931).
Jandy Mac Comes Back (Abbey #29)
Jandy Mac returns to the Abbey and unexpectedly helps out.
Guardians of the Abbey (Abbey #34)
This is the book that tells of Damaris’s accident, how she and Rachel come to live in the Abbey, and of the inspiration and making of the Damaris Garden. It is partly concurrent with Fiddler and ends with Joy’s homecoming from America.
The Abbey Girls on Trial (Abbey #20)
Meanwhile, Rosamund also has a tough time; in The Abbey Girls on Trial (1931) her father who lives in India cuts off her allowance as he has decided at the grand old age of 60 to marry Eleanor, a “beautiful girl”, of Rosamund’s own age. Having lived at Abinger Hall for years, Rosamund starts a craft shop in a tiny cottage next door to her new aunts’ tea rooms.
The Abbey Girls in Town [unabridged] (Abbey #15)
By ‘town’ the author means, as women of her time did, London. Less well off people would have called the city the Big Smoke. In this book the young women Joan and Joy live in the country at a manor and abbey, but they come to London to learn country dancing. They’ve been doing these dances regularly but over the years and miles steps have altered and now they learn them the original way and new dances they hadn’t tried.
This series is quite sweet but dated and the women marry very eligible men who barely get a line and seldom show us their work as a doctor or pilot. The characters don’t have to worry about earning their keep or see people injured by war, and fuss happily over each other’s new babies although pregnancy must not be discussed except very privately with another girl, even if they’re nine months expecting.
Genre: Fiction > Children/Young Adult
Download Instructions:
https://ouo.io/q4OFb8
https://ouo.io/Ek480
.
