Marjorie Series - summaries

Jane Badger Books

The Marjorie Series - summaries

Marjorie and Co.
Art & Educational Publishers, 1948, illus Gilbert Dunlop
Reprinted Nelson, 1959, illus A H Watson
Reprinted in pb by Girls Gone By, 2003

Background

This is the first book in a series of pony books about two boys and three girls set in Northumberland. The “Marjorie” books spill over into the “Patience” series and some of the characters apparently also turn up in the “Wells” series of ballet stories by Lorna Hill as well. I wouldn’t know; no self respecting pony book aficionado would be seen dead reading a book about ballet! [Editor’s note: I can confirm that they do, having read most of the ballet series, though in my sensible middle age rather than my pony-obsessed youth - then, they wouldn’t have stood a chance.]

“I hope you aren’t expecting to read about a lot of perfectly behaved children. If you are, I’m afraid you’ll be sadly disappointed! There’s certainly nothing very perfect about us! Guy is distinctly bossy, Toby is what the grown-ups would call “a bit on the stolid side”, Esme hasn’t a ghost of a sense of humour, whilst I’ve got oceans of faults. As for Marjorie – well frankly Marjorie’s awful! Her only virtue, as far as I can see, is that she certainly does put a kick into things.” - the narrator, Pan(sy) in her foreword to the book.

Synopsis
The story opens with Pan and Esme reluctantly riding up the topiary edged drive to Marjorie’s house on their newly acquired and perfectly serviceable ponies. They have been invited to tea with Marjorie, the spoilt daughter of rich and largely absent parents, with whom they are at school and whom they dislike. Marjorie is a fearless, if unkind, rider and they know she will be scornful of their riding and their ponies. Indeed she describes Pan’s pony Billy as a “trapping pony” because of his docked tail.

Marjorie challenges Esme to a race in a nearby paddock and by shameless cheating almost causes Esme to have an accident: enter Guy, newly returned from Canada and the son of the owner of the land. The stage is set for a battle of wills between Guy and Marjorie. Guy decides to set up a Clan and Marjorie is excluded. The first half of the book is devoted to Marjorie’s increasingly ingenious and reckless attempts to sabotage the Clan’s activities, once by wrecking their gymkhana, in order to get them to let her join. This culminates in her almost drowning and having to be rescued by Guy. As a result Marjorie is admitted to the Clan.

Guy, used to the great outdoors, feels constricted in their semi-suburban homes and proposes the Clan go camping which they are permitted to do as long as it is no more than five miles away.

There follows a visit to a Circus, an altercation over a monkey being treated cruelly (Esme is a passionate animal lover) and being rescued by Guy stepping in to perform a daring highwayman act in the Ring. A sub plot emerges; Billy is really only on loan and his owner wishes to sell him. Pan’s parents can’t afford to buy him and Pan is desolate. All appears lost until the very unpleasant grand daughter of a millionaire who has run away to the circus takes refuge in the children’s camp. After some light detective work and some ruthlessness on the part of Marjorie, the children restore her to the grateful millionaire who offers them a munificent reward. However, Guy accepts only enough to buy Billy and the holiday ends happily.

Critique
The stories have dated a bit – circuses no longer have animals and the girls (except Marjorie) display deference to Guy which is a bit much to take now. As a child in the late 1950s, I, too, thought he was wonderful. Now I find him unbearably bossy and priggish with an unhealthy interest in administering punishment spankings to young girls. However, Pan is down to earth and though her use of language is not as witty or inventive as Ruby Ferguson’s Jill she does turn a neat phrase. Lots of good stuff about food as well!

Diane Janes

No Medals for Guy
Thomas Nelson, 1962, illus Gilbert Dunlop

Background
This is badged on the front cover of the first edition as the 4th “Marjorie” book but according to the excellent introduction in the Girls Gone By reprint of Marjorie and Co. it was an afterthought. In fact the fourth book was Northern Lights, which was not published in sequence as it featured World War Two. The publishers felt that the timing (late 1940s) was wrong; the public would have no appetite for reading children’s books about the war. Northern Lights was privately published in 1999. Girls Gone By aim to publish all the Marjorie and Patience books.

Synopsis
No Medals for Guy is set two years after Marjorie and Co. Guy is sixteen and Pan(sy) the narrator is “terribly afraid he might have grown-up”. He hasn’t, and the Clan activities are much the same as always. Pan’s twin brother has replaced the stolid Toby. In Marjorie and Co he wasn’t interested in ponies but now he has Black Magic, Marjorie’s previous pony, and not nearly exciting enough for her. She now has the wicked Dulcie, Pan still has Billy, Esme has Willow and Guy, the dashing Flyaway though the ponies are rather peripheral to this story. There is the usual detail about food and preoccupation with meals – thinking about lunch as you are finishing breakfast which rings true.

The Clan are camping near Morpeth – boys in a tent and girls sleeping in the top of a converted old double decker bus, the bottom being used for cooking and eating.

There are rides to the beach where a dramatic rescue ensues (Guy, of course, ably assisted by a stalwart tug-of-war team comprising women from a Newcastle WI) but most of the action centres around Lily-Elsie, a strange self- possessed girl in Alice-in Wonderland clothes who lives with her batty Miss Havisham-like Aunt Florence in nearby Gallows Hall. Forbidden to play with the Clan, Lily-Elsie’s chance comes when Aunt Florence is whisked into hospital with appendicitis. The semi-ruined Hall is explored and the legendary ghost is hunted and disproved but the focus is on earning money to equip Lily-Elsie with suitable clothes for camping and riding though teaching her to ride is only lightly sketched in.

This inevitably leads to sparring between Marjorie and Guy over what is suitable and decent (a favourite Guy word as Pan points out) employment for girls. As a result of an almighty row over Marjorie’s scheme to dance at a talent show and her being forbidden to go on a midnight picnic with the Clan she is the one to spot that a fire has broken out at Gallows Hall and to raise the alarm. True to form however, it is Guy who is the hero and rescues Aunt Florence. The shock of the fire restores Aunt Florence to her senses and we discover she is really Lily-Elsie’s grandmother. She realises that Lily-Elsie needs friends and arranges for her to go to school; Gallows Hall will be sold and she will have a convenient modern house built in the grounds.

And the title? Modestly Guy refuses to accept a medal

Critique
The book does read as a bit of an afterthought – it is a bit samey and Guy’s views seem ever more dated (even if it is supposed to be the 1940s or 1950s rather than the early 1960s when it is written). He is positively the epitome of the Victorian paterfamilias. Nonetheless Pan continues to be nicely drawn and her feelings as a plain child amongst swans are well realised. Lily-Elsie, too, is interesting and stubbornly loyal to her difficult “aunt”.

There are not nearly enough ponies, though.

Diane Janes

Border Peel
Lorna Hill (1950)

Republished by Girls Gone By (GGB), 2007

Background

Border Peel is the third “Marjorie” book and like Stolen Holiday the text was altered before publication to remove overt wartime references though the donkey who is the instrument of Marjorie’s humiliation is called Lord Haw Haw “after that traitor English johnnie.....”

The GGB edition prints as appendices the changes from the original manuscript and those between the first and second editions.

Synopsis

The book begins immediately Stolen Holiday ends with the clan (minus the drummed-out Marjorie) bored with their dull home life and desperate for something to do for the last weeks of their holidays; their camping trip to the coast having been truncated due to Marjorie’s appalling behaviour and subsequent revenge.

“Marjorie would think up something, you bet!” Peter sighed.

On cue Marjorie appears dramatically jumping the tennis net on Dulcie, a borrowed pony far more suited to her than the staid Black Magic. She is desperate to get back into the clan and Guy devises a humiliation ceremony in which she is led publicly on Lord Haw Haw, facing his tail and clad in sackcloth and ashes – a cleverly chosen penance as Marjorie cares about her appearance and dignity very much.

Back in the clan she immediately comes up with the idea of a week at a peel house she has discovered near Bellingham. Of course, Guy knows it already as it is situated in his ancestral homeland much to Marjorie’s chagrin. But he didn’t think of it...

Exploring a wood Esme comes across a handsome boy, Ralph Fenwick (16), the local landowner, tormenting a lame boy, Thomas, who has been poaching as his grandfather has lost his job. It transpires that Fenwicks and Charltons have been at daggers drawn for generations from the days of the Border Reivers and this feud forms the basis of the plot. Various things occur – the clan meets Judith, Ralph’s much nicer and beloved sister, Peter’s and Guy’s clothes are stolen while they are swimming and in retaliation the clan steal the Fenwick’s ponies.

A subplot involves teaching Thomas to ride and finding him a pony. Ralph Fenwick sees the clan’s interest in Thomas and decides to evict his grandfather but Marjorie comes up with the scheme of kidnapping Judith before a gymkhana where she hoped to win a saddle (the Fenwicks are penniless) and ransoming her in return for a promise from Ralph to let the grandfather remain in his cottage. And Marjorie is thus able to engineer a pony swap. Peter gets Black Magic, she gets the spirited Dulcie and Thomas gets Peter’s stolid Simon – and can keep him as his grandfather keeps the cottage. Dulcie is paid for by the clan’s gymkhana winnings. Oh, and Judith gets her saddle as a result of Guy’s skilful riding.

There are the obligatory spats between Marjorie and Guy but Marjorie has the last laugh as Guy does not realise perms are indeed permanent.

Pleasingly, there is more pony interest in this book than in some of the others and further character development. We learn more about Marjorie’s homelife: richer in financial terms but so much poorer in other respects than the others. But we see a good side to her, albeit prompted by some ulterior motivation. Guy is his usual Edwardian self but Pan is beginning to question whether he is always right and he does use her as a confidante and turns to her for wise counsel. Pan is very well drawn and continues to agonise about her appearance. I see her growing up to be like Sarah Burton the splendid headmistress in “South Riding”. And Marjorie? She’ll end up a gin sodden wreck racketing around Soho – when not riding hard to hounds.

Diane Janes

Stolen Holiday

Lorna Hill (1948)

Republished by Girls Gone By (GGB), 2004

Background

The second “Marjorie” book was originally set in 1939 and called “Mystery on the Links”. It was substantially altered for publication in 1948, as the publishers believed that there would be no market for books which referred too much to War amongst a war weary public in a time of austerity. The major changes are to the sub-plot concerning Paul and Gina, who, in the 1939 version are Polish children smuggled into England as the German invasion becomes inevitable and in 1948 are orphan exiles from a war-torn Europe.

To an adult reader with hindsight, the 1939 version is probably the better book and discusses some quite serious themes, but the basic children/ponies/swimming/holiday story is not much altered by the 1948 update.

The GGB reprint helpfully reprints the 1939 text with annotations, changes and deletions for comparison.

Synopsis

It is a year on from “Marjorie and Co.” and the Clan are to stay with Big Alice, who, in more prosperous times, was a maid to Pam’s parents, in her house in Bamburgh, Northumberland, while the adults holiday variously in Skye, the Highlands and Norway (“Marjorie’s people, who are disgustingly rich and can afford luxuries”).

Conveniently they find that Big Alice has been rushed into hospital, so the Clan resourcefully decides to go to Pan and Peter’s parents’ rickety bungalow in the dunes near Beadnell along the coast.

The holiday follows the usual pattern, the ponies always there, but not centre stage, though there is some nice banter from Peter, Pan’s brother (replacing stolid Toby, whose protective mother has kept him at home with an illness), on the virtues of bicycles versus ponies. He is being taught to ride by Guy on the quiet Simple Simon.

As well as an exciting moonlight bathe, a visit to a funfair, where Marjorie provokes Guy’s wrath, an adventurous boat trip to the Farne Islands, in which Guy heroically rescues Marjorie – who is injured as a result of her own foolishness and her defiance of Guy – and Marjorie’s birthday party, there is the ongoing mystery of Paul and Gina; Who are they? Where are they from? Where do they live?

There are a number of telling cameos and incidents which reveal more about the children’s characters.

Gina proves to be a dashing and natural rider in an impromptu display on Black Magic, but has a subdued and proper lesson on Simple Simon with Guy after a battle of wills: she is not unlike Marjorie.

Esmé (who is totally humourless) has an impassioned argument with Guy over hunting and her (and Lorna Hill’s) great love of animals is displayed further in a rabbit shooting incident.

There is the usual tension between Guy and Marjorie, with each exhibiting the worst sides of their characters with Pan ruefully concluding: “I felt that none of us really understood Marjorie” and Guy, in an unguarded moment, confessing that he and Marjorie are rather alike.

Pan, the plain narrator, is the most clear sighted of the Clan. She challenges Guy with “How do you know what is for the best?” and her ability to see two sides of a story (unlike Guy or Marjorie) leads to the discovery of the truth about Gina and Paul and a recognition that it is unfair of Guy and Peter (boys) to keep a secret from the others (girls).

Although the end of the story is a happy one for Paul and Gina, it is not so for the Clan. As a result of her jealousy of Esmé, Marjorie behaves appallingly, causing the premature end of the stolen holiday and is subsequently (and literally) drummed out of the Clan at a ceremony that everyone feels uncomfortable with.

But, as Esmé says “Marjorie has a habit of bouncing up again….” And Pan writes “…. Though it seemed impossible at the time, this is just what happened, though how it came about I will have to tell you at some future time”.

Diane Janes

Castle in Northumbria

LORNA HILL (1953)

Castle in Northumbria follows on from Border Peel. It is Easter and all the members of the clan – Guy (16), Toby (12), Esme, Pan and Marjorie (all now 14) are keen to go back to the Peelhouse but it is stacked with grain. Pan’s twin, Peter, is potholing in Yorkshire to the incomprehension of the others as no ponies are involved. Guy has discovered a semi-ruined castle quite near the Peelhouse and a few miles from Thankless, the ancestral home of the Fenwicks who are the traditional enemies of the Charltons.

For once it is not Toby who is prevented from going by his super-protective parents but Marjorie, whose usually lax and negligent parents insist she stay with an old nurse to cram Latin with an elderly clergyman, she having revealed her ambition to be a “Lady Doctor” and cut people up. They wish her to get a scholarship even though, as the others point out, they have pots of money. There is more telling insight into Marjorie’s home life during this discussion on the clan members’ future careers; Guy wishes to be a vet and cure animals to avoid the necessity of cutting them up. It is suggested that Esme run an animal charity.

However, it is not long before Marjorie does turn up, oddly minus Dulcie her pony. Guy arranges for her to borrow Simon, the gentle pony given by the clan to Thomas in the nearby village. Simon is not spirited enough for Marjorie and she beats him mercilessly. Thomas stands up to her and is supported by Guy provoking another confrontation with Marjorie who runs away leaving a pathetic suicide note.

Woven into the story is the usual preoccupation with food, Guy’s teasing of the humourless Esme and the renewal of the friendship with Judith Fenwick as well as a meeting with snobbish Sylvia Wade. She doesn’t really like riding or ponies but likes the extremely smart clothes that go with them. And there is a storm which reveals that Guy’s camping arrangements are less than perfect.

After finding Marjorie and discovering how she has ingeniously managed to avoid going to the crammer and that her parents don’t know she hasn’t, one of her punishments is to do Latin for an hour a day with Guy and another is to lend the penniless Judith a beautiful dress. The culmination of the holiday is a May Day Festival at which Judith is a perfect May Queen in Marjorie’s dress.

There is a perfunctory sub plot, rather tacked on at the end involving Thankless having to be sold to Sylvia Wades’s parents but this comes to naught as an unknown uncle conveniently dies leaving Ralph Fenwick all his money.

Ralph doesn’t actually appear but has arranged to take Marjorie to what Guy considers an unsuitable film. Personally, I’m sorry he doesn’t appear as he has the potential to be a spledidly wicked “Sir Jasper” figure – if he had a moustache, he’d twirl it - and he would be a great antidote to po- faced Guy. I foresee a long and tempestuous relationship developing between him and Marjorie in years to come.

CONCLUSION

This book has a valedictory air, with discussions on growing up and the suggestion that Guy will be sent to “ the continent” for two years. There is a reconciliation of sorts between Guy and Marjorie at the end, each recognising the strengths of the other. Very satisfactorily we find that Guy’s father has bought the castle in Northumbria so Charltons will finally return to their ancestral lands .

Diane Janes

Northern Lights

Lorna Hill (c1940s)

Consigned to an attic for over 50 years, it was discovered in 1997 and published in 1999. Republished by Girls Gone by in 2009, this edition has a very informative introduction narrating the publishing history of all Lorna Hill’s books, a note on the text and a preface to 1999 edition by Vicki Emley who is Lorna Hill’s daughter.

Background

Northern Lights is the fourth Marjorie story, coming after Border Peel and before Castle in Northumbria. It was rejected for publication because it was considerd that by the late 1940s the war weary public would not be interested in children’s books which mentioned World War 2. The war does feature but does not really impinge once the story gets going. The children manage to organise a Christmas holiday in a rather well appointed vicarage, safe in the country as a result of a near- miss bomb falling on Pan, Peter and Esme’s parents’ neighbour’s garden. On the way there the children have to navigate Newcastle in the blackout; rather well done and atmospheric, this chapter, and later see tank training and manouevres during which Marjorie is caught in a tank with a bunch of soldiers and smoking a cigarette with apparently practised ease. There is the usual and realistic obsessive interest in food but rationing does not feature at all.

Synopsis

Guy is staying in the vicarage to mug up his latin with the Vicar and is also teaching at a local riding school (the regular staff being at war or doing war work). After the adventure of getting there Pan and Peter are dismayed to find they have to take tea with some dreary children whose parents are friends of their parents. Coincidentally Guy has to teach Avril the arrogant girl to ride. He does of course win her over and teaches her some humility and thoughtfulness in her dealings with her downtrodden governess. There is, as usual, a battle between Guy and Marjorie with honours fairly even at the end but this is less of a theme than in some of the other books as Avril is pretty obnoxious and Gina the polish refugee reappears and is fairly impossible, too so the emphasis is off Marjorie. Gina’s behaviour results in the loss of the pony she has been loaned for the holidays – quite right too as she is not prepared to look after it properly – and her running away leading to the set piece ending with the children being marooned in a snow bound cottage and living on snared rabbits and cocoa which causes animal loving Esme an anguished conscience. The Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights foretell the hard weather and the book ends with the children watching their beauty unrolling over the snwy landscape.

There is no strong plot in this story but the each character is developed through a number of incidents. A lot of the apalling Gina’s behaviour is attributable to her disrupted childhood, loss of Mother and Country : particularly poignant at Christmas. On Christmas Day Marjorie receives a big cheque from her absent parents whereas Peter, Pan and Esme get visits and carefully chosen moderate gifts from theirs. Peter, who is rather a weak boy who tries unsuccessfully to imitate Guy and constantly denigrates girl’s abilities, comes into his own at a WI Christmas Show as an ace horse noise imitator and saves the show. The evening is beautifully realised. Surely Lorna Hill must have attended many such! Guy is a keen foxhunter as are Marjorie and Peter but Esme is instinctively and vehemently anti which leads to a clash with neither side attempting to comprehend the other’s point of view over the Boxing Day meet and the subsequent saving of a hunted fox. Pan is thoughtful and struggles with the dilemma of loving the tradition and spectacle and respecting the participants but knowing it is cruel and wrong. I really like Pan; I want her to be my friend - and I can see Esme turning into a batty (and unwashed!) Bridgitte Bardot type of animal rights fanatic – especially as the introduction to the book tells me that Guy grows up to marry a ballet dancer (Yuk!) when clearly he is destined to spend his life being adored by Esme.

Diane Janes