This is the second book in the “Patience” series which extends to four volumes.

Patience has been convalescing after an illness and so can’t be allowed to join in the camping holiday planned by the other four. Or that’s what they think. However, the book opens with some scenes set in the city of Newcastle and Judy incurs David’s wrath by allowing herself to be daubed with make-up in a shop demonstration. In fact the book consists again of a series of verbal battles between David and his headstrong sister and between David and the self-centred Judy.

Patience makes her own entirely illegal and irresponsible arrangements for joining the camp and suffers within a lonely cave for a few days. David, Richard, Elizabeth and Judy meanwhile enjoy camp-life with its opportunities for swimming and riding their ponies. Another visit to Newcastle sets David and Judy at odds with each other once more as she persists in her desire to see a film that will make them miss the last sensible bus back to the wilds of Northumberland that night. (The story appears to be set near Bellingham once more, though this place is not named.) The arrest of a thief and the excitements of a gymkhana bring the book to a close. Ominously for the readers Lorna Hill introduces Guy Charlton into the action once more.  He replicates with Patience the horse-switching trick he had performed with Esmé  in “Border Peel” in the “Marjorie” series.  

The illustrations are by Gilbert Dunlop.

This is the first book in the “Patience” series which extends to four volumes.

The last two books are hi-jacked by Guy Charlton from the “Marjorie” series as Lorna Hill found that her juvenile readers preferred books in which her “impossible” hero took the lead. Each story is told by Judy in the first person and recounts her adventures with David, Patience, Richard and Elizabeth. Judy and her father move from a flat in London to the depths of the Northumberland countryside (most likely the area around Matfen, Corbridge and Hexham). It takes a while for the thoroughly spoiled Judy to fit in with her friends – in particular she clashes with David, the acknowledged leader of the little group. He patiently teaches her both the right way to ride and the right way to behave. Patience (real-name Fleur) is David’s younger half-sister and her nickname seems totally inappropriate to her rather headstrong and determined character. Unlike Marjorie (in the Marjorie series) Patience does appear to be kind at heart and it is simply a matter of all of the children getting to know how to settle down with each other. There are pony rides, tennis matches, visits to Newcastle and occasional explorations of the Northumberland countryside. The straightened circumstances that caused Judy’s father to move to the countryside prove to be less drastic than expected but both Judy and her father (by the end of the book) are keen  to stay in what is their family home. Judy has lost a good number of her sharp edges and recognised (and amended) some of her faults.

The illustrations are by Gilbert Dunlop.

Many thanks to Jim Mackenzie for this summary.

This is the third book in the “Patience” series which extends to four volumes. Certain details mentioned in it interlock with characters, places and events to be found in the “Marjorie” series.

Lorna Hill reveals that her immediate audience (her daughter Vicky and her friends) clamoured for Guy Charlton from the “Marjorie” series to be introduced into the “Patience” stories simply because he was such a dynamic, attractive and controversial character. A brief appearance in “It was all because of Patience” is now followed by a dominant role in this book.

vid falls ill with laryngitis just at the moment during the Easter holidays when he was meant to be leading his sister (Patience) and his friends Richard Lister, Elizabeth Lister and Judy Milburn on a camping holiday where the girls would sleep in a caravan and the boys in a tent, once again in the depths of the Northumberland countryside not far from Bellingham. The four remaining children set out to make the best of the camp until David is well enough to join them. Unfortunately they aren’t very competent without their normal leader and it is only when Guy Charlton arrives that things begin to run smoothly. His well-meaning and well-directed efforts to keep them comfortable and arrange fun things to do are resented by Elizabeth, usually the most polite and well-behaved member of the group. Judy also begins to find that she doesn’t much like being ordered about even though she recognises that what Guy says is always rational and kind. Certain events cause friction – Judy quarrels with Guy over swimming in the tarn by the peel tower (like Peter in “Border Peel”) and then later over going to a dance with Ralph Fenwick. Elizabeth works herself into a passion over a stray dog and how it should be treated and gets herself into a dangerous position near Hordon Castle. Amongst other episodes the children visit a tawdry country fair in Bellingham and make friends with Judith Fenwick at Thankless (see again “Border Peel”).  By the end of the book Guy has become as accepted as an even better leader than David, who rejoins the group for an extra week’s holiday.

Jim Mackenzie 25.1.2005.

This is the fourth and final book in the “Patience” series. Certain details mentioned in it interlock with characters, places and events to be found in the “Marjorie” series.

In this book Lorna Hill is even more ruthless in the way she disposes of David and replaces him with Guy. An accident caused by Patience’s exuberance causes David to cut himself badly on a broken lemonade glass. Luckily Guy is on hand to stop the flow and get his cousin to the doctor. Laid up because of shock David is keen that Guy should lead the attempt to prove that the usual group of children can survive on five shillings during a week. Guy plans an expedition to Lindisfarne or Holy Island where an aunt of his has a vacant bungalow amongst the dunes. They duly arrive at the bungalow and a series of minor adventures follow. Patience gets trapped on a rock. They all get lost in a mist and end up in the castle. They make friends with Henry, a boy with a mysterious secret; they help an injured gull; they take part in a village gala. Judy and Guy have another tremendous argument as once more he succeeds in making her behave according to his standards rather than her own wilfulness.

Jim Mackenzie   25.1.2005