Abbey Connectors Explained
Abbey Connectors are titles by Elsie J. Oxenham that connect into her main Abbey Series.They fall into several sub-series, listed here in best reading order, with the Abbey Titles they relate to shown in their place in the mini-series, but without publication details, which are on the main Abbey Series page:The information is all gleaned from the books themselves, or from Monica Godfrey's The World of Elsie Jeanette Oxenham and Her Books.[1]
Close Connectors
Camp Keema Series
code | Title | Date | Publisher | Illustrator |
---|
CK1 | The Crisis in Camp Keema | 1928 | Chambers | Percy Tarrant |
CK2 | Peggy and The Brotherhood | 1936 | R.T.S./G.O.P. †g | not credited |
CK3 | The Camp Mystery | 1932 | Collins †g | not credited |
CK4 | The Abbey Girls Play Up | | | | |
The
Camp Keema Series introduces Maribel Ritchie (later Marchwood) and Rosalind Firth. The first two books in this series,
Crisis in Camp Keema and
Peggy and the Brotherhood, are set in a fictionalised
Worthing, Sussex. The third,
Camp Mystery, is set at
Talloires on
Lake Annecy, France and introduces Cecily Brown (later Perowne). These three characters enter the Abbey Series in
The Abbey Girls Play Up (once more, set mainly in
Sussex) and appear again, or are referred to, at intervals later in that series. The publication dates are interesting; Oxenham refers in
Abbey Girls Play Up (1930) to events in Cecily Brown's earlier life, which were not fully described until
Camp Mystery was published two years later. Indeed, the version of her story given in
Play Up, while naturally being simplified – one cannot relate the whole plot in detail when summarising events for a new acquaintance – misses several important features which Oxenham may not have thought of until she actually came to write
Camp Mystery, the book that covers these events, a year or two after writing
Play Up. Then, four years later again, she returned to the period between
Crisis (1928) and
Mystery (1932) and wrote
Peggy (1936) which fills in events concerning Rosalind's younger brother and sister, John and Gina, as well as introducing new characters Peggy and Sharly, and letting us see more of Maribel's school life.
Kentisbury Series
code | Title | Date | Publisher | Illustrator |
---|
K1 | Patch and a Pawn | 1940 | Warne | not credited |
K2 | Rosamund's Tuckshop | | also part of the main Abbey Series | |
K3 | The Secrets of Vairy | 1947 | Muller †e | Margaret Horder |
K4 | Rosamund's Castle | | also part of the main Abbey Series | |
K5 | Jandy Mac Comes Back | | also part of the main Abbey Series | |
K6 | Song of the Abbey | | also part of the main Abbey Series | | |
The
Kentisbury Series is much more closely tied into the Abbey Series.
Patch and a Pawn introduces Patricia (Patch) Paterson (later Kane), Rhoda, Geoff, Bill and Rosalie Kane, Tansy Lillico and Roger Black. It is set in and around 'Kentisbury Castle', a fictionalised
Arundel, Sussex. Rhoda and Rosalie reappear in
Rosamund's Tuckshop, also set in Sussex, at
Washington. Bill, Patch and Roger reappear in
Secrets of Vairy. set at 'Vairy Castle', a fictionalised
Knockderry Castle on
Loch Long, Scotland. Tansy reappears in
Rosamund's Castle, once again set at Washington and Kentisbury/Arundel, and
Jandy Mac Comes Back is also set mainly at Kentisbury. Bill and Patch as newly-weds appear in
Song of the Abbey; the scenes in which they appear are set at Kentisbury, although the main action of the book takes place at
The Abbey in
Oxfordshire. These characters are all mentioned in several books in the main Abbey Series published and set after
Rosamund's Tuckshop.
Quellyn/Woodend Series
code | Title | Date | Publisher | Illustrator |
---|
QW1 | The Girl Who Wouldn't Make Friends | 1909 | Nelson | P. B. Hickling |
QW2 | Rosamund's Tuckshop | | also part of the main Abbey Series | |
QW3 | Rosamund's Castle | | also part of the main Abbey Series | |
QW4 | New Girls at Wood End | 1957 | Frederick Books/Blackie | D/J Margery Gill |
QW5 | Robins in the Abbey | | also part of the main Abbey Series | | |
The
Quellyn/Woodend Series provides an awkward problem of internal chronology within Oxenham's various book series. The main Abbey Series can be dated to within a year or two by events in the real world that are mentioned in
Girls of the Hamlet Club, although it is recognised that there are anachronisms in the Retrospective Series. But in
The Girl Who Wouldn't Make Friends we are introduced to Robin (Robertina Brent, later Quellyn) and Gwyneth Morgan (later Lloyd) as twelve-year-olds; although the story starts in the London suburbs, most of the action takes place at 'Quellyn' and
Nefyn on the
Llŷn Peninsula in
North Wales. The next part of their story is told in
Rosamund's Tuckshop and
Rosamund's Castle, both in the main Abbey Series when they are seventeen or so, about five years later in 'Abbey Time', but which were published eighteen and nineteen years later respectively. These two books are set at 'Wood End School' in
Washington, Sussex. Robin's romance and marriage are described in
Robins in the Abbey, published in 1947, and set mainly in
Oxfordshire at 'The Abbey' and at 'Quellyn', but in 1957 Oxenham returned to Robin's school career, and produced
New Girls at Wood End, a book about Robin's time as Head Girl, set in the spring following
Rosamund's Castle.
The world of 1909, in which 'motors' can be driven across fields and through gated lanes by a twelve-year-old Gwyneth, and where a telegram is brought from the post office in the nearest town by bicycle, contrasts starkly with the air crash that features in Robins in the Abbey and the car accident and BBC news bulletins of New Girls at Wood End – and with the ownership and use of the telephone in the latter two titles as a normal and common feature.
Rocklands Series
code | Title | Date | Publisher | Illustrator |
---|
Ro1 | A Go-Ahead Schoolgirl | 1919 | Chambers | H. Earnshaw |
Ro2 | Tickles, or The School that was Different | 1924 | Partridge | not credited |
Ro3 | Jen of the Abbey School | | also part of the main Abbey Series | |
Ro4 | Rosamund's Victory †e | | also part of the main Abbey Series | | |
A Go-Ahead Schoolgirl takes place during the
World War I at Rocklands School in
Yorkshire. The description of the area has more in common with
Froggatt Edge in Derbyshire, but Oxenham is well known for her 'translocation' of places to fit the story. It tells of Rena (Andrena) Mackay (later Courtney) and her friend Nancy Morrell, and their time at school. When Rena's father is killed in the War, she must find a career. The headmistress's sister, who owns Rocklands House, helps her, and another friend, Lisabel (Elisabel) Durrant (also later Courtney – they marry brothers), to become gardeners, and sends them to
Swanley to train.
Tickles tells of a new junior at the School, Tekla (Tickles) and her amazement at the school which moves every spring from
Sheffield to the moors at Rocklands and returns each autumn.
Jen of the Abbey School – also considered part of the main
Abbey Series, continues the story of Tekla's school career and describes how the girls of Rocklands meet Jen Robins (later Marchwood) of the Abbey Series.
Rosamund's Victory continues the story of Rena and Lisabel and describes their engagements. Lisabel, by this time married with a baby daughter, also plays a significant role in
New Girls at Wood End (see the
Quellyn/Woodend series above). Betty McLean, head girl of Rocklands in
Tickles and
Jen, comes into the main Abbey Series in
Abbey Girls at Home and appears or is mentioned in many later titles in that series.
Rachel and Damaris/Rainbows Series
code | Title | Date | Publisher | Illustrator |
---|
Ra1 | Damaris at Dorothy's | 1937 | SPCK/Sheldon | 'Bea' |
Ra2 | Maidlin to the Rescue †e | | also part of the main Abbey Series | |
Ra3 | Damaris Dances | 1940 | O.U.P | Margaret Horder |
Ra4 | Adventure for Two | 1941 | O.U.P. | Margaret Horder |
Ra5 | Elsa Puts Things Right | 1944 | Muller †e | Margaret Horder |
Ra6 | Pernel Wins | 1942 | Muller †e | Margaret Horder |
Ra7 | Daring Doranne | 1945 | Muller †e | Margaret Horder |
Ra8 | Margery Meets the Roses | 1947 | Lutterworth †g | V. Bertoglio |
Ra0 | Mistress Nanciebel | 1910 | Hodder & Stoughton (later editions O.U.P.) | J. A. Durden | |
The
Rachel & Damaris/Rainbows Series is another example of how Oxenham combines series and characters, weaving in and out of the main Abbey Series.
Maidlin to the Rescue was published in 1934, and tells of Maidlin's previously unknown cousins, Rachel and Damaris, and how Maidlin overcomes their resistance to being 'adopted' by her and brings them back to
The Abbey.
Damaris at Dorothy's, published three years later, returns to the schooldays of Rachel and Damaris and gives the back story of their relationship with Philippa (Pip) Russell, who plays a crucial part in the plot of
Maidlin to the Rescue.
Damaris Dances was written in response to Oxenham's publishers' wish for a 'ballet book'. Apparently it took several years and many revisions, since Oxenham was not a ballet expert. It covers the period in the main Abbey Series from just before
Joy's New Adventure to just after
Maidlin Bears the Torch. Rachel and Damaris have a cameo in
Two Joans in the Abbey and appear briefly in
Abbey Champion as bridesmaids at Maidlin's wedding to Jock Robertson. From
Guardians of the Abbey onwards, their characters are fully integrated into the main Abbey Series.
Adventure for Two takes the Rainbows series in a different direction. It takes place partly concurrently with, and just after, Damaris Dances. Two sisters, Daphne and Elsa Dale, make different decisions after the death of their aunt. Daphne continues her ballet training in London, and comes to know Damaris and take part in her ballet 'The Goose Girl'. Elsa returns to 'Hillside', near 'Sandylands' – a fictionalised Uphill, near Weston-super-Mare – to live in the cottage their aunt has left to her. The rest of the series introduces Nancybell Morgan (later Farnham), Margery Paine (later Woodburn), Gilbert and Annamaria Seymour, and the 'Rose sisters'. Pernel Wins and Daring Doranne tie into this series in that the characters in Pernel, Pernel Richard herself, Juliet Joyes and Gwen Baldwin come to live at 'Rainbow Corner' at the beginning of Doranne, and the village Doranne founds, also called 'Rainbows', is where the 'Roses' live, and where Margery Paine comes to make her new beginning. The Roses join the main Abbey Series in Fiddler for the Abbey, and news of the other characters is given in some of the later books in the Abbey Series. Mistress Nanciebel, published in 1910, tells the story of 'the ancestress' of Gilbert and Annamaria Seymour, and of Nancybell Morgan. Here, Oxenham has created a family history for her modern characters by using details from another of her books, published over thirty years earlier.
Remote Connectors
Torment Series
code | Title | Date | Publisher | Illustrator |
---|
T1 | The School Torment | 1920 | Chambers | H. Earnshaw |
T2 | The Testing of the Torment | 1925 | Cassell | P. B. Hickling |
T3 | The Camp Fire Torment | 1926 | Chambers | Enid Browne | |
- Tormentil Grant appears in The Abbey Girls Go Back to School (A11) but this is the only real link with the Abbey Series. All three books are set on Lake Bala in North Wales.
Sussex Set
code | Title | Date | Publisher | Illustrator |
---|
Sx1 | The Junior Captain | 1923 | Chambers †e | Percy Tarrant |
Sx2 | Peggy Makes Good | 1927 | Partridge | H. L. Bacon |
Sx3 | The School Without A Name | 1924 | Chambers †e | Nina K. Brisley |
Sx4 | Ven at Gregory's | 1925 | Chambers †e | Nina K. Brisley |
Sx5 | The Troubles of Tazy | | see Sw4 below | |
Sx5 | Patience and her Problems | | see Wd3 below | | |
Swiss Set
code | Title | Date | Publisher | Illustrator |
---|
Sw1 | The Two Form Captains | 1921 | Chambers †e | Percy Tarrant |
Sw2 | The Captain of the Fifth | 1922 | Chambers †e | Percy Tarrant |
Sw3 | The Camp Mystery | | see CK3 above | |
Sw4 | The Troubles of Tazy | 1926 | Chambers †e | Percy Tarrant |
Sw5 | Patience and her Problems | | see Wd3 below | | |
Woody Dean Set
code | Title | Date | Publisher | Illustrator |
---|
Wd1 | The School of Ups and Downs | 1918 | Chambers †e | H. Earnshaw |
Wd2 | Patience Joan, Outsider | 1922 | Cassell †e | not credited |
Wd3 | Patience and her Problems | 1927 | Chambers | Molly Benatar |
Wd0 | A School Camp Fire | 1917 | Chambers †e | Percy Tarrant | |
These three sets, Sussex, Swiss and Woody Dean, are closely connected to each other, as may be seen by the titles they share. The village of 'Woody Dean', the setting for the Woody Dean Set, is a fictionalised Rottingdean in East Sussex, and the nearby school may be based on Roedean School. The Sussex Set takes place mainly in Pagham though it is never named, and the cathedral city mentioned in the text as 'Eldingham' must be intended as Chichester. Troubles of Tazy and Patience and her Problems both take place largely in Switzerland, either at the St John's & St Mary's Schools complex where the earlier books in the Swiss Set are based, or in the nearby hostel for girls and ladies, and characters from all three sets appear in these two titles.
A School Camp Fire is another of those titles that Oxenham 'revisited', to take characters and bring them into books she wrote later. Several main characters from it attend Helen Robinson's wedding in School of Ups and Downs but it has no connection otherwise, and cannot be said to form part of a real series. As a book, it is in itself split into four sub-sections each of which tells a discrete story, though the characters of Priscilla, Katharine and Dorothy-Anne are present throughout the book.
Characters from the Swiss Set also appear or are mentioned in the Camp Keema Series and in the Abbey Series itself, which gives the only connection these titles have with the main series.
- †g = republished in paperback by Girls Gone By Publishers
- †e = reprinted by The Elsie J. Oxenham Society/Abbey Chronicle
- See also The Elsie J. Oxenham Society/Abbey Chronicle web site, which includes extra notes on how the series fit with each other and connect into the Abbey Series.
Notes and References
- Godfrey, Monica. The World of Elsie Jeanette Oxenham and Her Books, Girls Gone By Publishers, 2003