E. M. R. Burgess

With three older sisters who had all distinguished themselves in games, during their time at Merevaile - Hester had been the first girl in the history of the school to win her colors at every game, Hope had been captain of the hockey and tennis teams, and Honor had been the fastest (cricket) bowler ever seen - Hilary Peridew finds that she has quite a tradition to live up to, when she first arrives at school. Try as she might, she cannot at first convince her school-mates that she has none of the extraordinary athletic prowess of her elder siblings, and the resultant disappointment, and, in the case of Lynwood House Games Captain Rose Merton, resentment, when it is discovered that she is not being modest, cause Hilary significant problems throughout her first year. Making friends despite her troubles, with fellow Lynwood girl Averil Graham, as well as fellow Girl Guides Felix (Felicity) Ashdown and Pen (Penelope) Petree (who belong to another house, The Manor), Hilary experiences many of the typical boarding school adventures (as envisioned in the school story), from midnight gatherings to house competitions. Eventually, through her newly discovered prowess as a swimmer, and through her chivalric nature, she proves to the school and to her family that she is carrying on in the great Peridew Tradition. The other Peridew Tradition...

Hilary Follows Up made for a quick and pleasant read yesterday, on my evening commute. I can't say that it was particularly brilliant, or even that memorable - I suspect that, were I not to record the plot elements mentioned above, they would slip from my mind in a short time - and there were certainly times when I felt that the writing was a little awkward, with less character development than I would have liked to have seen. I found the premise of the story interesting - twins Nicola and Lawrie had similar trouble with over-achieving older sisters in Antonia Forest's Autumn Term - and, as someone who attended a small liberal arts college where athletic scholarships were not offered, as a deliberate means of rejecting the overweening influence of sport on the American academy, I appreciated the message of balance here - the idea that, while games are important, focusing on them alone is a less-than-constructive course for a school to chart. Some throwaway remarks - gormless Billy Malone the boot-black boy being condescendingly referred to as having "good stuff," despite his Irish temper, for instance - rather grated, but otherwise, this was just a sweet little cream-puff of a story: fun, but with little substance. All in all, a low three stars.… (mais)