Girls of the Hamlet Club - Elsie Oxanham

[watervole]

I'd wanted to read this book for a long time, as Elsie Oxenham's books are a useful source of knowledge about the early folk revival.

It's a very slow burner, but overall I enjoyed it.  Oxenham's books have a moral element to them as well as the 'schoolgirl' story and the folk dance connections.  I find this aspect of the stories tends to work for me. Difficult decisions are presented as being genuinely difficult - in this case Cecily has to choose between remaining with her friends at her current school, or moving to a totally new place in order to be close to aging grandparents who have never wanted to know her in the past.

The story is set in Wiltshire and much of the early story is spent introducing us to the Wiltshire countryside, the villages and hamlets, the woodlands and views.   We also meet some of the characters who Cecily will get to know better later on.

The folk dance aspect comes into play once Cecily starts at her new school and finds it to be very much split into two social groups, the better off pupils, and the girls from the hamlets.  There's some strong discrimination against the 'Hamlet' girls who are very much looked down on.

Although from the better off demographic, Cecily had already made friends with some of the hamlet girls before the term started, so she sets herself the task of doing something for them.  Unable to join most of the school clubs because of the membership cost, they are soon drawn into the folk dance club that she founds for them.

The dance part of the novel is really interesting from a folk history angle.  Here, back in 1914, when general belief is that there weren't any women dancing morris, we see that there definitely were.  It's lovely to see familiar Cotswold morris dances in this context.  There is also a may queen ceremony, which is probably based on the 'Whitelands' model.  ('Whitelands' was a teacher training college, which still has an annual May Queen/King)

All in all, I enjoyed it, and not just for the folk dance. But don't expect any action for the first half of the novel, and remember that 'drive' does not necessarily mean in a car at this period in history!

This novel is out of copyright and can be downloaded for free from https://www.fadedpage.com/

 

 

 

Comments

[sallymn]

I have a very old print copy of this, I've also downloaded it (and all the ones they have) from faded pages :)

I did enjoy it, but there's a strange feeling, probably born of hindsight, that is a little hop out of kin from the coming Abbey series, where I think the author found her feet - and heroines she really wanted to follow - very quickly. But I do like the dancing and the May queen details, which give it a period but very appealing layer.

[watervole]

Well, it is part of the Abbey series, but I know what you mean. Cecily is not the character that we end up following long time.

It wasn't until I met Joy and Joan that I realised 'Abbey Girls' referred to them and not to the school...

[sallymn]

I read some of the later ones first, so this one, without them, felt odd.

[igenlode]

Cecily is not the character that we end up following long time.

Sounds a bit like "The Wolves of Willougby Chase", where shy Sylvia is the main protagonist of the initial book, the sequel follows Simon, a very minor character in the adventures of Sylvia and her cousin, and then all the rest of the series focusses on Dido Twite, who is introduced as a dubious ally in the second book and subsequently becomes the heroine of all the rest :p Apparently it took Joan Aiken three books to work out who she *really* wanted to write about...