Blog tour: First Term at Fernside by Sheena Wilkinson (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E)

  September 2024, The O'Brien Press, 288 pages, Paperback, Review copy

Summary from The O'Brien Press

 Robin can’t wait to be back at Fernside boarding school. But for her younger cousin Linnet the first term at Fernside is a bit of a nightmare. And she needs Robin’s help with every little thing.

When the adorable puppy Rudy disappears, can the girls stay out of trouble long enough to solve the mystery?

Nayu's thoughts

There are never enough school stories in the world of literature. Ever! I feel that's important to note before I state the rest of the paragraph: most school stories start at the first term, which mostly is first year of secondary school (aka high school, I think. Maybe middle school - I'm English and was at school in the 90's) Fernside? It starts higher up the school and one of the main protagonists isn't even the new girl!!! This is a novel formula to me for school stories and I lapped it up in a few hours. Initially I didn't like Robin a lot, she is fairly sensible and confident, and is used to school life. Linnet (not Lynette, matron!) is not an Enid Blyton Gwen. Linnet has never been to school, has a lot of anxiety and absolutely is not used to a busy schedule. As Robin's cousin, both students and teachers alike expect Linnet to be shown the ropes by Robin. Robin dislikes this, she just wants to get on with her comfy school life and not dry the tears and be exasperated by her younger family member.

Needless to say the chalk and cheese duo take time to get used to each other. Linnet says whatever she feels like saying - she isn't rude on purpose but she simply doesn't know that sometimes keeping quiet is tactful. Somewhere it is said she is emotionally immature and this is true. The milk incident was not her fault, and made me feel sorry for her as she tries to stand up for herself, but isn't always listened to. All her odd ways which mark her as unlike the other girls wind up being the reason a mystery gets solved by the end of the book. Unlike a certain Gwendoline Mary Lacey Linnet is not totally spoilt. She is highly intelligent, and sees things the other girls miss. I was rooting for Linnet's growth from page one, I loved every tentative step she took at Fernside, with the usual class bully getting punished finally for all her taunting, inclusiveness with one girl needing crutches permanently due to illness. I loved it's set in the 1920s, a time without mobile phones that had it's issues, for sure, but is a school era I love in books as it seems so innocent.

Okay so skipping out of school early, exploring the attic area and other out of bounds places isn't an innocent act, but Linnet had good reason for all of those and everything does work out in the end. My only issue is having to wait until the next book as I want more of Linnet coming out of her shell. I doubt she will ever enjoy games, but her learning to knit (or crochet, both were talked about at the same time and I can't recall which it was) was charming. There were moments when the recent war were brought up and were hard to read for the involved characters, but it made it realistic. I loved how cook and matron were both formidable characters, but some teachers like Madame were less strict in how they handled the girls. This is truly cozy school tale, one I'll re-read a lot. It's a real pleasure to be the final stop on this tour, make sure you check out the other stops! You can never go wrong with an O'Brien book.

Find out more on Sheena's website. 

Suggested read

Equally good is another O'Brien school tale out earlier this year, The Tower Ghost by Natasha Mac a'Bhaird and Lauren O'Neill (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E)