St. Clare's series

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St. Clare's is a series of six books written by British children's author Enid Blyton about a boarding school of that name. The series follows the heroines Patricia ("Pat") and Isabel O'Sullivan from their first year at St. Clare's on. Other characters include Alison O'Sullivan (the twins' cousin), Hilary Wentworth, Carlotta, and Bobby Ellis.

In the first book, The Twins at St. Clare's, the twins Pat and Isabel do not want to go to St. Clare's. Their parents decide to send them there, anyway, saying that they were spoiled at their fancy prep school Redroofs. At their new school, the twins earn the nickname "the stuck-up twins", and are initially quite unpopular. However, through their basic kindness and fairness, they gain the affections of the other girls, and eventually settle down. They meet Janet, who loves tricks, Hilary, who is head of the form, Alison, their feather headed cousin, and many more people. The characters tend to be stereotypes and are very similar to the set of characters in the Malory Towers series which Blyton also wrote.

The six books are:

The Twins at St. Clare's (1941)

The Twins At St Clare's is the first in a series of six books by Enid Blyton known as St. Clare's series. The book tells the story of twin sisters Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan.

The two girls, having just finished school at the elite school called Redroofs, are expected to move on to senior school. While most of their friends at their old school are moving to the equally elite Ringmere, the twins' parents are reluctant to send them to an expensive school as they are afraid the twins might become spoilt and snobbish. Furious at their parents' refusal to send them to the school of their choice, the twins are determined to be as difficult as possible at St.Clare's.

At School

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The twins soon find out that keeping their nose high will bring them trouble. They meet Miss Roberts, a strict but fair teacher, who is also their form mistress, and keeps the form quite well under control. They meet other form girls with whom they share a dormitory, such as Hilary Wentworth, Doris, Janet Robins, Vera Johns and Sheila Naylor. Soon, they are called "the stuck up twins" by the rest of the form. They immediately like the head girl Winifred James, who is the pride of St.Clare's. The twins find it irritating that they are among the most junior girls in school (being only 14 and a half), while in Redroofs they were head girls.

The twins are especially at odds with their French mistress Mam'zelle. She is very hot tempered, and is frustrated that the make so many mistakes. Mamzelle frequently uses the French word abominable for the twins' work, and thus the twins secretly begin to call her "Mamzelle Abominable".

The twins miss their favourite sport of field hockey and tennis because only lacrosse is played at St Clare's, and Pat turns out to be quite good at it. She is selected by sports captain Belinda despite having defied her earlier.

The twins soon make good friends with the other girls and play pranks on others in the school. Most pranks are directed at Miss Kennedy, their history teacher, who is a very timid and insecure teacher, though highly qualified. One of the pranks for Miss Kennedy is discovered by Miss Roberts and she punishes the whole form because of it. The class stops playing tricks on Miss Kennedy when the twins accidentally overhear her talking to a friend about giving up her job, despite needing the money to help her sick mother, because she cannot control the class.

The twins generously help Kathleen Gregory and Sheila Naylor at times of trouble and win their loyal and sincere friendship and praise. They are soon liked by Miss Theobald, the headmistress, who considers them very dedicated pupils. By the end of term, the girls are completely settled in and are enjoying St. Clare's.

The O'Sullivan Twins (1942)

The O'Sullivan Twins is the second in the St. Clare's series of novels by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1942.

Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The book covers the second term of O'Sullivan twins Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan. The girls are eagerly looking forward to going back to St. Clare's, unlike the previous year when they were determined to be as difficult as possible. This year they have to take their cousin Alison, another O'Sullivan. Alison is very pretty but quite featherheaded. She hates sports and is actually quite timid. She is teased a lot and scolded, when she arrives at St. Clares, but eventually settles in and becomes less vain. The twins also meet Margery, a sulky, bad-tempered girl who displays heroic courage, and who loses her sulkiness when the twins help to put an end to problems in her family life, and Lucy, a pretty, clever, gifted student, who wins the affection of all the girls, but who also has to cope with personal problems when her father is badly injured in a car accident.

Summer Term at St. Clare's (1943)

Summer Term at St.Clare's is third book in St. Clare's Series by British children's author Enid Blyton.

The story starts with the twins Pat and Isabel O' Sullivan looking forward to enjoying their first summer term at St.Clare's. Their mother is happy to see them looking forward to school. One day, they go to play tennis with a friend, and meet a girl who has mumps. The twins, to their dismay, are put in quarantine, and are not allowed to go back to school at the beginning of the term.

When they arrive back the following week, they are heartily welcomed by their friends. Five new girls have joined their form. There is an American girl called Sadie, who is obviously quite rich and elegant. The twins discover that their cousin Alison has already made friends with her. There is a wild-looking girl called Carlotta, who is half Spanish. There is a naughty but very likable girl Bobby (Roberta), who quickly becomes friends with Janet.There is another girl called Prudence, who is quite pretty but has no sense of humour. The last new girl is Pam, who is very hard working. Two of the girls from their form, Margery and Lucy have been moved up to the next form..

The girls soon discover that Miss Roberts is on the war path. She is the first form head and is determined that her girls should do well and be promoted in next form. The twins also get to know the new girls. Prudence turns out to be nasty, spiteful, and dishonest. She takes a strong dislike to Carlotta, and discovers that Carlotta once belonged to a circus. She reveals Carlotta's secret to the other girls, hoping it will make them despise her, but it only serves to make Carlotta even more popular.

The American girl Sadie is like Alison, always caring about her looks. She also hates sports and all outdoor activities. However, she is good temper and laughs at being teased. The girls soon find out that Sadie is an heiress. Her mother had to fight lawsuits and win fortune. Sadie's father had died and left a will giving away all his money to his sisters. Sadie's mother had won it back through lawsuits. During the term, while Prudence is spying on Carlotta, Sadie is kidnapped, and Carlotta rescues her. The term ends happily for most, with Prudence expelled, Sadie preparing to go back to America, and the other girls looking forward to going into second year.

Second Form at St. Clare's (1944)

Second Form at St Clares is fourth in a series of Books by Enid Blyton.The series is about high school twin girls Patricia and Isabel O'Sullivan. Both girls have been promoted to second form and are very excited about it. They are eager to go back to school. Their form mistress is now Miss Jenks and they no longer have to bear the severeness of first form mistress Miss Roberts.

The second form has only two girls who have been kept back from third form and two new girls. The two old girls are Elsie Fenshawe and Anna Johnson. Both are disliked as Elsie is spiteful and Anna is very lazy; however, both are made head of their form, replacing Hilary Wentworth who was head in first form.

The two new girls are Gladys Hilman & Mirabel Unwin.

Gladys is miserable because her mother is ill and in hospital, she rarely speaks or joins in and is nicknamed "The Misery Girl". It takes Mirabel to find out what is wrong with her.

Mirabel Unwin is determined to make the worst of things and ruin class for everyone, she was sent away from home because of her behaviour towards her younger brother and sister. Mirabel declares she wants to leave at half term but ends up staying when the girls give her a chance.

Claudine at St.Clare's (1944)
Fifth Formers at St. Clare's (1945)

Characters included:

Pat O'Sullivan (Forms 1-6)
Isabel O'Sullivan (Forms 1-6)
Janet Robins (Forms 1-6)
Hilary Wentworth (Forms 1-6)
Doris Elward (Forms 1-6)
Kathleen Gregory (Form 1)
Vera Johns (Form 1)
Alison O'Sullivan (Forms 1-6)
Lucy Oriell (Form 1)
Margery Fenworthy (Form 1)
Sadie Greene (Form 1)
Carlotta Brown (Forms 1-6)
Prudence Arnold (Form 1)
Pamela Boardman (Form 1, 3-4) )
Roberta "Bobby" Ellis (Forms 1-6)
Gladys Hillman (Forms 2-6)
Mirabel Unwin (Forms 2-6)
Rachel Denman (Form 3)
Fern Francis (Form 3)
Libby Francis (Form 3)
Angela (Forms 4-6)
Pauline Jones (Forms 4-5)
Claudine (Forms 4-6)
Anne-Marie (Forms 5-6)
Phyllis "Fizz" Bentley (Form 6)

Recently, Enid Blyton Limited have copyrighted two further books in the series, written by Pamela Cox:

The Third Form at St. Clare's (2000) - set before Claudine at St Clare's
The Sixth Form at St. Clare's (2000)

Blyton wrote two other series about life at a boarding school: Malory Towers and the Naughtiest Girl series.

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