Strangers in Skye

by Mabel Esther Allan

A 17-year-old girl helps her brother manage a youth hostel on the Scottish Isle of Skye.

Genres: Young Adult

218 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

A prolific British children's author, who also wrote under the pen-names Jean Estoril, Priscilla Hagon, Anne Pilgrim, and Kathleen M. Pearcey, Mabel Esther Allan is particularly known for her school and ballet stories.

Born in 1915 at Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula, Allan knew from an early age that she wanted to be an author, and published her first short stories in the 1930s. Her writing career was interrupted by World War II, during which time she served in the Women's Land Army and taught school in Liverpool, but the 1948 publication of The Glen Castle Mystery saw it begin to take off in earnest. Influenced by Scottish educator A.S. Neill, Allan held progressive views about education, views that often found their way into her books, particularly her school stories. She was interested in folk dance and ballet - another common subject in her work - and was a frequent traveler. She died in 1998.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good MEA! She is such a great YA writer from the 20th century. I would happily put any of the books I’ve read by her in teenage girl hands. This one features 18 year old Elizabeth who is ordered by the doctor to take a break from using her eyes for several months. She is Oxford-bound so suddenly this great dream of hers feels out of reach and she doesn’t know what to do without studying and reading. Fortunately, her older brother John is there for her! He’s taken a job as a warden for a new youth hostel on the Isle of Skye and invites Elizabeth to stay with him and help from May-September. Elizabeth’s journey from a girl lost in her books to a young woman who engages easily and courageously with other people and with the wild nature of Skye is so endearing. She grows so much in her Scottish summer and even has a bit of romance along the way. I loved her relationship with her brother John. If only there was an Oxford sequel!

[Cera · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging YA novel about Elizabeth, an intelligent, bookish girl from a lower middle-class family who is devastated when she is told that she's in danger of going blind from too much reading. Strictly forbidden to read for several months she decides to spend the summer in Skye helping her older brother run a youth hostel. The book is very much about learning to live experientially while still valuing the pleasures of literature and the mind. What amazed me most about this 1956 novel is how matter-of-factly feminist it is; Elizabeth's desire to go to university & become a historian is taken for granted, and the enjoyable romance plot is not allowed to interfere with her goals.

This is the second novel by Allan I've read, and I've really enjoyed both of them; I wish my local library system had more of her work!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. I had wanted to read it for a long time and it did not disappoint. Classic ME Allan storyline, but enough differences, and a true love of Skye shone through.

I love the cameo appearance from Miss Dean and the girls at Dundonay House.

My Uncle worked for the YHA for many years, and my grandad was a life time member, so they would have loved this Hostel at Morna, they worked and visited similar ones!