The Youngest Girl in the School

by Evelyn Sharp

Peter was the first to break the pause that had settled with a kind of gloom on the old London schoolroom. He was always on the alert to resent anything that cast a shadow over the light gaiety of existence.

'I say, look here,' he began, giving himself a shake as if to get rid of an unpleasant impression; 'don't be so jolly blue, all of you! Father will only be away six months; he said so himself. And as for Auntie Anna, how do we know she isn't quite a decent old lady? Some old ladies are awfully sporting. Do you remember Merton major's aunt, Will? She used to give him whopping tips, whenever she came to see him; and he said he quite liked her!'

210 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1901

About the author

Born in 1869, in London, Evelyn Sharp was the daughter of slate merchant James Sharp, and the sister of Cecil Sharp, who would later gain fame as a folksong collector, and leader of the folkdance revival. She was educated at Strathallan House, and - despite passing the Cambridge Higher Local Examination in history - at a finishing school in Paris. Against the wishes of her family, Sharp moved to London in 1894, where she became a journalist and an author, publishing a number of books for both children and adults.

A member of the Women's Industrial Council and the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, as well as the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), Sharp was a prominent activist in the Women's Suffrage movement, arrested twice, and once going on hunger strike. She edited the Votes for Women suffrage journal, and also had strong pacifist views. Sharp married her long-time friend and lover, Henry Nevinson, in 1933, and continued to work for the social causes in which she believed. She died in 1955.

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book on Project Gutenberg one night when I couldn't sleep and was craving the reading equivalent of comfort food. Victorian children's literature featuring a spunky young heroine hit the spot exactly.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pleasant enough read, if you don't require much focus on the supposed main character. I had hoped for a real boarding school book, with stories of classroom interaction and pranks and scrapes, but what I got was hardly a beginning before the authoress got bored with that (did she actually go to boarding school? I wonder) and decided to focus on the RO-mance of a minor character who hardly says or does anything even as her idyll is supposedly the centre of attention. Which it isn't. Nothing really is. Babs was supposedly sent to Coventry for weeks by her classmates, but she spends so much time engaging in maladaptive daydreams that she never even notices, and when she does she's grateful they leave her alone so she can daydream some more. Even when her classmates forgive her, they are used to her talking to herself and making no sense, because she's always away with the fairies. But everyone adores her. Of course they do.
Once again we have the Victorian trope of "patients mustn't be excited"; apparently that means "patients mustn't have visitors that might inconvenience those who are in charge." One minute the doctor and nurse say she's "so much better", the next she falls unconscious due to a visit from her brother, the next they give her a sedative, she sleeps for a while, and she's fine again.
A bland, washy little evening read free from Gutenberg.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stayed up way too late reading this, it was so much fun! (all the schoolgirls could've been developed more, and I think the author should've been bolder with the feminist bits, but it was the 1920s...)

Basically a great reminder that we really shouldn't segregate society by sex (especially for kids!) cos then we see the other side as Other and don't know how to talk to them.


(This book is available for free on Project Gutenberg!)