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Amanda's New School
Originally published in 1932 as Nesta's New School.
Amanda Meredith is involved in a very strange mystery - in fact, Amanda herself is the mystery !
When she goes to school at the Villa Alpina, Amanda learns that has has a 'double' named ALice. Apparently, Alice and Amanda look so alike that they could be taken for sisters. But Amanda has no relations at all, exccept for her widowed mother. Could there be a secret in her mother's past?
A sudden crisis forces Amanda to leave home - and in doing so she comes face to face with her 'double'.
Amanda Meredith is involved in a very strange mystery - in fact, Amanda herself is the mystery !
When she goes to school at the Villa Alpina, Amanda learns that has has a 'double' named ALice. Apparently, Alice and Amanda look so alike that they could be taken for sisters. But Amanda has no relations at all, exccept for her widowed mother. Could there be a secret in her mother's past?
A sudden crisis forces Amanda to leave home - and in doing so she comes face to face with her 'double'.
- GenresSchool Stories
Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
About the author
Angela Brazil
130 books35 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Born in Preston, Lancashire in 1868, Angela Brazil (pronounced "brazzle") was the youngest child of cotton mill manager Clarence Brazil, and his wife, Angelica McKinnel. She was educated at the Turrets - a small private school in Wallasey - and then, when the Brazils were living in Manchester, at the preparatory department of the Manchester High School, and (as a boarder) at Ellerslie, an exclusive girls’ school near Victoria Park. She subsequently attended Heatherley's Art School, in London, with her sister Amy, and sketching remained a life-long interest.
With the death of Clarence Brazil in 1899, the family left the North-West of England for Llanbedr, Wales, where they took up residence in their former summer house. It is believed that, at some point during this period (1899-1911), Brazil worked as a governess, although she does not mention it in her autobiography, My Own Schooldays (1925). In 1911, she moved to Coventry, where she kept house for her doctor brother, living in that city until her death, in 1947.
Brazil's first children's novel, A Terrible Tomboy, was published in 1904, and is believed to have been autobiographical, featuring the adventures of a young Angela (Peggy), and her friend Leila Langdale (Lilian). It was only with the 1907 publication of her second novel, The Fortunes of Philippa, that she turned to the genre in which she would become so influential: the Girls' School Story.
Brazil is often described by readers as "the first author of modern girls' school stories," and her publisher Blackie once claimed, in a bit of promotional hyperbole, that she had originated the genre! While not actually true - the genre predates her by some time, and other authors of modern girls school stories, such as May Baldwin, were publishing before she was - Brazil was certainly immensely influential, in the genre's move away from a didactic, moralistic model, towards one aimed more at entertainment. Her books are told from the perspective of her girl characters themselves, and were immensely popular with young readers, both in her own lifetime, and afterward. All told, she published close to sixty children's novels, most of them girls' school stories.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Born in Preston, Lancashire in 1868, Angela Brazil (pronounced "brazzle") was the youngest child of cotton mill manager Clarence Brazil, and his wife, Angelica McKinnel. She was educated at the Turrets - a small private school in Wallasey - and then, when the Brazils were living in Manchester, at the preparatory department of the Manchester High School, and (as a boarder) at Ellerslie, an exclusive girls’ school near Victoria Park. She subsequently attended Heatherley's Art School, in London, with her sister Amy, and sketching remained a life-long interest.
With the death of Clarence Brazil in 1899, the family left the North-West of England for Llanbedr, Wales, where they took up residence in their former summer house. It is believed that, at some point during this period (1899-1911), Brazil worked as a governess, although she does not mention it in her autobiography, My Own Schooldays (1925). In 1911, she moved to Coventry, where she kept house for her doctor brother, living in that city until her death, in 1947.
Brazil's first children's novel, A Terrible Tomboy, was published in 1904, and is believed to have been autobiographical, featuring the adventures of a young Angela (Peggy), and her friend Leila Langdale (Lilian). It was only with the 1907 publication of her second novel, The Fortunes of Philippa, that she turned to the genre in which she would become so influential: the Girls' School Story.
Brazil is often described by readers as "the first author of modern girls' school stories," and her publisher Blackie once claimed, in a bit of promotional hyperbole, that she had originated the genre! While not actually true - the genre predates her by some time, and other authors of modern girls school stories, such as May Baldwin, were publishing before she was - Brazil was certainly immensely influential, in the genre's move away from a didactic, moralistic model, towards one aimed more at entertainment. Her books are told from the perspective of her girl characters themselves, and were immensely popular with young readers, both in her own lifetime, and afterward. All told, she published close to sixty children's novels, most of them girls' school stories.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 8, 2019
I do love Angela Brazil, and will defend her to the end of time, but this is awful. Originally published n 1932 as Nesta's New School, and changed in 1970 to the much more kicky name of Amanda, it's basically Angela Brazil does The Parent Trap (badly) and it's not great.
(And also, the central premise of it is RIDICULOUS, and I can take a lot of ridiculous - looking straight at you, Victorian children's literature - but really this one is super ridiculous).
(And also, the central premise of it is RIDICULOUS, and I can take a lot of ridiculous - looking straight at you, Victorian children's literature - but really this one is super ridiculous).
November 6, 2009
This is a re-issue of the 1932 book _Nesta's New School_, and I wish the title (and the name of the main character) had not been updated, because the name Nesta has much more of the flavor and character of the period! Amanda's wealthy adoptive mother dies, and she goes to live with her birth mother and her sister Alice. After a privileged childhood, she has to adjust to a middle class school as well as a new family. I like Brazil's books because she emphasizes character over plot: there are fewer heroic rescues and midnight escapades than in other school stories.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews