The last St. Clare's continuation novel chronologically, this book gives us the chance to see the twins as joint head girls. Nothing to surprise us at this point: the story hits all the familiar elements that we expect from the series, but I count that as a good thing in a continuation novel: if it feels like the originals, what more can you ask of it?

I prefer Malory Towers as a more perfect implementation of this formula, but St. Clare's really is at a similar level. Very enjoyable for Enid Blyton fans, or fans of boarding school fiction. ( )

The St. Claire's girls are all growed up, as it were, and quite nicely, too, it turns out.

Enid Blyton wrote 6 St Clare's books, but neglected to tell us what happened in the 3rd and 6th forms. Luckily we have the answers in Authorized Fanfiction - books written with Blyton's characters, in all new situations. This is the first of the two books written by Pamela Cox and I had avoided them until now.

The book feels weird from the first chapter, as if Cox is either trying to modernise the story, or is unfamiliar with the time/style of the other books. It gets a little more comfortable as you get into it, but a lot of our favourite characters are neglected as we explore the 'new girls' in more distinct stop-start story lines than Blyton had. I don't think I'll be seeking out the Third Form book. ( )