The School at Skelton Hall
Synopsis
Sally Martindale, age 14, is unhappy at the large High School and longs to go to a small boarding school where she'd have a chance to really get to know people and the mistresses would have more time to help students. She accepts that, due to family circumstances, this dream is unlikely to come true. Then a letter arrives from Sally's godmother, offering to send Sally to a new boarding school which her other god-daughter, Ailsa Skelton, is opening in Sussex. Miss Skelton's great-uncle died and left her a suitable large house. Sally is thrilled and phones her great chum, Myfanwy ('Van'), only to find that the mothers have been talking and Van is going to Skelton Hall, too.
On the train the girls meet their new schoolmates, including Harrie, Hilary and Lal, their roommates in the Blue Dormitory, soon to be known as The Quintet. Miss Skelton tells the girls that, as the first pupils, they will be the ones who will decide what kind of school Skelton Hall will become and urges them "to see that our traditions are the right kind". The school consists of thirty-three girls in four forms, although they will also work in 'sets' for subjects such as maths. Sally and Co. are assigned to youngest form, Lower IV, and are horrified to learn that on one day only French is to be spoken and on another, German.
Bespectacled Harrie, an avid reader of thrillers, senses there is something suspicious about the attics, which are out of bounds, and the east wing which Miss Skelton's uncle let to an old friend before his death. The Quintet, caught up in schoolwork and expeditions, pay little attention to Harrie's mystery until Sally wakes in the middle of the night and hears strange noises and sees lights in the east wing. The girls think that they may be able to find a way through the attics to the east wing and find an opportunity to have a duplicate key made to the attic door. Having discovered the secret, the girls make frequent visits to the attic. One night Matron catches Sally returning from the attics and demands an explanation of the duplicate key. Sally refuses to tell what she has been doing. Reluctantly Miss Skelton places her in solitary confinement in the San.
Eventually the secret is explained, Sally is forgiven and the girls look forward to the next term at Skelton Hall.
contributed by Claire Smerdon, Canada __ working from a 1963 (2nd impression) hardback edition
If you want to find out more, click on Spoilers
As the link suggests, it gives more of the story - without, of course
giving everything away!
Synopsis writer's comments:
I hate to disappoint visitors to this synopsis, but the book really isn't one of EBD's best and it's been so difficult not to make the story sound even sillier than it is! Actually, the book begins off very well but falls off around the middle.