Border Peel

Border Peel is the third title in the Marjorie and Patience Series. The clan – Pan, Peter, Esmé, Guy and Marjorie -  are camping in a peel-house on the Border, with the ponies of course, and war is firmly declared between them and the Fenwicks. Excitements follow, and not everyone is prepared to put up with bossy Guy, but in the end a good time is had by all, and, as Pan puts it, ‘we enjoy ourselves, which is all that matters’. Border Peel  was originally written and illustrated in a fat exercise book, and given by Lorna Hill to her daughter, Vicki, during WW2. When it was published, first by A & E in 1950, and secondly by Nelson in 1956, the illustrations were not used, the respective publishers using their own, different, illustrations. In this new edition, we have included all Lorna Hill’s original, unpublished, illustrations, six of which we have reproduced in colour, on the cover and as a double sided frontispiece. As appendices, we have also included the illustrations from the two published editions of the book, the first of which is incredibly rare. Lorna Hill’s daughter, Vicki Emley, has written a brand new preface to the book, James Mackenzie has written on the location, and Clarissa Cridland and Laura Hicks have written an introduction which includes the fascinating publishing history. There are also appendices detailing the differences between the texts of the various editions. GGBP published Border Peel  in April 2007. Border Peel went out of print in September 2011.

Northern Lights

Northern Lights is the fourth Marjorie title, coming after Border Peel and before Castle in Northumbria. In the late 1990s, Clarissa Cridland, Susan Hodgson and Ann Mackie-Hunter went to visit Lorna Hill’s daughter Vicki, and the author’s old home. While looking at the original exercise books in which the Marjorie and Patience books were first published (for Vicki during the War), Ann spotted a title she had not heard of and asked about it. It turned out to be an unpublished Marjorie book, and Vicki lent it to Sue and Clarissa (the fans) who read it… It was published in 1999 under the imprint, Brockleside Press. Click here to see some pages from Northern Lights. The ink in Lorna Hill’s manuscript may have been faded, but the story is still fresh and the clan rides again, with Marjorie and naughty, and Guy as bossy as ever. Northern Lights is something of a landmark for GGBP. Its publication by Brockleside Press was only ever intended as a one-off, as a small print run to make the book available to Lorna Hill fans, but its success led to the publication of a few titles under the Friends of the Chalet School imprint (all of which are now GGBP), and from there to the founding of GGBP in 2001. In this new edition, we have included the original preface by Vicki Emley, and Clarissa Cridland has written a new introduction. In addition, we have included in the book a recently discovered short story by Lorna Hill, Charles and the Veritys, which was originally published in the 1950s. Although this is not a Marjorie story, the characters are very similar and readers will see just why we have included it with Northern Lights. GGBP published this edition of Northern Lights in February 2009. Northern Lights went out of print in January 2010.

The Vicarage Children

The Vicarage Children is the first title in the Vicarage trilogy, in which Lorna Hill has drawn on her own experience as the wife of a country vicar. Click here to see some pages from The Vicarage Children. We meet Ally, the almost grown-up daughter, Mandy who tells the story, Michael the school-boy brother, and mischievous Binny, the baby of the family. The family has lots of fun, and many adventures, including a burglary and losing Binny. Mandy is one of Lorna Hill’s most delightful characters, and from the first page we start to care deeply about her, and the family – even the rather awful Allison. The children’s vicar father owns a Home Communion set, based on the one owned by Lorna Hill’s clergyman husband, Vic. This is now in the very proud possession of Clarissa Cridland, Priest and Girls Gone By publisher, and she has written an article on it for the book. James Mackenzie has written a really interesting introduction on the location of The Vicarage Children, beautifully illustrated with photographs. GGBP publishedThe Vicarage Children in February 2008. The Vicarage Children went out of print in January 2012.