I read a lot of school stories in my childhood and teens, but I only discovered Antonia Forest’s Marlows series a couple of years ago. They’re great: much more nuanced and cynical than the average example of the genre. Or genres, I should perhaps say, because Forest drags her characters through everything from spy thriller to roleplay game gone wrong.
The only problem is, they’re very difficult to find. Some Forests change hands for hundreds of pounds on Amazon. Happily, Girls Gone By Publishers are republishing a selection of titles at irregular intervals. I have End of Term on order, and it should be showing up any time now.
Kathleen Jowitt 