Any Noel Streatfeild fans here?

The link isn't working @bookEnthusiast ?

My type of thread - Noel Streatfeild is one of my favourite authors and I am gradually building up a collection of first editions - have read most of her books...

absolute favourite is Apple Bough as I did quite a bit of music as a child, but also enjoy:

• Thursday's child
• Gemma series
• The Growing Summer
• Tennis Shoes
• White Boots
• Caldicott Place
• Ballet shoes (and the other linked ones)

If anyone is interested - I am gradually building a website covering her as an author and her books - with links to characters / mapping points in the books / links to articles / videos / etc. (noelstreatfeild.storymole.com) - one of a series on different authors... labour of love and non-commercial (amazon affiliate is not live!) do feel free to give feedback!

Thanks to the suggestions here I hit Abe Books and I've now read The Growing Summer, The Painted Garden (lovely to see Posy and Pauline and crew), Ballet Shoes For Anna and White Boots.

Thanks to everyone for such a lovely week of reading!

The sleaziness of the theatre is coming through already. The ‘three servant poverty’ that always made my mother roll her eyes isn’t really there.

Hello! Sorrel reporting for duty. Massive NS fan (obviously) and have all her children's books, biographies and quite a few of her adult ones.

I have a pdf of the short story which is a sequel to Ballet Shoes. Happy to email it to anyone.

How exciting! I’ve just bought it. I looked years ago and it cost a fortune.
It’s even more exciting than reading ‘Pioneer Girl’ after all the ‘Little House’ books.

I wondered if it was Monica Edwards but I had convinced myself the books were set in Cornwall - and my geography was good enough to know the difference between that and Sussex.

I will have to get hold of one of her books to see if it rings any bells.

@MargaretThursday "Is the one with Tamsin actually Sussex and Monica Edwards Wrestling series with Tamsin, Rissa, Meryon and Roger?"
Yes- and there was the Punchbowl Farm series with Andrea,Dion, Lindsay and Peter. Lindsay and Tamsin ended up being friends and there was some coupling up- Dion and Rissa, Lindsay and Roger and Tamsin and Meryon. There is some excellent fanfic......

I love The Fearless Treasure too.

Is the one with Tamsin actually Sussex and Monica Edwards Wrestling series with Tamsin, Rissa, Meryon and Roger?

Yes, £3.99 on Kindle.

You've got me wanting to read all the ones I've missed! I don't know if this interests anyone - it says some are hard to get hold of. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Streatfeilds-Christmas-Stories-Virago-Classics-ebook/dp/B07D6RSYHJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2XY1VN38E44EI&keywords=noel+streatfeild+complete&qid=1696703945&sprefix=noel+streatfeild+complete%2Caps%2C443&sr=8-1

@Charliescat Yes, Dance for Two was published in 1960 when Jean Ure was only 17. She’s still with us and still writing, I think.

Did you buy it?

@Peregrina Yes, that’s the one. She was called Grace Thwaite and came from Yorkshire. I’ll have a think about the Tamsin one.

One of my favourite Streatfeilds as a child was The Fearless Treasure,

Is this the one where their names matched? So a girl with the surname of [something]thwaite went back to Viking times. I borrowed it from the school library, but don't recall if it was one of Noel Streatfeild's

There was a Cornish writer (late 50s/ early 60s) who had a character called Tamsin. I would love to know who the author was, if anyone can help out.

Has anyone read Dance for Two by Jean Ure ? I think she wrote it when she was a teenager herself and it’s one of my favourite ballet stories I think it was possibly published early 60s ? I was a huge fan of ballet fiction when I was little loved the Drina books as well as Ballet Shoes and Sadlers Wells .

I absolutely loved the Mantlemass series. I went through a massive historical fiction phase aged 10 to 13 ish

It is indeed. Sadly they don’t seem to be especially well known now, and I haven’t come across a child who has read them recently. If you know Ashdown Forest well ( as I do) they have a particular resonance.

I’ve posted this before… my first edition copy of Thursday’s Child has a personal inscription from Noel Streatfeild. It belonged to a Kate Neild of Cherington House! 50p from a charity shop.

I supply taught last year. I’d often borrow classroom books to read in the staff room at lunch time. I saw a NS book I’d never heard of - The Children on the Top Floor. Truly terrible. A really lame retread of Ballet Shoes. Unfortunately, I forgot to return it, so it’s currently waiting to be posted back to the school. Although I’m sure they won’t want it.

Yes, I enjoyed Grass in Piccadilly.

Thanks to this thread I've places a big order at Abe Books! I'm looking forward to reading ones that my childhood library didn't stock.

I have never come across this but I absolutely love the sound of it

Caroline in Lorna Hill's "No Castanets at the Wells" ends up as a flamenco dancer too, although it's just because she's better at that than ballet. She's not too curvy (although she is pudgy as a child)

I’ve just finished The Whicharts. Really interesting to see where it does & doesn’t match Ballet Shoes.