books from the 1980s that no-one else remembers!

[GoldenGreen]

For some reason I have been compulsively trying to track down half-remembered books that I read as a young teenager - not sure why as they are not classics but I would really like to revisit them. I had hoped my younger sister might have picked them up but she never liked the same books as me.

Does this ring a bell with anyone:

Series with the children of detectives - I think a brother and a sister and an adopted sister (her parents were police officers who died - I think she was Irish, red haired and fiery - obviously) - they solved mysteries based around school. In one they caught a vandal because of the paricular way he wrote "H". In another there was a school trip to France with an old fashioned type of Polaroid camera - this was a key part of the plot but can't remember any more!

The other book that I remember reading obsessively was a teen romance one with a girl whose parents were repressed and abusive. She was not allowed any freedom at all but managed to meet a boy and sneak out. The thing I most remember is that she had no clothes apart from school uniform so she had to embroider flowers on her school shirt when she went out to meet him.

Anyone else got any vague memories of books they once loved and that no-one else ever remembers?

Real nostalgia rush reading this thread!

Libra yes I remember Sugar Mouse - she's in denial about being diabetic, hates it, then does the dog become ill and she recognises the symptoms and starts giving him some insulin?

The Green Knowe books by Lucy M Boston were brilliantly spooky.

I loved and read over and over again the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. I'm still furious about the terrible film adaptation [spits]

Flambards books by K.M. Peyton, anyone? I LOVED those. And everything else she wrote.

suzikettles I loved Midnight is a Place- can still hum the theme music, and rebought the book from ebay last year...(the 1970s version, with lovely tatty cover....I love tatty books!)

Oh, yes, Sugar Mouse, I read it about 10 times. I found it utterly fascinating. And Flambards. (can remember music from that as well, and being in lurve with the 2 flying brothers )

There are a bunch of Swish of the Curtain books about; I picked up a couple of sequels, which mostly follow Maddy at stage school.

No joy then on the Julie/Steve book referred to in the middle of page 2 of this thread? Abe books weren't able to help. Is there anyone who can put me out of my misery? Please? ..........

I know I'm a bit late to this but have just spent ages reading through the full thread and having proper pangs of recognition. Had forgotten about the Jill Robinson books, and was desperate to remember the name of "The Eyes of Karen Connors", so thanks loads to those posters.
Jules - I also enjoyed the Flambards series but remember feeling a bit shameful for doing so.
Someone on one of the very early pages described 'Mail Order Wings' by Beatrice Gormley(I think). I have still have this book, do you want to borrow it?!

I am very late to this thread but need some help. I am desperately trying to remember the name of a book I read as a child in the 70s. It is about some children who find an artefact and adventures start. Set in Ireland and I think they may meet Finn Machuill and his dog Bran. The artefact might even be of an Irish Wolfhound?

I can't believe other people remember Sugar Mouse!
Oh yes, and Flambards - I was desperately in love with Mark and couldn't understand what on earth she saw in either Will or Dick.

Read DS2 The Dark is Rising over Christmas. We are now on The Ghost of Thomas Kempe.

Also loved Charlotte Sometimes.

Oh my god coldtits - The Fairy Rebel is one I read over and over. IIRC it was about a woman who couldn't have a baby, and she met a (punky) fairy in the garden, who promised her one? And the girl when she was born was sort of under the protection of the fairies - Tiki & ...Wijic?

LRD - I loved the Fate of Jeremy Visick, I grew up near those mines and always used to wonder if I would be able to contact the children who had worked down there :)

Does anyone else remember some books about an American girl called Alice, whose mother had died and she lived with her dad and brother?

And I loved a book called "The Melanie Pluckrose Effect" (I think) about some teenagers who try to stop some kind of building development, and they run a secret guerilla campaign from one of the girl's bedrooms. I remember being soooo impressed because this girl had a kind of mini-flat for a bedroom, including a fridge full of snacks and her own telephone (pre-mobile days!).

Theresa Tomlinson is also an amazing author, would recommend The Flither Pickers, The Forestwife, The Rope Carrier and Wolf Girl(?) to anyone. The Forestwife is particularly brilliant. Read it, or get it for your DDs.

Yes - it's Private - Keep out by Gwen Grant - two other books in the series, Knock And Wait and One Way Only - think that's the one where she's sent to a sanatorium and, amongst other things, causes havoc with a tiger skin rug!
I was absolutely fascinated to read these as a child, the family was so totally different from mine!

Anyone else enjoyed Paula Danziger books as a teenager? A bit like Judy Blume in some ways, The Divorce Express, Can You Sue Your Parents For Malpractice and so on...

Midnight is A Place, yes, and other Joan Aiken books too. And The Dark Is Rising Series. And almost anything by Diana Wynne Jones.

Oh, just remembered - Jacqueline Wilson, before she got famous, wrote a short series of books about a teenage detective called Stevie Day who had an annoying blonde younger sister who was more into boyfriends than she was... I absolutely loved them! But they never seem to get mentioned nowadays.

Should've read the whole thread before posting!

Playing Beattie Bow - yes, brilliant, and I have a copy, courtesy of the local library selling off some of its old books.

Two Thumb Thomas!!! I thought nobody else would remember it - I have a copy of that too, saved from childhood.

Hello we were doing the same at my boarding school, as well as M & B's, Silhouette Romance and Virginia Andrews etc. I am trying to find the poetry book that we used for O'levels with Miss Middleton.

Yes, the Anastasia Krupnik books were brilliant. I inherited them from an older cousin. Details have faded with time, but I remember feeling like I was unwrapping a chocolate bar before reading. And those big round glasses - they're back in fashion now.

This thread is 13 years old!