A character called Peter (Petronella) in an old boarding school story

[LostMyLastHatfulOfWords]

Can anyone help? I'm searching for a book I remember but don't have its title. It was an old book when I was a child.

It was a very traditional boarding school story with the main character 'Peter'(real name Petronella), her school friends (one whose name began with an i) and her brother Tony (who went to another school but featured in the story by almost dying after a car accident).

I recall that Peter and Tony had lived in Canada but were in England when the story began. Peter had stories about her eye-lashes freezing and other tales from Canada. She was an excellent ice-skater. (I remember her friend's name began with an I -because she joked it was the only letter she could figure-skate... dotted with her hat!)

Remember you can download a sample of the books from Amazon. Fascinating reading.

I'm fascinated - it sounds like a Bobsey Twins/Chalet School mash-up!

Off topic, I thought Petrova was always called the full name, I don’t recall her being Petra. Pauline, Petrova and Posy. Maybe my edition is really old and it changed?

Sorry OP, I’m no help, I came to suggest the Lone Pine Peter/Petronella too.

Not Antonia Forest.
There's a Facebook group called Finishing School, which has lots of members knowledgeable about school stories; you'd probably get a lot of suggestions on there.

I think I recall Petrova was always referred to in full, though I also have an old edition.

Could it be Peter - New Girl by Phyllis Matthewman?

Just searched my Kindle edition of the complete works of Angela Brazil - no Petronella or female Peter there.

Actually, I don't think it is the Matthewman title - I've just flicked through my copy and I can't spot any of the names you've mentioned.

@tcjotm

Off topic, I thought Petrova was always called the full name, I don’t recall her being Petra. Pauline, Petrova and Posy. Maybe my edition is really old and it changed?

Sorry OP, I’m no help, I came to suggest the Lone Pine Peter/Petronella too.

I think you're right

I associate Peter/Petronella with Malcolm Saville. I had never heard the name before and in my head pronounced it Pet-TRON-uh-la which sounds horrible!

I thought there was a girl called Peter in Mallory Towers

There was a Peter/Petronella in Noel Streatfeild books but certain no boarding or ice skating connections (I did think of Silver Skates first, as I couldn't remember the details of that one).

@ArabeI

There was a Peter/Petronella in Noel Streatfeild books but certain no boarding or ice skating connections (I did think of Silver Skates first, as I couldn't remember the details of that one).

There is a Peter in The Circus is Coming but he's a boy and the rest of the story is totally different.

The girls in the skating book are Lalla and Harriet

I don't think there is any Petronella in any NS book

Petrova in Ballet Shoes was never known as anything except Petrova!

Yes, that's right, it's under a pseudonym of Noel Streatfeild. But it prompted me, incorrectly, to think of Silver Skates. It's definitely not the OP's Peter in any case!

@ChessieFL

Petrova in Ballet Shoes was never known as anything except Petrova!

Agree

@ArabeI

Yes, that's right, it's under a pseudonym of Noel Streatfeild. But it prompted me, incorrectly, to think of Silver Skates. It's definitely not the OP's Peter in any case!

Don't suppose your username is a reference to Arabel and the Raven?

Normally that would seem far-fetched, but you clearly know your children's lit

I was going to say Lone Pine too - the only other Petronella that I 'know' is Wyatt who was another of our great leader's bots

@OnlyAFleshWound

I don't recall if it was a conscious choice now, actually. Though we do have a few Joan Aiken books here somewhere, including Arabel's Raven!

Didn't they skate a lot in the Trebizon books? Could it be one of those maybe?

Petrova is never Petra.

There's a whole series by Phyllis Matthewman about a Petronella known as Peter, but they don't fit your description about a brother called Toby or a link to Canada.

@MsIreneWinters

Didn't they skate a lot in the Trebizon books? Could it be one of those maybe?

Definitely not Trebizon. There is one Trebizon book that features ice skating, but there’s nobody called Petronella or anything else the OP mentions.

@Friendofdennis

I thought there was a girl called Peter in Mallory Towers

No, there's a Miss Peters who is "mannish" but no girls called Peter. The girl with the boy's name in that story is Bill (Wilhelmina).

Definitely not Malory Towers, St Clare’s, Trebizon or Antonia Forrest, and it was Petrova Fossil in Ballet Shoes, and no ice skating.

There was a Canadian series of books about teenaged skaters at a sort of training camp boarding school, but I can’t remember the names and I think they were more 80s/90s than the traditional boarding school stories.