Abbey Series


The Abbey Series of British novels by Elsie J. Oxenham comprises 38 titles which were published between 1914 and 1959. The first title, Girls of the Hamlet Club set the scene for the school aspects of the series, but it is the second title, The Abbey Girls, that introduces The Abbey – almost a character within the series in its own right – a romantic ruin that inspires love for it as a quiet, peaceful place, and creates the wish to behave in the public-spirited tradition of the early Cistercian monks. These qualities go some way towards explaining the popularity of the series.

Elsie Oxenham's Abbey Series

Girls of the Hamlet Club is set in Miss Macey's school in Wycombe and in the surrounding hamlets and villages. It tells how Cicely Hobart comes to Whiteleaf to be near her maternal grandparents. She has been living in a London suburb, but will now board with an old family servant, and go to school in Wycombe. She finds that the school is split into two sets, the 'real school' and the 'hamlets' who are mainly girls who have come to the school on scholarships, but live in the country hamlets, and cannot afford extras like the clubs, which set high subscriptions to keep them out. Cicely organises the outsiders into The Hamlet Club with a motto 'To be or not to be' from Shakespeare's Hamlet and the Whiteleaf Cross, a local landmark, as their badge. As the club develops, its members learn Morris and Country Dancing, and prepare a May Queen ceremony for Cicely's grandparents. The Hamlet Club comes to the rescue of the school when the leading actors in the school play come down with measles; they sacrifice their secret for the good of the school and Miriam Honor is crowned as the first Queen.
The Abbey Girls is the second title of the series, and tells of two red-headed cousins, Joan and Joy Shirley, and how, in different ways, they manage to get places at Miss Macey's School. These two characters are the original 'Abbey Girls' and the series continues with stories about them and the friends they make throughout, not only their schooldays, but also their adult lives. An early friend, Jen Robins, soon becomes a major character, and others, Jandy Mac, Rosamund and Maidlin, can all claim the sobriquet 'Abbey Girl'. By the end of the series these six are all married with children, and the adventures of the daughters of Joan, Joy, Jandy and Jen, at the same school, have come to the fore.

There was no 'Abbey School' as such, although The Girls of the Abbey School tells how the school spent a term in Abinger Hall, the home of Joy Shirley, which had the ruined abbey of Gracedieu in its grounds. The Abbey was based on Cleeve Abbey in Somerset – an English Heritage Property open to the public in the summer months. Oxenham 'moved' this ruin to Oxfordshire, near the Buckinghamshire border, for the plot of The Abbey Girls, to tie the cousins in with the characters from the first book, Girls of the Hamlet Club.

Main Abbey Series (indicating best reading order)

codeTitleDatePublisherIllustrator
First Generation Titles---
A01The Girls of the Hamlet Club e1914ChambersHarold Earnshaw
A02The Abbey Girls °†g1920CollinsArthur Dixon
A03The Girls of the Abbey School °g1921CollinsElsie Anna Wood
A11The Abbey Girls Go Back to School °†g1922CollinsElsie Anna Wood
A13The New Abbey Girls °g1923CollinsElsie Anna Wood
A14The Abbey Girls Again °1924CollinsElsie Anna Wood
A15The Abbey Girls in Town °†1925CollinsRosa C Petherick
A16The Queen of the Abbey Girls °g1926CollinsE. J. Kealey
A12Jen of the Abbey School °†g 1927Collinsfrontis. E. A. Wood, others F. Meyerheim
A17The Abbey Girls Win Through °†1928Collinsnot credited
A18The Abbey Girls at Home °†1929CollinsInder Burns
A19The Abbey Girls Play Up °†1930Collinsnot credited
A20The Abbey Girls on Trial °†1931Collins'C.P.S.'
A21Biddy's Secret e1932ChambersNina K. Brisley
A22Rosamund's Victory e1933HarrapVictor Cooley
A23Maidlin to the Rescue e1934ChambersRene Cloke
A24Joy's New Adventure e1935ChambersRene Cloke
A25Rosamund's Tuckshop g1937R.T.S./G.O.P.not credited
A26Maidlin Bears the Torch g1937R.T.S./G.O.P.not credited
A27Rosamund's Castle g1938R.T.S./G.O.P.not credited
Retrospective Titles-
A04Schooldays at the Abbey1938CollinsSutcliffe
A05Secrets of the Abbey1939CollinsHeade
A06Stowaways in the Abbey †‡1940CollinsHeade
A07Schoolgirl Jen at the Abbey †‡1950CollinsFrank Varty
A08Strangers at the Abbey †‡1951CollinsFrank Varty
A09Selma at the Abbey †‡1952CollinsFrank Varty
A10Tomboys at the Abbey1957CollinsFrank Varty
Second Generation Titles---
A29Jandy Mac Comes Back †‡1941CollinsHeade
A28Maid of the Abbey †‡ 1943CollinsHeade
A30Two Joans at the Abbey1945CollinsMargaret Horder
A31An Abbey Champion e1946MullerMargaret Horder
A32Robins in the Abbey †‡1947CollinsMargaret Horder
A33A Fiddler for the Abbey e1948MullerMargaret Horder
A34Guardians of the Abbey e 1950MullerMargaret Horder
A35Rachel in the Abbey e1951MullerM. D. Neilson
A36A Dancer from the Abbey †‡1953CollinsFrank Varty
A37The Song of the Abbey †‡ 1954CollinsFrank Varty
A38Two Queens at the Abbey †‡ 1959CollinsFrank Varty

° = published as a Collins 'Fat Orange'

† = published as a Collins 'Seagull'

‡ = published as a Collins 'Small Red Abbey'

g = reprinted in paperback by Girls Gone By Publishers

e = reprinted in paperback by

Abbey Connectors

Oxenham wrote several other series which tie in with the main Abbey Series; these are known as Abbey Connectors. Characters first used in other titles or series are introduced into the Abbey Series – sometimes stretching the internal chronology. A particular example of this is the character Robin Brent. She first appears as a 12-year-old in The Girl Who Wouldn't Make Friends, an Abbey Connector published in 1909. But she reappears as a 17 to 18-year-old in three titles: Rosamund's Tuckshop, Rosamund's Castle – both in the Abbey Series – and New Girls at Wood End, an Abbey Connector, as well as appearing in the book that bears her name in the Abbey Series, Robins in the Abbey, when she is 21.
Oxenham also wrote about 20 books which have no connection at all with the Abbey Series; these are known as Non-Connectors.

The Author

Oxenham depicts herself in some books in the series as 'The Writing Person', mainly in The New Abbey Girls and The Abbey Girls Again – for more information about the author herself see the article Elsie J. Oxenham.

Themes in the series

Several themes are particularly apparent throughout the series, reflecting Oxenham's own interests and beliefs.

Folk Dancing

Oxenham was an enthusiast of folk dancing and frequently incorporated it into her work; Folk dancing is mentioned in nearly all 38 Abbey books, and the English Folk Dance Society and its leading members are depicted in some of them, some by real name, others under nicknames.

May Queens

Another theme used throughout the series was that of May Queens. The Hamlet Club chose, towards the end of that book, one of their number as May Queen. By the time of Abbey Girls this has become a tradition in the school of 3 years' standing, and by the end of the series, in Two Queens at the Abbey the Club is 27 years old and crowning Joy's twin daughters as the joint 28th Queen. It is thought that the Whitelands College tradition of May Queens , which was inspired by John Ruskin, may in turn have inspired Oxenham, perhaps through someone she had met who had been trained at Whitelands, but no definite connection has been established. Certainly Oxenham herself did not attend the college.

Christian Faith

Oxenham was brought up in the Congregational Church, and her beliefs and consequent philosophy of life are apparent throughout the series. Whilst she does not proselytise, her characters discuss the reasons behind good and bad happenings, and grow in their own beliefs as they do so. This allows her to give a depth to the characters that might not otherwise become apparent solely through their actions.

Elsie Jeanette Oxenham Appreciation Society

One of the interests of collectors and EJO Society members is finding and visiting the original sites used by Oxenham in her books. As well as the Bucks/Oxon area and the village of Washford, Somerset where Cleeve Abbey is situated, several books are set in parts of Sussex, Wales, Lancashire, the English Lake District and Scotland. Naturally these are not always depicted exactly as their real counterparts; Oxenham was writing fiction, and if she could move an abbey nearly 200 miles for her purposes, surely changing a few names and telescoping or stretching distances was also well within her remit.

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