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Too Marvellous For Words
Too Marvellous For Words | Julie Welch
3 posts | 8 to read
Midnight feasts in dorms, jolly japes with chums, pranks on mad teachers and no boys whatsoever: THE REAL MALORY TOWERS LIFE from award-winning writer, Julie Welch. As we spilled from the train we could hear loud revving and smell exhaust fumes, and there in the forecourt was a coach waiting to drop us all off at our various houses. Id been living for this moment since Id arrived at the school; since before that. . . We were all schoolgirls everywhere, past, present and future, real and imagined. We were Darrell and her chums at Malory Towers except the school in front of me wasnt quite the picture I had imagined. Suddenly I had this out-of-nowhere, waking up from a coma moment, as if I had been whisked away by a tornado or washed up by shipwreck on an unknown shore. Where was I? How did I get here? I was on my own, and now I would have to survive. . .' Too Marvellous for Words! is the wonderfully evocative and entertaining memoir of life in an all-girls boarding school in Suffolk in the early 1960s. Award-winning writer Julie Welch remembers her time spent at Felixstowe College, a long-lost world of arcane rules and happenings, when the headmistress and the Head of Science raced each other on public roads in their sports cars, and when having meringues for birthday tea instead of plain cake was branded disgraceful. As the social morals of post-war Britain collided with those of the decadent 1960s, Julie and her fellow pupils discovered Radio Caroline, fashion and the facts of life at the same time as playing lacrosse derbies, attending classical music concerts and sea-bathing.The years spent at Felixstowe College made a lasting impression on the girls who boarded there. Amidst all the fun, deeply emotional attachments were made, with some girls whose parents were remote or absent finding support from their classmates that they didn't get at home. Too Marvellous for Words! is the real Malory Towers life, full of character and charm, and serviing as both a memoir and a fascinating social history of a way of English life lived by 'young ladies' some 50 years ago.
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TheEllieMo
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I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

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MatchlessMarie
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Not doing a particular TBR for #MarvellousMay but I would like to catch up so Goodreads will stop judging me 😂

Andrew65 Good luck 😊 2y
44 likes1 comment
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LeahBergen
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The tagged book (subtitled: The Real Malory Towers Life) is a memoir of the author‘s time in an all-girls boarding school in early 1960s Suffolk. Where are my other fans of Enid Blyton/boarding school tales? 😆 @batsy @erzascarletbookgasm @Verity Have any of you read this?

I also just happened to feel in the mood for a vintage read last night and started this Chalet School book.

#SchoolinLife
#NoFemmeber

rubyslippersreads I‘ve never read any of the Chalet School books (not even Peggy of the Chalet School 😄), but I want this book anyway. 😊 6y
LeahBergen @rubyslippersreads It‘s definitely your sort of read! The Chalet School books are sweet and fun (and quite different from many school stories as they‘re set mainly in the Austrian Tyrol). 👍🏻 6y
Moray_Reads Based on St Leonard's in St Andrews, I believe. I've been in the Victorian sea pool (I think it's mentioned in the books) at dawn on May 1st many years ago. Traditional but not advisable 6y
See All 14 Comments
LeahBergen @Moray_Reads Brrrr! ❄️❄️❄️ And I didn‘t know that St Leonard‘s was the inspiration for Malory Towers. I‘m off to look at a photo. 👍🏻 6y
Moray_Reads @LeahBergen The May Dip it's called. One of those "you can't graduate unless..." traditions. St A's is an odd but marvellous place 6y
umbrellagirl @Moray_Reads When were you at St Andrews? I graduated in 2001. I read history there. 6y
Moray_Reads @umbrellagirl Same! But 2005-2009 6y
batsy I haven't heard of this! Sounds wonderful. @Moray_Reads St Andrews must have been an experience 😍 6y
Verity I haven‘t read too marvelous for words, but I am missing my chalet school collection while I‘m over here in the states. Can‘t wait to get home to the book pile... 6y
erzascarletbookgasm I don‘t know the tagged book, sounds like something I‘d like! And somehow I‘ve never read the Chalet School series 🤷‍♀️ 6y
Billypar Love this picture- looks like a trip back in time! 👏👏 6y
Cinfhen Your throwback read looks like something straight out of my elementary school day🧡not the skiing but the story 😆 6y
Centique My word Leah, what a find! This is definitely going on the TBR. 😍 6y
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