Abbey Series

The Abbey Girls

File:AbbeyGirls.jpg dustwrapper from the 'Fat Orange' reprint c. 1934
Author	Elsie J. Oxenham
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	The Abbey Series
Genre	Young adult novel
Publisher	Collins
Publication date	1st edition 1920
Media type	Print (Hardback)
ISBN	NA
Preceded by	The Girls of the Hamlet Club
Followed by	The Girls of the Abbey School

Elsie Oxenham's Abbey Series

The Abbey Girls was a title in the Abbey Series of British novels by Elsie J. Oxenham. They were published between 1914 and 1959. This title tells of two cousins, Joan and Joy Shirley, and how they get places in a Wycombe school. They are the original 'Abbey Girls' and the series continues with stories about them and the friends they make throughout their schooldays. By the end of the series their marriages and the adventures of their daughters 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 one of the cousins, which had a ruined abbey 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, to tie the cousins in with the characters from the 'first' book in the series Girls of the Hamlet Club (a 1914 "prequel") which was set in the Wycombe school and in surrounding hamlets and villages.

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 (later the English Folk Dance and Song 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 [formed in the first book of the series] 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 [latterly May Monarchs, since the college became co-ed], 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.

Main Abbey Series [indicating best reading order]

code	Title	Date	Publisher	Illustrator
	First Generation Titles
A01	The Girls of the Hamlet Club	1914	Chambers	Harold Earnshaw
A02	The Abbey Girls °†g	1920	Collins	Arthur Dixon
A03	The Girls of the Abbey School °g	1921	Collins	Elsie Anna Wood
A11	The Abbey Girls Go Back to School °†g	1922	Collins	Elsie Anna Wood
A13	The New Abbey Girls °	1923	Collins	Elsie Anna Wood
A14	The Abbey Girls Again °	1924	Collins	Elsie Anna Wood
A15	The Abbey Girls In Town °†	1925	Collins	Rosa C Petherick
A16	The Queen of the Abbey Girls °	1926	Collins	E. J. Kealey
A12	Jen of the Abbey School °†g [see note 1]	1927	Collins	frontis. E. A. Wood, others F. Meyerheim
A17	The Abbey Girls Win Through °†	1928	Collins	not credited
A18	The Abbey Girls at Home °†	1929	Collins	Inder Burns
A19	The Abbey Girls Play Up °†	1930	Collins	not credited
A20	The Abbey Girls on Trial °†	1931	Collins	'C.P.S.'
A21	Biddy's Secret	1932	Chambers	Nina K. Brisley
A22	Rosamund's Victory	1933	Harrap	Victor Cooley
A23	Maidlin to the Rescue	1934	Chambers	Rene Cloke
A24	Joy's New Adventure	1935	Chambers	Rene Cloke
A25	Rosamund's Tuckshop g	1937	R.T.S./G.O.P.	not credited
A26	Maidlin Bears the Torch g	1937	R.T.S./G.O.P.	not credited
A27	Rosamund's Castle g	1938	R.T.S./G.O.P.	not credited
	Retrospective Titles		[see note 2]
A04	Schooldays at the Abbey †	1938	Collins	Sutcliffe
A05	Secrets of the Abbey	1939	Collins	Heade
A06	Stowaways in the Abbey †‡	1940	Collins	Heade
A07	Schoolgirl Jen at the Abbey †‡	1950	Collins	Frank Varty
A08	Strangers at the Abbey †‡	1951	Collins	Frank Varty
A09	Selma at the Abbey †‡	1952	Collins	Frank Varty
A10	Tomboys at the Abbey ‡	1957	Collins	Frank Varty
	Second Generation Titles
A29	Jandy Mac Comes Back †‡	1941	Collins	Heade
A28	Maid of the Abbey †‡ [see note 3]	1943	Collins	Heade
A30	Two Joans at the Abbey †	1945	Collins	Margaret Horder
A31	An Abbey Champion	1946	Muller	Margaret Horder
A32	Robins in the Abbey †‡	1947	Collins	Margaret Horder
A33	A Fiddler for the Abbey	1948	Muller	Margaret Horder
A34	Guardians of the Abbey [see note 4]	1950	Muller	Margaret Horder
A35	Rachel in the Abbey	1951	Muller	M. D. Neilson
A36	A Dancer from the Abbey †‡	1953	Collins	Frank Varty
A37	The Song of the Abbey †‡ [see note 5]	1954	Collins	Frank Varty
A38	Two Queens at the Abbey †‡ [see note 6]	1959	Collins	Frank Varty

° = published as a Collins 'Fat Orange'
† = published as a Collins 'Seagull'
‡ = published as a Collins 'Small Red Abbey'
g = republished in paperback by Girls Gone By Publishers

Notes to table:

1. Jen of the Abbey School takes place during and after the events of The Abbey Girls Go Back to School and should therefore be read immediately after it.

2. The Retrospective Titles cover the period between The Girls of The Abbey School and The Abbey Girls Go Back to School, and are probably best read in that position, while remembering that this produces a few inconsistencies with books set later, but written earlier.

3. Maid of the Abbey should be read before Jandy Mac Comes Back.

4. Guardians of the Abbey is partly concurrent with A Fiddler for the Abbey, but should ideally be read after it.

5. The first chapter of The Song of the Abbey overlaps the last of A Dancer from the Abbey.

6. N.B. Two Queens at the Abbey was only ever published as a 'Small Red Abbey'.

Abbey Connectors

There are several other series which Oxenham ties in with the main Abbey Series; these are known as Abbey Connectors. Characters first used in other titles or series can be introduced into the Abbey Series - sometimes stretching the internal chronology. An example of this is the character Robin [Robertina] 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 3 titles: Rosamund's Tuckshop [1937], Rosamund's Castle [1938] and New Girls at Wood End (1957, an Abbey Connector), as well as appearing in the book that bears her name in the main Abbey Series (Robins in the Abbey, 1947) when she is 21.

Dustjacket from The New Abbey Girls.

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.

The 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 several hundred miles for her purposes, surely changing a few names and telescoping or stretching distances was also well within her remit.

References

Books:

• Godfrey, Monica (2003). The World of Elsie Jeanette Oxenham and her Books. Girls Gone By Publishers [1]. ISBN 1-904417-15-9. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
• Thompson, Allison (1998). Lighting the Fire: Elsie J. Oxenham, The Abbey Girls, and the English Folk Dance Revival. Squirrel Hill Press [2]. ISBN 0-9666563-0-X. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
• Waring, Stella (2006). Island to Abbey; Survival and Sanctuary in the books of Elsie J. Oxenham 1907 to 1959. Girls Gone By Publishers [3]. ISBN 1-904417-80-9. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Web:

• The Elsie J. Oxenham Society/Abbey Chronicle
• Australian Abbey Girls Site
• Jess Nevins. Pulp Heroes of the Pre-War Years, A.