The Abbey Series The English novel by Elsie J. Oxenham consists of 38 titles published between 1914 and 1959. The first title, Girls of the Hamlet Club set the scene for the school aspect of series, but it is the second title, The Abbey Girls , which introduces The Abbey - almost a character in the series itself - a romantic ruin that inspires love for her as a quiet, peaceful place , and created a desire to behave in the spiritful tradition of the early Cistercian monks. These qualities are helpful in explaining the popularity of this series.
Video Abbey Series
Elsie Oxenham's Abbey Series
The Girls of the Hamlet Club (1914) is organized at Miss Macey's school in Wycombe and in the surrounding hamlets and villages. It tells how Cicely Hobart came to Whiteleaf to be near her maternal grandparents. He has lived in the suburbs of London, but will now live with an old family servant, and go to school in Wycombe. He found that the school was divided into two sets, 'original school' and 'hamlet', mostly girls who came to school on scholarships but lived in hamlet villages, and could not afford to pay extra like clubs, they stay out. Cicely arranges outsiders to The Hamlet Club with the motto 'To be or not to be' from Shakespeare Hamlet and Whiteleaf Cross, a local landmark, as their badge. As the club progresses, its members learn Morris and Country Dancing, and prepare the May Queen ceremony for Cicely's grandparents. Hamlet Club came to the rescue of schools when the main actors at school played with measles; they sacrificed their secrets for the good of the school and Miriam Honor was crowned the first Queen.
The Abbey Girls (1920) is the second title of the series, and tells of two redhead cousins, Joan and Joy Shirley, and how, in different ways, they managed to get a spot at Miss Macey's School. Both of these characters are the original 'Abbey Girls' and this series continues with stories about them and the friends they make, not only their schooldays but also their adult life. An early friend, Jen Robins, soon became the main character, and the others, Jandy Mac, Rosamund and Maidlin, all could claim the 'Abbey Girl' sobriquet. At the end of the series, these six are all married to children, and the adventures of Joan's daughters, Joy, Jandy and Jen, in the same school, have come forward.
There is no such 'Abbey School', though The Girls of the Abbey School (1921) tells how the school spends a term in Abinger Hall, the home of Joy Shirley, who has a destroyed monastery from school. Gracedieu in his yard. The Abbey is based on Cleeve Abbey in Somerset - The British Heritage Property is open to the public in the summer months. Oxenham 'moved' these ruins to Oxfordshire, near the border of Buckinghamshire, for The Abbey Girls plot, to tie cousins ​​to characters from the first book, Girls of the Hamlet Club
Maps Abbey Series
Main Abbey Series (shows the best reading order)
Ã, Â ° = published as Collins 'Fat Orange'
  = published as Collins 'Seagull'
? = published as 'Collins Little Convent' g = reprinted on paperback by Girls Gone By Publishers
e = reprinted in paperback by The EJO Society
Notes to table
1. Jen of the Abbey School lasts during and after the The Abbey Girls Go Back to School and therefore should be read soon afterwards.
2. Retrospective titles cover the period between The Girls of the Abbey School
3. Maid of the Abbey harus dibaca sebelum Jandy Mac Comes Back .
4. Abbey Keepers partially along with A Fiddler for the Abbey , but should ideally be read afterwards.
5. The first chapter of The Song of the Abbey overlaps with the last of Dancers from Abbey .
6. N.B. Two Queens in Abbey has only been published as 'Little Red Monastery'.
Abbey Connector
Oxenham wrote several other series related to the main Abbey Series; this is known as the Abbey Connector. Characters that were first used in other titles or series were introduced into the Abbey Series - sometimes spanning an internal chronology. A special example of this is the character Robin (Robertina) Brent. He first appeared as a 12-year-old in a Girl Who Will not Make Friends , the Abbey Connector was published in 1909. But he reappears as 17 to 18 years in three titles: Rosamund's Tuckshop (1937), Rosamund Castle (1938) - both in the Abbey Series - and New Girls at Wood End (1957), a Abbey Connector, and appearing in a book that bears his name in the Abbey Series, Robins in the Abbey (1947), when he was 21 years old.
Oxenham also wrote about 20 books that have no connection at all with the Abbey Series; this is known as Non-Connectors.
Author
Oxenham portrays himself in several books in the series as 'The Writing Person', especially on The New Abbey Girls and The Abbey Girls Again - for more information about the author himself. article Elsie J. Oxenham.
Themes in series
Some themes are very clear throughout the series, reflecting Oxenham's own interests and beliefs.
Folk Dancing
Oxenham is a folk dance fan and often puts it into his work; Folk dance is mentioned in almost every book of Abbey , and the English Folk Dance Society (then English Folk Dance and Song Society) and its main members are described in some of them, some with the real name, others with nicknames.
Queens
Another theme used throughout the series is from May Queens. The Hamlet Club [formed in the first book of the series] voted, towards the end of the book, one of their numbers as May Queen. By the time Abbey Girls had become a tradition in the 3-year-old school, and at the end of the series, at the 27-year-old The Queens at the Abbey the Club and crowned Joy's twin daughters as Queen 28 together. It is thought that the Whitelands College tradition of May Queens (king of May, from college to co-ed), inspired by John Ruskin, may in turn have inspired Oxenham, perhaps through someone he met who had been trained at Whitelands, but no definite connection has been established. Of course Oxenham himself did not attend college.
Christian Faith
Oxenham grew up in the Congregational Church (later the United Church of Reformation in England), and his convictions and philosophy of life were consequently seen throughout the series. While he does not advocate, his characters discuss the reasons behind good and bad events, and grow in their own beliefs when they do. This allows it to give depth to characters that may not be clear only through their actions.
Elsie Jeanette Oxenham Appreciation Society
One of the interests of collectors and members of the EJO Society is finding and visiting the original site used by Oxenham in his books. As well as the Bucks/Oxon area and the village of Washford, Somerset where Cleeve Abbey is located, some books are arranged in parts of Sussex, Wales, Lancashire, the English Lake District and Scotland. Of course this is not always depicted exactly like their real counterpart; Oxenham writes fiction, and if he can move a monastery nearly 200 miles to his destination, it must change some names and telescoping or stretching distance is also good in his authority.
Note
References
Books
- Godfrey, Monica (2003). World of Elsie Jeanette Oxenham and her book . Girls Gone By Publishers [www.ggbp.co.uk]. ISBN: 1-904417-15-9. Ã,
- Thompson, Allison (1998). Lighting the Fire: Elsie J. Oxenham, The Abbey Girls, and English Revival Dance Folk . Squirrel Hill Press [musicsleuth.com/sqpress/ltfhome.html]. ISBN: 0-9666563-0-X.
- Waring, Stella; Ray, Sheila (2006). The Island to the Monastery; Survival and Sanctuary in the books of Elsie J. Oxenham 1907 to 1959 . Girls Gone By Publishers [www.ggbp.co.uk]. ISBN: 1-904417-80-9.
Web
- The Elsie J. Oxenham Society/Abbey Chronicle
- Site of Australian Priory Sites
- Jess Nevins. Pulp Heroes of the Pre-War of the Year, A (Archived 2009-10-24).
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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