A Santa Clara llegan Ángela, una niña rica y mimada muy presumida que se hace muy amiga de Alison; y Paulina, una muchacha que también presume de tener muchas cosas como Ángela, aunque después se descubren que no son verdad. Además llega Claudina, la sobrina de Mademoiselle, una niña francesa con costumbre muy distintas a las inglesas. Tendrán problemas con la nueva ama de llaves y con su hija, que es una chivata, Eileen, que robará a su madre para ayudar a su hermano Edie.

One of my childhood favourites, fifth in the 'St Clare's' series about a boarding school for girls. Old-fashioned, of course. The dialogue seems stilted, full of ‘I say!’ and ‘Look here!’ Situations are typecast (a stinkbomb ‘trick’, a midnight feast, a bit of tale-bearing…) and most of the characters are caricatured.

But I enjoyed re-reading it, realising that many moral issues are covered without preaching. Many of my values were formed in part thanks to Enid Blyton; I have a deep-rooted dislike of snobbery and cliquishness, and a horror of cheating. The shallow but good-natured Alison learns something valuable in this book, and it’s a lesson which I hope would still translate to 21st century readers.

This book was originally intended for girls of about 11-15; the main characters in the series are around eleven or twelve in the first book, ‘The Twins of St Clare’s’ (which I also re-read recently) and they are about fifteen in this one. They seem a lot younger than today’s fifteen-year-olds, and naive in many ways. I don’t think that’s a bad thing in itself, but it means the book is more likely to appeal to younger children, perhaps about 8-11. ( )

Claudine is a " new" character, so was Eileen, Pauline, and Matron. Angela was a "variation on a theme."

Digitalization was probably the best it has been, but that isn't saying much. What a shame. ( )

Another great story with a lot of things going on which I really enjoyed. Blyton's strength is in the tiny minutiae of everyday school life and there's plenty of lovely details in this one - scenes of sewing, feasts, half-term parents' day, etc. A bit sad there's only one left! ( )

"A nossa querida delegada está prestes a dar um passo maior do que a perna!" A Margarida, a nova delegada das alunas, não para de arranjar sarilhos ao terceiro ano. Mas será que é uma adversária à altura da Catarina e da McGinty, a sua cabrinha de estimação?