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The twins don’t in fact feature much in this book, as they have turned into hard-working, likeable people who don’t stir up trouble. They’re not super-talented in any way, and they’re still close to each other so, naturally, they share a study. For fifth formers are allowed to share two-person studies from their second term in the fifth.
There’s a new girl called Anne-Marie who claims to be a poet, but who writes rather flowery rhyming phrases that are somewhat meaningless. There’s also a girl called Felicity who has only just moved up from the fourth form, because she’s a musical prodigy and her parents are pushing her to work harder at her music. But she’s older than most of the fifth form already. And there’s Alma, who is an unfortunate caricature. She’s overweight with poor skin, and she can’t stop eating. She’s also rather mean and petty, and nobody likes her. She has been moved down from the sixth form, but can’t keep up with even the fifth form work.
Angela, the wealthy, boastful girl of ‘Claudine…’ is sharing a study with Alison, and taking advantage of the way that younger girls can be asked to do little jobs for them. Mirabel shares with Gladys, who has been her best friend for years. Gladys is made deputy sports captain, and has some good suggestions. But power goes to Mirabel’s head, and she becomes more and more authoritarian and bossy, forgetting that not everyone actually likes sports.
Claudine, Mam’zelle’s niece, is slowly developing what they call the ‘English’ sense of honour - Blyton was oddly prejudiced against almost anyone who wasn’t solidly English, or at least from the UK. Claudine is a likeable person, and her sister is now at school; Antoinette is in the second form, and is similar to Claudine at that age, with a strong sense of integrity which doesn’t quite match with the British girls’ ideas of right or wrong.
The ages of girls in the forms are quite confusing. This series was written in the 1940s, long before standardisation of class ages. It’s clear that when Pat and Isabel start in the first book, they’re fourteen and in the first form. They remain in that form for three terms - one year - but many of their classmates have been there longer than they have. In the fourth book - 'Second form at St Clare’s' - they are 15, and with most of their friends have moved up.
Then in the fifth book, ‘Claudine at St Clare’s’, the twins and their classmates are about to start in the fourth form, so they must be 16 or 17; it’s not clear how long they spend in either the second or the third form. And in this final one, they’re in their second term in the fifth form, so presumably 17 or 18. But, a little confusingly, it’s the autumn/winter term, which would normally be the start of a school year. They all take a big exam towards the end, and are all expected to move up to the sixth form in January.
However there’s little point digging too deeply into their ages or how long each of them have been in each form. Enid Blyton didn’t explain, and in that pre-computer era it must have been difficult to keep track of who was whom. Indeed, that might account for one of the slightly puzzling features of this book, in that Mirabel - who turned out to be a gifted musician in one of the earlier books - is now the sports captain.
It’s a good mixture of characters, and there are some interesting incidents as inevitable clashes occur. I found myself quite engrossed, almost unable to put the book down at times. There’s a very funny scene, too, when the second form are having a midnight feast, and Mam’zelle thinks she hears burglars….
The last chapter is perhaps a bit predictable when some of the staff meet to discuss who will be the new head girl next term, when the fifth formers move up to the sixth. The head girl was a significant figure in some of the earlier books, but the sixth formers are barely mentioned in this book, other than to say that none of them is suitable to be the sports captain.
The writing, as with most of Enid Blyton’s books, is well-paced with some good characterisation (albeit caricatured in several cases). It’s not the greatest prose, and there are authorial asides, but then she wrote a phenomenal number of books in her lifetime.
As a teenager I was quite disappointed that this turned out to be the final ‘St Clare’s’ book. I have learned that there are three extra books, written by someone else but in the same style, including one that shows the twins and their friends in the sixth form. I’m not in any hurry to get hold of them, but if I come across them in a charity shop, I’d be interested to read them. Two of them are set before 'Fifth formers', so this is sometimes counted as the eighth out of nine books.
These books were originally intended for girls aged about 9-14. The books are easy to read and have been republished many times, so apparently they’re still appealing to today’s children. My granddaughter started listening to them (in an excellent audiobook format) when she was seven, and loved them. But I suspect that the main audience is adults like me who recall them nostalgically from childhood.
I enjoyed ‘Fifth formers at St Clare’s’, most of which I had entirely forgotten. But although it technically stands alone, it’s best read as part of the series.
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