Angela Brazil was arguably the first author of girls' books to write her stories from the characters' point of view - and the first to write entertaining rather than instructional stories. Not for her readers did Angela take the high sermonising ground. She believed in writing amusing and enjoyable tales in which the characters acted like normal human beings.

Angela was born on November 30, 1868, in Preston, Lancashire, England. Her parents were quite well off. The Brazils already had three children - Clarence, 10; Walter, 8; and Amy, 6. Her father, a rather remote figure like many fathers of the period, was involved in the cotton manufacturing industry.

Angela lived in The Quadrant, Coventry, with her brother and a sister, from 1911.

Angela's mother decided from the start that Angela was not going to be sent off to a boarding school like she had been. Instead, Angela, 4, was sent to a small, local private ladies school that encouraged pupils in art, literature and music. According to an article in 'This England', Spring 1985 edition, she was removed after one morning for misbehaving! The family moved to Egremont in the Wirral and Angela enrolled more successfully in 'The Turrets', Wallasey, at the age of six. She later moved up to Manchester Secondary at the age of nine, then to Ellerslie and eventually down to Heatherley, a school for budding artists in London.

Following her father's death, Angela and her mother took to the road, seeing much of Europe, although for a time Angela looked after her doctor brother, Walter, back in Preston. Having grown weary of the continent, she spent her remaining years as Walter's housekeeper in Coventry, faithfully looking after him until her death in 1947. Angela was extremely civic-minded and involved herself in many local charities and clubs. At various times she gave assistance to the Natural History and Science Society, the City Guild and the YWCA.

Like many children's writers of the period, Angela began her writing career contributing to magazines. At that time, she developed a strong interest in Welsh mythology, due most likely to her parents spending holidays in a cottage in Wales, together with her earlier training in botany and other brushes with nature and the outdoors. It was thanks to her friends and possibly her sister Amy that she finally began work on a novel at the age of 35. This book, 'A Terrible Tomboy', appeared on the shelves in 1905. This was not strictly a school story but Angela's second novel, 'The Fortunes of Philippa', fulfilled the guidelines of that genre admirably. More than 40 other school stories were to follow but unlike other writers of such tales, she never used the same characters again. Each story stands on its own, distinct from all the others. Her books are filled with well-delineated characters. Angela never married and again, this was not unusual among writers of children's' stories. Writing was - and is - a solitary occupation not easily understood by non-writers.

Once Angela's stories became popular, she was in demand from the various publishers of children's annuals. Blackie, her first publisher, was a prolific producer of annuals and her short stories can be seen in many of the latter in the second and later decades of this century. One outstanding annual to which she contributed was 'The Jolly Book', an up-market publication which rivaled the better known 'Chatterbox'. In 1925 there was published an account of her early life: 'My Own Schooldays'. Angela Brazil was the first of the 'modern' writers of girls' stories: the equivalent of Charles Hamilton in respect of boys' stories.

Reference

Six of the Best by David Bathurst, Romansmead Publications, UK, 1994

This England, Spring 1985

THE BOOKS - Alphabetical

A Fortunate Term 1921.

A Fourth Form Friendship 1911

A Gift from the Sea 1920.*

A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl 1919

A Pair of Schoolgirls 1912.

A Patriotic Schoolgirl 1918.

A Popular Schoolgirl 1920

A Terrible Tomboy 1904.*

An Exciting Term. London 1936.

At School with Rachel 1928.

Bosom Friends. A Seaside Story. 1910.*

Captain Peggie 1924.

Five Jolly Schoolgirls 1941

For the Sake of the School. 1915.

For the School Colours 1918.

Jean's Golden Term. 1934.

Jill's Jolliest School 1937.

Joan's Best Chum 1926

The Secret of Border Castle 1943

The Slap-Bang Boys 1917.*

The Third Class at Miss Kaye's 1908.

The Youngest Girl in the Fifth 1913.

The Girls of St.Cyprians 1914.

Three Terms at Uplands 1945

Two Little Scamps and a Puppy 1919.*

Loyal to the School 1921.

Manor House School 1910.

Monitress Merle 1922. Nesta's New School. 1932

The New Girl at St Chad's. 1911.

Queen of the Dormitory and Other Stories 1926.

Ruth of St. Ronan's 1927.

Schoolgirl Kitty 1923

St. Catherine's College 1929.

The Fortunes of Philippa 1906.

The Head Girl at The Gables 1919

The Jolliest Term on Record 1915.

The Khaki Boys and Other Stories 1923.*

The Leader of the Lower School 1913.

The Little Green School 1931.

The Luckiest Girl in the School 1916.

The Madcap of the School 1917

The Mystery of the Moated Grange 1942

The New School at Scawdale 1940.

The Nicest Girl in the School. 1909;

The Princess of the School 1920

The School at the Turrets 1935.

The School by the Sea. 1914.

The School in the Forest 1944

The School in the South. 1922

The School on the Cliff 1938.

The School on the Loch 1946

The School on the Moor 1939.

* Not school stories