My copy is dated 1962, by the Victory Press, an evangelical publishing house. They list other books in the series on the back flat: These stories are fiction but give a true-to-life picture of various careers and training open to Christian girls. And that is half the problem. Evangelical novels were rarely appreciated by their girl readers. My copy is in very good condition, including the dustjacket, and I would bet that it was never read more than once by its original owner.

Rosemary Crowther is a newly-qualified teacher and prepares for her new role as form teacher in a girls’ grammar school. Orphaned, she lives with her older brother, his wife, and their two young children. All the family are fervent Christians and Rosemary declares that she will share her faith with her pupils and hopefully lead some of them to her version of God. Which, although I do have a strange taste for this kind of fiction, fills me with anger and horror. I’m a Pagan, but I would never dream of “sharing” my faith with anyone, unless specifically asked. However, one must be reasonable. This is a publishing company set up to publish evangelical stories with that aim.

So how does Patricia Baldwin do? Well, it’s not a bad novel. The writing is quite lively and we are shown how Miss Crowther falls short of her own standards when she is faced with outright disobedience and rude behaviour. She admits that she finds it difficult to deal with two girls who come from difficult, even abusive, families. Although they react in different ways to the ill treatment they find in their homes. Judy has become hardened and determined to get everything she can out of life for herself. She has a stepmother and two younger step siblings, and feels unwanted. While Fay has both of her parents as well as younger siblings, but is treated with neglect and even violence. Both girls influence their fellow pupils in different ways and Rosemary has her hands full with trying to bring them round to a way of thinking that will benefit them for their whole lives. And not just in becoming Christians. Fay needs to find self confidence, and Judy needs to find acceptance from those around her, without her having to clown around and muck up her school days.

Take the evangelical stuff out of the book and it really is not a bad read. There might have been more room for the Christianisation, ironically. It’s shoved in at the last and so is not as convincing as it might have been. I do feel that evangelical publishers do not really know what they want: good books that youngsters would actually want to read, or push the Christian element and lose the plot. Elinor Brent Dyer managed it with her Chalet School books. Some of the girls are not backwards in coming forewords with advice and comments about faith. But it’s not rammed home. It is not the whole of the story, even where she wrote evangelical books herself.

So, what is the verdict? I have just ordered another of Patricia Baldwin’s books in the series (she wrote the entire series herself!).