It started with Malory Towers.

 

From the moment I met Darrell, admiring her brand-new school uniform in the mirror, I was hooked on school stories. Fifty years later, I still am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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12-year-old me, dreaming of 1920s schoolgirl life

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The girls’ adventures seemed perfectly poised between realism and romance. Their friendships and rivalries, dreams and disappointments, were entirely believable, while the very idea of a remote Cornish boarding school with rocky sea-swimming pool and stables, was, as Darrell would have said, ‘too wizard for words!’

 

From Malory Towers it was a natural progression to St Clare’s and then – oh joy of joys! – the Chalet School, which had 59 books. They weren’t all available in Belfast in the eighties, and the decades-long quest to collect the whole series kept me reading and collecting school stories all through my teenage years, when I knew I was meant to read about boys and discos, and beyond. I even wrote a PhD thesis about girls’ school stories – those for grown-ups as well as for children. I’ve never minded what age a story is supposed to be for: that’s why I write books for children, teenagers and adults.

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The schools I went to weren’t at all like Malory Towers or the Chalet School. My secondary school, Victoria College, Belfast, had a boarding department, but we daygirls were never allowed inside. The corridors were lined with old photos of hockey teams and prefects – I used to spend breaktimes gazing at them, imagining the lives of those long-ago girls with their tunics and 1920s bobbed hair. They looked so like the girls in the stories I still (secretly) loved.

 

When I became an English teacher I spent a year as a mistress in a girls’ boarding department. That wasn’t much like the school stories either but there were midnight feasts and Matrons (one cosy, one scary) and bedtime cocoa.

 

And so to Fernside. I had always wanted to write a girls’ school story, and I sneaked some school-story elements into some of my earlier historical novels – Name upon Name is set partly in a school, and Hope against Hope in a girls’ hostel. And then, in an Irish Times interview about another book, I was asked why I’d never written a girls’ school story, given that I had a such an interest in them. I said I would love to write one! Little did I know that someone at O’Brien Press would read the interview, and think, A school story by Sheena Wilkinson? We might like to publish that…

 

Fernside, a boarding and day school beside the River Lagan, is imaginary, but it’s very like a lot of the girls’ schools that sprang up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Of course there are dormitories and prefects, lessons and sport, friendships and fallings-out – and a bit of mystery too. I’ve loved writing all my books, but in many ways First Term at Fernside is the book I started dreaming about all those years ago, when I was six, and I first looked into the mirror with Darrell.

 

And of course the best school stories are in series – it’s wonderful to follow characters as they grow up through the school. That’s why it was an extra joy to write True Friends at Fernside.

 

Will there be any more Fernside books? I don’t know, but I certainly hope so!

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Praise for the Fernside Series 

"The writing is vivid, and the book feels fresh and contemporary despite the historic setting. There is a massive appetite for this type of book and First Term at Fernside will satisfy it well."
Irish Times

"First Term at Fernside feels like a classic of the genre and, though set in 1925, has a contemporary sparkle that will make it irresistible to the broadest range of today’s readers."
Books for Keeps 5-star review

"It's a girls' school story that respects the conventions but manages to add a modern perspective that never feels forced or overly serious. A delicate balancing act that works beautifully."
Nick Garlick's BookBlog

"First Term at Fernside is a delightful blend of nostalgia and mystery, perfect for fans of classic boarding school stories. Sheena Wilkinson’s ability to recreate the charm of the 1920s with such vividness makes this a must-read for anyone looking to revisit—or discover—the magic of old-school tales … Whether you’re a long-time fan of the genre or new to the world of boarding school stories, this book offers a refreshing and engaging journey back in time."
Read & Reviews

"With mystery, intrigue, playful pets, netball matches and secret gardens, this story has it all, as the bonds of girlhood and friendship are explored in an uplifting way."
Children's Books Ireland’s Annual Reading Guide 2024

"Top marks for a terrific boarding-school adventure about friendship, empathy and bravery."
Eve McDonnell, author of Elsetime and The Chestnut Roaster

"Full of quirky, fun characters struggling with everything from fitting in and making the school netball team to a mysterious animal-napper. Perfect for fans of Murder Most Unladylike."
Alison Weatherby, author of The Secrets Act
 

"A homage to the classic school story, full of debates about freedom and opening up to the wider world."
Pádraic Whyte, Associate Professor in Children’s Literature, Trinity College Dublin