7 h 47 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does courage look like when your world is a classroom, but war reaches into every day?
In A Patriotic Schoolgirl, Angela Brazil brings the Great War into a British school, where lessons, games and friendships continue under the shadow of distant fighting. A young girl and her schoolmates face anxiety, shortage and the call to serve. Their familiar world asks more of them now: loyalty means something beyond taking a friend's side.
Friendship remains at the heart of the story. Girls grow close, quarrel, misjudge one another and make amends, while duty gives their choices a wider meaning. Brazil's bright, direct storytelling keeps school life moving through talk, incident and open emotion. Published in 1918, the book offers a period view of the home front through ordinary girls' lives.
What you’ll discover
- School life under pressure Enter a world of classrooms and games where distant events shape everyday concerns.
- Friendships that face a test Follow close bonds through quarrels, mistaken judgments and the work of making amends.
- Duty beyond the classroom Explore what service and loyalty mean to girls living with wartime anxiety and shortage.
- A lively school story Enjoy Brazil's humour, brisk pace and warm sympathy for her young heroines.
- The home front close up See the Great War from a girls' school rather than the fighting front.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy boarding school tales, lively friendships, schoolgirl pranks and everyday life on the home front during the First World War, told with warmth and humour.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Two sisters set out for a new school
- Brackenfield runs on rules and tradition
- Marjorie finds her place on the stage
- A lost book starts a fairy friendship
- A harmless autograph brings public shame
- Midnight parties and pranks bend the rules
- Patriotic zeal can lead a girl astray
- A close friend and a puzzling light
- What the story is about and how it is told
Who’s who
- Marjorie AndersonA bold, clever fifteen-year-old who longs to serve her country and keeps getting into trouble in her rush to do it.
- Dona AndersonMarjorie's shy younger sister, who loves nature, gardening and quiet friendships and surprises everyone with her sharp common sense.
- Miss NortonThe strict housemistress of St. Elgiva's, nicknamed the Acid Drop, who keeps the rules to the letter.
- Mrs. MorrisonThe dignified Principal, known as the Empress, who guards the school's good name and expects perfect manners.
- Winifrede MasonThe poised head girl, who speaks about service and sacrifice and takes an interest in Marjorie.
- Chrissie LangA tall, witty new girl who quickly becomes Marjorie's closest friend and is curious about the war.
- EricA frail little boy in an invalid carriage who loves fairy tales and gives the sisters fairy names.
- ElaineThe sisters' cousin, a young Red Cross nurse who takes them on outings and shows them the hospital.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 47 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Una colegiala patriótica
by Angela Brazil · 1918
Two sisters, a stern teacher and a mysterious light in a school tower keep a wartime boarding school on edge.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Can a schoolgirl help win a war from a hockey field and a dormitory? Angela Brazil's A Patriotic Schoolgirl follows fifteen-year-old Marjorie Anderson and her shy sister Dona through their first year at Brackenfield College, a girls' boarding school on the English coast.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two sisters set out for a new school
Marjorie and Dona Anderson leave home for Brackenfield College, a large school by the sea in wartime England. Marjorie, fifteen and a half, is bold, clever and always sure she is right. Dona, thirteen, is shy, loves her teddy bears and weeps at the thought of strangers.
Their journey goes wrong at once. A train stopped on a bridge makes them late at Rosebury, and a young soldier with twinkling brown eyes carries their wraps and hockey sticks along the platform. They miss the London express by five seconds. At Euston he offers to find them a taxi, but a sharp teacher with pince-nez cuts in and scolds them for speaking to a stranger.
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What is A Patriotic Schoolgirl about?
It follows sisters Marjorie and Dona Anderson through a year at Brackenfield College during the First World War. Their pranks, friendships and war work mix with a mystery about a light in a school tower.
Who wrote A Patriotic Schoolgirl and when is it set?
Angela Brazil wrote it. The story takes place in England during the First World War, when there are soldiers on leave, Red Cross hospitals, food rationing and fear of spies and air raids.
Who are Marjorie and Dona in A Patriotic Schoolgirl?
They are the middle sisters of a large family with brothers at the front. Marjorie is bold and impulsive, and Dona is quiet, loves natural history and proves wiser than she looks.
The author
Angela Brazil
1868–1947 · English children's writer
Angela Brazil (1868–1947) was an English children’s writer born in Preston, Lancashire. She wrote mainly stories about girls at boarding schools. Her books began appearing in 1904 and included The Nicest Girl in the School and The Youngest Girl in the Fifth. She lived in Coventry from 1911 until her death.
More by Angela Brazil
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