9 h 20 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 20 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does honesty cost when your friends pull one way and your pride pulls another?
Hester Thornton arrives at Lavender House with spirit and imagination, but living among other girls brings fresh challenges. In A World of Girls, L. T. Meade draws you into lessons, dormitories and playground quarrels, where close friendships and sharp rivalries shape the school day.
The headmistress expects conduct as well as lessons, while teachers watch over a world of shifting loyalties. Hester must find her place without losing her own nature. Beneath the games and secrets lies a harder question: how do you choose what is right when nobody is making you?
What you’ll discover
- A spirited new girl Follow Hester as her imagination and strong nature meet the demands of school life.
- Friendships with real stakes Enter a circle of companions whose shared secrets and loyalties bring both warmth and strain.
- Pride against honesty Consider the choices that test a girl's courage when friendship and conscience pull apart.
- Behind Victorian expectations See how girls are expected to behave, and how their own wishes challenge those rules.
- An affectionate guiding voice Stay close to Hester's feelings as Meade leads you through the quarrels and companionship.
Who will love it
Readers who love school stories full of midnight feasts, secret mysteries and fierce friendships will feel at home here. It also suits anyone who enjoys a warm, moral Victorian tale with a lively cast.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A grieving girl leaves home
- Kind strangers and a cold welcome
- Mrs. Willis and the world of the school
- Pride and the first quarrels
- Mischief, suspicion and Coventry
- Nan arrives and a quiet revenge begins
- The picnic and the fall
- A midnight feast and a cruel trick
- What the book is about and how it is told
Who’s who
- Hester ThorntonA proud, clever twelve-year-old who arrives in mourning and fiercely loves her baby sister, but cannot forgive Annie.
- Annie ForestThe wild, warm-hearted school favorite who loves Mrs. Willis dearly and is wrongly blamed for a string of cruel pranks.
- Mrs. WillisThe silver-haired headmistress who runs Lavender House on trust and cares for her girls like a mother.
- Cecil TempleA plain, gentle, devout girl who befriends Hester and stands by Annie out of loyal faith.
- NanHester's spoiled, fearless three-year-old sister, who speaks in baby talk and gives her heart to Annie.
- Susan DrummondA sleepy, freckled girl who shares a room with Hester and hides a surprising taste for mischief.
- Dora RussellA graceful, selfish senior girl who wants to win the English prize and looks down on Annie.
- Mr. EverardThe old vicar of the parish, who prays with the girls and believes Annie when others will not.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 9 h 20 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 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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Read and hear Un mondo di ragazze in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Un mondo di ragazze
by L. T. Meade · 1886
A grieving girl meets a mischief-making favorite, and one lie deepens a school-wide mystery.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Imagine being twelve, dressed in black, and sent away to a school you are sure is a prison. That is Hester Thornton's fate in A World of Girls by L.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A grieving girl leaves home
Hester Thornton is twelve and three months motherless. On the morning she leaves for school, her baby sister Nan toddles down to find her, and Hester gives her biscuits and sugar as a last treat.
Her stern father, Sir John, thinks school will tame his wild daughter. He puts her on a train and says he dislikes public displays of feeling. Yet when she flings her arms around his neck, a tear rests on his cheek.
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What is A World of Girls about?
It follows Hester Thornton, a proud twelve-year-old, at Lavender House boarding school. Her dislike of the popular Annie Forest, a string of mysterious pranks and a child's disappearance bring out the best and worst in the girls.
Who is Annie Forest?
Annie is the school favorite, a lively, warm-hearted and impulsive girl with a gift for drawing and for winning children's love. She is an orphan in Mrs. Willis's care, and her father is far away.
Who is Nan in A World of Girls?
Nan is Hester's three-year-old sister, who joins the school after their father goes abroad. She is spoiled and fearless, speaks in baby talk, and her bond with Annie drives much of the story.
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