Anne Digby - Trebizon etc

[Sue Webster]

i like anne digby school stories too . they are really good but enid blyton is still the best ! any other anne digby fans out there? sue

[Kitty]

I love them! Fingers crossed that AD finishes the series off with Fidra. I have whiled away embarrassing amounts of time trying to speculate whether Rebecca and Robbie end up together, and need a definitive answer!

[Sue Webster]

hi kitty , thanks for message .its great to know someone else likes anne digby too . i`ve only just started collecting and reading them and need one more book to complete the series--the ghostly term at trebizon. i also like the jill robinson books too by AD. Sue

[Kitty]

I like Jill too (though not as much as Rebec and Co). I REALLY loved A Horse Called September as a child - can't pick it up now without weeping - I can't remember if I ever had a copy when I was little, or if I just libraried it lots, but when I found a paperback a couple of years ago, I was thrilled!

[Sue Webster]

hi kitty . actually i have not yet read the jill books as i only picked up 2 of them last week on the second hand bookstall on our market but they look good and i hope to start one tonight in bed!

[Almas]

Hi Sue! Even I think that Digby is a genius. I have enjoyed her books, especially her continuation of The Naughtiest Girl books.

I haven't seen a new novel, published by her in recent years. Is she still writing? I hope she is!

[JuliaE]

I just discovered the Trebizon books from Anne Digby and must say I really like them! They are different to the Blyton books but at the same time there is a comforting feeling of old and known things, its the feeling of a good old boardingschool story.
But I have only read the books 1 to 9 because they are so difficult to get.

[Kitty]

Totally agree about them being comforting reading, Julia! I think Anne Digby gets the atmosphere spot on - and the girls are so believable - and I think her plots are incredibly well constructed. Very under-rated, actually. When I was reading them when I was younger I was a bit boggled by how sporty/active nearly everyone was, but now I can really see how AD was trying to influence girls to strive for themselves, and be and do, rather than just sit and watch.

[JuliaE]

Actually I have the impression that in all english boardingschool stories the pupils are all very sporty. I allways thought while reading such books that sport is very important for english schools. So, isn't that right?

Has anyone a hint for me where I can get the Trebizon books which are still missing? I looked at ebay but there are only a few and they are always really expensive.

[Kitty]

I'd say sport is very important to the ethos of the school, in life and fiction - the staff encourage it - the parents are impressed with all the pitches, swimming pools, squash courts, gymnasiums, etc - but it isn't that the girls are particularly keen! Maybe 10% are very sporty, like Rebeck and friends, 60% don't mind either way, and 30% are not at all keen. I always felt that Elf was about the only not-sporty Trebizonian that was likeable!

http://www.fidrabooks.co.uk are meant to be reprinting the hard Trebizons, but I don't know how far they've got, since I've already got all of them.

[JuliaE]

Yes, you are right, Elf is the only unsporty nice person.

Thanks for the link, but they only have one Trebizon book. So I hope I will have luck at ebay one time.

[joanne_chan]

Totally agree about them being comforting reading, Julia! I think Anne Digby gets the atmosphere spot on - and the girls are so believable - and I think her plots are incredibly well constructed. Very under-rated, actually. When I was reading them when I was younger I was a bit boggled by how sporty/active nearly everyone was, but now I can really see how AD was trying to influence girls to strive for themselves, and be and do, rather than just sit and watch.

I really do like the Trebizon series too although it's a great shame most of them are out of print although you can get them for Kindle from the does everything online store beginning with an A. Some have complained about them being 'too sporty' but Anne Digby caught the burgeoning interest in girls sport in the late 70's, the opportunities for playing professionally as women and run with it jolly well, creating characters that could inspire girls to do well no matter where their abilities lie.
The last two are dear to buy used as my bank will discover later on this month as the print runs in the early 90's were very short and for some reason most never got a (physical) reprint.

[BookWorm19]

I remember these books! I only remember the name though, Trebizon, and the author, I think i might have got them from the library when i was younger, i read almost every book in the childrens part of my library, and its hard to remember them all, however it does ring a bell, i definitely read these

[Darrell71]

I haven't read Trebizon, but The Naughtiest Girl series are continued well by AD. She looks like a good author!

[Yak]

Ah I remember Trebizon! Blimey that is going back a bit though. I only read until Fifth Form at .. that was as far as the series had got before I rather lost interest. I liked the fact that there was a bit of romance in there tho with Rebecca and Tish's brother, even though there was never anything explicit (in fact I don't think anything at all ever happened that I can remember, but it was sort of implied that they liked one another)