Orphan Susan Saunders goes to live with her Uncle Jack and Aunt Ella. Although they are kind, Susan finds life with them very different from what she is used to because Uncle Jack works as a scrap dealer. Susan finds solace in Snowy, the pony that lives there. Snowy has been trained differently to other ponies and Uncle Jack is doubtful about Sue managing her, but he decides to give her a chance.
In the early 20th century, Sally Smith (named Sarah in the reprint) is a music-hall conjurer and juggler. She had been looked after by Maggie Miller, but now Maggie is crippled and unable to speak after a stroke. Welfare authorities of the period force them to run away together, but music-hall work is hard to find. This forces Sarah to resort to third-rate halls, which are proving undesirable.
Charity Black pretends to be crippled to take advantage of people.
Claire Ramsay finds her new neighbour, Elaine Benson, a bossy sort and hates her. But she fancies Elaine’s brother Steve and is trying to find a way to get him to notice her, including trying to do it through Elaine. This gets Claire into a lot of scrapes, such as dyeing her hair green to impress Steve – only to find he is colour blind and all she does is get herself into trouble at home and school. Matters come to a head when Elaine finds out about Claire fancying her brother and tries to use it blackmail Claire into helping her cheat at a test. When a teacher foils the cheating (without realising), Elaine maliciously reveals Claire’s secret.
In 1860, orphans Hannah and Oliver Franklin come to London to find their Uncle George, but find he is deceased. Silas Grodget, a theatrical agent, finds Hannah a job on stage and she becomes a popular singer. But Grodget is an unscrupulous man who intends to make a profit out of Hannah.
Susan Taylor wins the leading part in a new ice-ballet. But strange, frightening incidents begin to happen and they are accompanied by the appearances a cloaked, masked figure who can also hypnotise Susan.
Janice Knight is spending all her time looking after her stepsister Lesley because she mistakenly thinks has less than a year to live. Lesley knows Janice’s mistake and is taking advantage of it to get Janice’s full attention.
Billie Brewster lived with her Aunt Cora in Paradise Flats, Wolverley. Aged thirteen, Billie was fanatically keen on athletics, particularly running. But her running had landed her in trouble with the School Attendance Officer and with the Wolverley Education Council.
Tough girl Billie returned in several sequels (with a new artist) including when she runs away from Paradise House, a home for girls. She is trying to track down Mr Watt, the father of one of the girls in the home.
(Billie Olympics Here She Comes- 1976, Art: Andrew Wilson)
(Billie at Paradise House – 1980)
Golden Warrior is a stallion who belongs to Brian Edwards, a famous three day event rider. When Brian is paralysed in an accident, his twin daughters Sally and Sarah take over Warrior’s training. Sarah is supposed to be the better rider but loses interest, so Sally takes her place and begins to hope she will win the championship.
Twins Toni and Tessa Taylor are devoted sisters but different in character; Toni is boisterous and mischievous while Tessa is quiet and thoughtful. At an exhibition on Ancient Egypt, the twins hear about twin princesses who were also different in character; one kind and one evil. The evil twin poisoned the kind twin, assumed the throne, and her reign was a cruel one. After Tessa gets a strange shock from a goblet that the evil sister may have used to poison the kind one, Toni starts acting evil towards her.
