Jody Powell had slipped back in time to the 1880s when Deansbrook School was Deansbrook Orphanage. She swapped places with a look alike Katy Stanley for 24 hrs but the plan misfired and now the girls were trapped. Katy was enjoying her time in the present and was unaware of the situation.
Amanda Wilton and her brother Pete, two spoiled wealthy children, are bored with their quiet Highland holiday – until they find themselves aboard the ketch “Black Albatross” having an amazing voyage through time! Through their voyage they learn a lot, not just about history but about themselves too.
Nofret, a princess from ancient Egypt, was training to be a priestess, was searching for the sacred golden statuette of Pasht the Cat Goddess, which was stolen while she was on duty in the temple. She was cursed to not return until she found it, she had the ability to turn herself into a cat, and was also able to travel through time and space in order to find it.
In present time, Carol and Peggy Baker who were on a cycling holiday were helping Nofret and the girls believed the statuette was with any of 8 people on a list given to them by Westcester museum.
Belinda Boyd’s father is the curator of a small museum and is given some hats for his collection of period costumes. Whenever Belinda puts one on her head she is transported back in time, getting into trouble each time she does so. Removing the hat gets her back to the present.
Appeared
At Stonehenge, 2,000 BC, Mora is chosen as high priestess and set to wear the Necklace of the Sun. However, the daughter of the last high priestess gets jealous and summons OTYS, mistress of murder (who appears as a black cat) to kill Mora before she puts on the Necklace of the Sun. To save her, the gods help Mora escape to 1982, where she keeps trying to find the necklace and escape from OTYS. After eventually finding the necklace she dons it and heads back to her own time to become high priestess. OTYS’s punishment is is to be meek and gentle.
Terry Marsden accidentally launches herself into the future in a strange craft and finds herself a thousand years from now in Tibet, now called Nirvan, where she is befriended by Tishani, the leader’s daughter. Terry learns that, back in her own time, a terrible flood is going to devastate the east coast of Britain. She must return to warn of the disaster, but the time ship is taken by Lishan, an unscrupulous historian, who forces the girls to travel through time with him.
While staying at her Great Aunt Maud’s house, Greendykes Sally Martin discovered an attic room that allowed her to travel back in time. There she met a young woman Sophie, who asked for Sally’s help.
A mysterious old lady had fixed Toyah’s bag with a magic patch that took her to historical places when she touched it.She meets people like Anne Bonny the pirate and Queen Elizabeth I. Text story, takes reader suggestions where her adventure should be. Sarah Gordon wins suzy tshirt for suggesting theme 63 she meets queen Elizabeth I
Clarissa is a well-off, high society girl who is visiting London for the first time. She gets into trouble when she tries to help out a waif, by the name of Beth. Running away from a constable they escape into a tunnel only to find themselves in the underground railway in modern London. They are both out of their depths, but they each add something to the alliance, Clarissa being educated reads newspaper to find out when they are, she also tries to get money from the bank as she assumes her ancestral family will still be wealthy, though she is not successful. Beth is more street smart than Clarissa and adds her usefulness that way, acting as a protector, she also recognizes the buildings as London but she is more wary of going to authorities for help and she doesn’t think they’d be believed. When they tell a sympathetic taxi-driver of their plight, she of course doesn’t believe them, but later she does help them get jobs in a cafe. Still adjusting to this time, after being paid £5 they think they’ve enough to live on for weeks. They soon find out while trying to get to Clarissa’s home in the country their “gold” coins don’t take them too far!
They do manage to get a drive part of the ways, to Kale, and having left their cafe job, they must find a new way to make money. In a shop, Clarissa sees a book with a painting of her mother painted by her father. Later Beth gives away the cough medicine that Clarissa had bought for her mother, to a busker. Clarissa is angry about this until Beth points out that the picture they saw was from after they left, so her mother must have got better. Beth’s good deed helps them out when they try to earn money singing on the street, as the busker accompanies them on guitar. They get more money when they end up being extras in a TV show from their time period. The director is impressed with their Victorian accents and mannerisms. Beth decides she will take the director’s advice to become an actress as she decides she has nothing to go back for, instead she can have a life in this time. So the girls split up, they soon miss each other and Beth realises not being able to read or change her accent hampers her chances to be an actress.
Beth finds Clarissa again, who is glad, as she was missing her, particularly as Beth wasn’t around to help with some rough youths that stole her money. The gang return, but Beth and Clarissa escape by mixing in with a catering crew that are wearing similar uniforms. They end up at an auction, where Clarissa sees what she thinks is a family heirloom, a candlestick, being sold. They follow the man who bought it and grab it back. It’s only on closer inspection that she realises her mistake, but the candlestick is then stolen from them before they can return it. By coincidence while looking for Sidworth Manor, they meet a potential ally in Caroline but she is friend’s with the candlestick buyer, so when he shows up they run away again.
They do find a hopeful lead, when a professor giving a talk about time-travel, suggests the best hope for time travellers to return to their time would be by going somewhere familiar. They run into Caroline again and when they find the stolen candlestick, they also find a picture of Beth painted by Clarissa’s father. They conclude this is proof that they must find their way back. It seems the reason they haven’t been able to find Sidworth Manor was because it was turned into an art school. While Caroline doesn’t believe their story she does drive them to the school.
When they arrive at the Manor, they end up in the cellars where Clarissa finds one of her old dolls. They see light ahead and follow it until they find themselves back in their own time. They are in what will become the new London Underground railway and are chided by a workman for going into the tunnels. When they emerge, they get some very strange looks as they are still in their modern short outfits. Clarissa’s father has been looking for them and when he finds them he covers them in his cape to protect their modesty. It seems while they were having their adventures, only a few hours had passed in their own time. When things have settled, Beth is given a home by Clarissa’s family and the father is talking about about turning Sidworth Manor into an Art School. His wife doesn’t think he will go through with it but Clarissa tells her mother that she would not be surprised if he did.
I like this time travel, fish out of water, mismatched buddies story. Time travel stories are fun, often they involve a girl getting sent back in time, but here it is two Victorian girls are sent to the modern times. Because it’s not just just two misplaced time travellers but also mismatched friends, this adds another interesting element. The characters are very likeable as they are resourceful and in finding themselves in this strange setting with only each other to rely on, a friendship and understanding of each other soon develop. Initially they both make remarks on each other because of their respective backgrounds, like Clarissa remarking on Beth not being able to read or Beth bringing Clarissa down a peg when her family’s high standing doesn’t help them at the bank. Soon they do begin to appreciate each other and miss each other when they part ways. It’s also nice that both of them contribute something in handling their situation. Clarissa has good education but isn’t afraid to work hard to earn their money and Beth proves though she hasn’t schooling she is quite good at reasoning things out, such as when she figures Clarissa’s mother recovered from her illness.
Although they are eager to get back to their own time and sometimes they become distressed at the thought of being stuck (Clarissa in particular), it is mostly quite lighthearted. There is some nice snappy dialogue and the adjustments to modern world can lead to funny situations. The art by “Merry” is good, and does well in capturing Clarissa’s upper class and Beth’s lower class impressions, making them distinct, even when the majority of the story they are dressed the same. The girls do adapt surprisingly quick to their situation, when they get the job at the cafe, they just accept their uniforms (despite being considered immodest in their time) and even Clarissa who would not be used to such work, mucks in straight away to earn her keep. While they accept somethings readily, they are surprised by other things, such as the cost of living. When they buy some crisps, they believe the vendor is cheating them by not giving them change. Clarissa begins to believe everyone is a rogue in the city, when they buy other things, so it takes a little while to realise, everything is just more expensive. Things move along quite quickly as the girls try to make their way to Sidworth Manor, they don’t stay in one place too long, then in the penultimate episode seeing the picture of Beth, we know they do make it home, but we don’t know how they do it. It is nice to see that Beth and Clarissa continue their friendship, even when they return home and Beth who thought she didn’t have much to return to, is offered a home.
Published: Judy Picture Library #240 [1983]
Reprinted: Bunty Picture Library #400 [1993]
Artist: David Matysiak
Writer: Unknown
Plot
Rosie Cooper is not a popular girl at Meadowdale Hall School. She is an extremely gifted girl who excels at everything, but she is spoiled and selfish and never helps anyone or shares her skills. Even the staff find her unbearable, but don’t speak out because her father is the chairman of the board of governors and her family have old ties with the school. For this reason the staff give her favourable treatment and bend a lot of rules for her.
Then prefect Kay Easton decides enough is enough. She orders Rosie to clean out a lumber room and won’t have any of Rosie’s threats of what she could do because her father’s position. Rosie realises she has met her match in Kay and grudgingly starts cleaning.
While cleaning the room, Rosie stumbles across a picture of what looks like the school in its early days, but under a different name: Thorndale Hall. Rosie gets a strange feeling the picture means something to her, and it’s creepy.
It’s creepy all right: next moment the picture vanishes, and everything starts spinning and dissolving. When it stops, Rosie finds the school has changed and so have her clothes: “what coarse old rubbish”. A fearsome-looking Victorian woman named Mrs Grimm (the Thorndale headmistress) appears and demands to know why Rosie hasn’t scrubbed the floor. Rosie’s arrogance resurfaces, making her usual threats about her father being the chairman of the governors. Thinking Rosie has lost her mind or something, Grimm and her assistant, Trimlett, inform her that she is an orphan who is boarding at Thorndale Hall, all paid by her “scapegrace [wayward] guardian”. Grimm and Trimlett make it very clear that they are capable of handling Rosie with extreme cruelty; Trimlett has already broken one girl’s arm. Later we learn Trimlett’s punishments killed another girl. Cowed and bewildered, Rosie is forced to scrub the floor, realising she has somehow gone back in time to Thorndale Hall, which is clearly run on the lines of Wackford Squeers.
In the dining hall Rosie is introduced to another cruel assistant, Mr Bludge, who wants her to help with very substandard and meagre portions for the pupils. It is here that Rosie begins to find that she is no longer quite so good at everything. She clumsily breaks the jar of dripping and in punishment is given just dry bread. One girl, Lucy Dawlish, takes pity on her, and Rosie makes a friend for the first time in this story.
That night Rosie tries to run away, but finds there is a guard dog, which raises the alarm. Bludge almost catches her, but Lucy creates a diversion by screaming and feigning night horrors. This enables Rosie to slip back without being caught, but the cruel staff say Lucy’s nightmares are due to too much food and don’t let her have any breakfast. (Any excuse to make them go short, obviously.) Rosie tries to slip Lucy her own food, but Trimlett catches her.
Pupils are forced to do all the work around the school. There are lessons, but Rosie is in for a shocking surprise in class – she is no longer able to read! Grimm calls her a “useless slut”, but instead of teaching Rosie to read she puts Rosie back to more menial work, saying that’s all she’s good for. (Another excuse for more slave labour, obviously.)
Rosie still wants to escape, and realises the first step is to make friends with the guard dog. So she takes scraps from the larder to feed to the dog. Lucy envies the dog for getting more food than they do, but it does the trick: in a matter of days the dog no longer barks at Rosie.
However, when Rosie gets too close to a room with blacked-out windows while window cleaning, Bludge acts like this has spooked him and he rants at her. This arouses Rosie’s suspicions. She gets even more suspicious when she finds the door to the grimy window room is always locked. Grimm and Trimlett also go into a rant when they catch Rosie at the door, which makes her even more suspicious. The cruel staff are getting suspicious of Rosie and are watching her closely.
Rosie and Lucy now try their escape. As they do so, they are surprised to see a horse trap arrive with two men, who carry a box into the school. The dog does not bark at them, so it must know them. The girls take advantage of the men leaving the gate unlocked to make their escape.
They find a Peeler, but he does not believe their story and brings them back to Thorndale Hall. He tells the staff that he will call back to check in a week or so, which makes the staff too scared to punish the girls. Instead they tread a cautious line of better treatment for the girls (such as more food for the pupils) until they are sure things are safe again. But Rosie senses they are in danger because the staff suspect they saw the men and there are signs the staff are wary, such as the dog being moved closer to the grimy windowed room. Rosie keeps watch for the men and sees them creeping around the room with the box, and then somehow reappear without it. She realises there must be a secret entrance that is concealed by greenery.
Rosie does not realise the men saw her spying. When the staff hear about it, they decide to advance their plans to do away with Rosie and Lucy. Rosie is listening at the door (and narrowly escapes being caught doing so) and realises they must escape. But in view of what happened before, they must go with some form of evidence so the Peelers will listen this time.
So Rosie heads to the secret room for some. When she pulls back the greenery she finds a small hidden door and a silver medallion. Hearing footsteps, Rosie hides with the medallion in time – but not in time to put the greenery back. Bludge sees it has been moved and is now alerted, which means Rosie and Lucy have to make an instant escape. They do so, but Grimm sends Bludge and Trimlett out to find and silence them, or it will be Newgate Prison for all of them.
Trimlett and Bludge do catch up with the girls, but the Peelers catch them red-handed and arrest them. The Peelers explain they half-believed the girls because it tied in with other things they had observed, such as the two men, but they had to wait until they had checked things out.
At the school, the Peelers force Grimm to open the door to the secret room, which reveals a counterfeiting operation that forges coins with stolen silver. Grimm feigns innocence, but she goes wild when Rosie furiously counters with the truth. Grimm locks the Peelers in the room and then goes after Rosie with a poker. She is almost upon Rosie, but then everything starts spinning and dissolving again…
Rosie now finds herself back in her own time, and in her own clothes. Kay gives Rosie full marks for her excellent cleanup of the lumber room (how did it get cleaned up?). Rosie wonders if it was a dream, but when she checks the school records it corroborates everything she experienced at Thorndale Hall. The school was exposed, Grimm was imprisoned for theft and forgery, and her school closed down. Thorndale was exposed by…Rosie Cooper.
Rosie is at a loss to explain it. Was it a dream or what? But everyone is surprised and delighted at how Rosie has suddenly become a kind, friendly and helpful girl at the school. Rosie is now making friends and becoming popular.
Thoughts
This story could still stand on its own if it was just a straight out period piece of Rosie being a 19th century girl being put through the experiences of Thorndale Hall, bringing it down, and going on to become one of the founders of its more savoury successor, Meadowdale. After all, there must be some connection between Rosie Cooper exposing Thorndale Hall and the Coopers having long-standing connections with Meadowdale. However, that aspect is never explained. Instead we’ve got the added dimensions of a spoiled 20th century girl who needs a lesson and gets it at 19th century Thorndale, and a time travel element that nobody can understand or explain. This makes the story even more exciting, intriguing and mysterious than if it was just a group slave story set in a cruel and secretly criminal 19th century school.
We have to wonder if the time travel creates some sort of paradox. Is 20th century Rosie the same Rosie who exposed Thorndale Hall in the past and (presumably) established her own ancestral connections to Meadowdale? Or is it some weird combination between 20th century Rosie and 19th century Rosie (as implied by retaining her 20th century memories yet becoming unable to read)? Or was 20th century Rosie somehow reliving the experiences of 19th century Rosie while still retaining a portion of her own consciousness? Or was it some supernatural power reaching out to punish Rosie for her arrogance? It is stretching credibility to say the whole thing was in Rosie’s imagination.
The villains are predictably cruel Victorian people who run their school in a Squeersian style manner. But it’s not just to take advantage of girls for profit. The villains also using the school as a front for a secret counterfeiting ring. It would be interesting to know if they set up the school that way in the first place and they were criminals to begin with. We get a hint that this may be so when Grimm’s lessons suggest she does not care all that much about educating the girls. One-eyed Bludge does not give the impression he is the teaching sort either.
Matysiak’s artwork makes the villains really terrifying and the stuff of nightmares. For example, the close-up of the two mystery men (above) still keeps their faces indistinct. Their faces are rendered in an impressionist manner that makes them even more frightening than if their faces were shown clearly. In another panel (below), Grimm is made even more alarming by a stripe of dark highlighting that goes right down from her forehead to her collarbone.
The artwork is a perfect fit for rendering this intriguing and powerful story. Matysiak’s artwork is brilliantly atmospheric in conveying the grimness of the school and its Victorian setting, the evil of the school staff, the covert operations at the school that provide the mystery that must be unravelled, and the supernatural time travel elements of the story. It’s done through ingenious applications of inking rather than linework or hatching. It produces real beauties, such as in the two panels mentioned above.