In this lively and controversial book, first published in 1992, Rosemary Auchmuty takes a radical new look at this guilty delight, asking just why so many readers are addicted to the genre — and discovers a powerful world of independent young women living together without the dominating influence of men.

Taking a fascinating, indepth look at the Abbey books by Elsie Jeanette Oxenham, the Chalet School series by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Dorita Fairlie Bruce’s Nancy, Springdale and Dimsie stories, and Enid Blyton’s boarding school books, A World of Girls proves conclusively that they provided active role models and positive images for a massive readership of girls and women.

Rosemary Auchmuty teaches law at the University of Westminster, and is a respected scholar, critic and writer who has published extensively. She was one of the editors of The Encyclopaedia of School Stories (Ashgate, 2000) and is the author of A World of Women: Growing Up in the Girls' School Story (The Women's Press, 1999).