The Pride of the School — Nicola Thorne

An early work of Nicola Thorne never published before. She is primarily known as a novelist and these eight tales, set in a convent school in the north of England shortly after the Second World War, are the only short stories she has ever written. They were eventually followed by a full length novel The Little Flowers with the same setting. The rarified atmosphere of the convent, with its social divisions among pupils and nuns, is very different from conditions and attitudes that would be acceptable today. Although the stories are self-contined there is a continuity in that all the nuns remain the same and the complex, authoritarian but somehow endearing character of Reverend Mother is a central figure binding everything together.These stories are part of history, of a religious and educational society and a way of life that no longer exists. It was indeed an age of innocence.

Nicola Thorne was born in South Africa and, after a spell in New Zealand with her mother who was born in Wellington, came to England as a child where her parents finally separated. She spent her youth in the North of England, where she was educated first at a convent school and then a co-educational school. After completing her education at the London School of Economics she then spent most of her adult life in London. She has made a long career as a writer and is the author of over fifty novels. For a number of years Nicola has been among the top most borrowed authors from public libraries in the UK (PLR statistics) and many of her books have been published in foreign languages apart from English. After fifteen years spent in Dorset, she now lives in Devon.