A Proper Education for Girls

'Flashman for girls'. A rollicking story of twin sisters and their fight for freedom, set in 1857.

[An] assured, very funny debut; one of the best I've read this year

A generous, rollicking read... it harks back to the loving pastiche of Angela Carter and, more recently, the camp Victoriana of Susanna Clarke and Michel Faber

Beautifully written and an absolute joy to read... Elaine di Rollo's debut should be read and it should be rewarded too

Elaine di Rollo comes from Lancashire and now lives in Scotland. She has a PhD from Edinburgh University in the social history of medicine, and is currently a lecturer at Napier University. A Proper Education for Girls (first published as The Peachgrowers' Almanac), was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book prize, the Scottish Arts Council First Book Award and the Guildford Literary Festival First Book Award. Her second novel is Bleakly Hall.

Lilian and Alice are the bright young twin daughters of the eccentric Mr Talbot, who resides in a huge mansion stuffed full of fossils, inventions, suits of armour, botanical specimens and other specimens of his sprawling collection of curiosities. 
 
When Lilian rebels against Victorian standards of morality she is packed off to India as the bride of a dreary missionary, leaving Alice alone and in danger of falling victim to her father's bizarre and hair-raising schemes. 
 
This lively and entertaining novel follows the two girls on their very different paths to freedom and is set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Indian Mutiny. 
 
Shortlisted for the Saltire First Book prize, the Scottish Arts Council First Book Award and the Guildford Literary Festival First Book Award.

Elaine di Rollo

I can't remember the last time I read a novel that fizzed with so much energy, or swung so acrobatically between lightly carbonated comedy and pitch-black horror

In a series of funny, moving set pieces, di Rollo explores the aftermath of the Great War through her cast of bewildered veterans

Often very amusing and tartly observed... a bold comic creation

Monty and Ada last saw one another on the frontlines of the First World War, when Monty was a nurse and Ada an ambulance driver who drove like the devil. Now, the two friends have been reunited at crumbling Bleakly Hall, where Monty has been hired to look after the grumpy, gouty guests who have come to take the Hall's curative waters. 
 
But the end of the Great War has brought changes for everyone at Bleakly, and not all of them are good. Monty, mourning the death of her beloved Sophia, has a score to settle with the elusive Captain Foxley; Ada misses her wartime sense of purpose; the Blackwood brothers must reinvent Bleakly for a new era; while Foxley has his own ways of keeping his demons at bay.

Elaine di Rollo

Praise for Bleakly Hall

I can't remember the last time I read a novel that fizzed with so much energy, or swung so acrobatically between lightly carbonated comedy and pitch-black horror

In a series of funny, moving set pieces, di Rollo explores the aftermath of the Great War through her cast of bewildered veterans

Often very amusing and tartly observed... a bold comic creation

I can't remember the last time I read a novel that fizzed with so much energy, or swung so acrobatically between lightly carbonated comedy and pitch-black horror

In a series of funny, moving set pieces, di Rollo explores the aftermath of the Great War through her cast of bewildered veterans

Often very amusing and tartly observed... a bold comic creation

I can't remember the last time I read a novel that fizzed with so much energy, or swung so acrobatically between lightly carbonated comedy and pitch-black horror

In a series of funny, moving set pieces, di Rollo explores the aftermath of the Great War through her cast of bewildered veterans

Often very amusing and tartly observed... a bold comic creation

Books by Elaine di Rollo

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