Victorian era children’s books. The ones shown here are all about “brave female characters” and “high-spirited girls.” It’s amusing to read this blurb I found about one of the authors, Angela Brazil, online. She was
one of the first British writers of “modern schoolgirls’ stories”, written from the characters’ point of view and intended primarily as entertainment rather than moral instruction. She published nearly 50 books of girls’ fiction, mostly boarding school stories. Widely popular and influential, they were seen as disruptive and a negative influence on moral standards by some figures in authority during the height of their popularity, and in some cases were banned, or indeed burned, by headmistresses in British girls’ schools.
You have to really wonder what the girls in stories titled The Worst Girl in the School, The Madcap of the School or A Willful Girl did that was so terribly bad? I bet it’s really tame for today’s times. I’m also really curious about The Girl Who Lost Things. Delightfully, I was able to find some of the titles on Project Gutenburg to download as e-books.
As for a puzzle experience, well, it was kinda fun however not one I’ll keep to repeat. This was a thrift-store find for me, amazingly in brand-new condition. Unfortunately one of those brands with the super shiny plastic coating on the pieces that bothers my skin. And the image repeats. Which I always find a bit irksome. I’d rather see fewer books in greater detail. Must say it was nicely done, though. Some books are repeated but next to different ones, so you’d think it’s just two copies scattered on a shelf (except that’s not how any reasonable reader or librarian would arrange a collection). But if you look close, you can see the same blocks of books next to the same ones repeated two, three or even four times in the image. I didn’t realize all this until putting edges together found I was assembling duplicates!
Also the details are so small I was peering at things a lot. And it was the kind of puzzle I assembled mostly by color and pattern, hardly at all by shape. Which actually made it go quickly, just not the type of puzzling I actually enjoy.
Final size 29 x 20″.
