1) I collect all EBD and I do have some of the ones that GGB haven't published (and had have some of the others from before the GGB publications).
2) I think the quality is variable. Some are noticeably old-fashioned in style and some are just fairly ordinary books. a) The Little Missus, for example, is clearly aimed at a younger age group than most of EBD's books but is still astonishingly old-fashioned in style. It tends to be regarded as rather dull by many readers but is actually a perfectly good mid-Victorian book. Trouble is that it was published in the 1940s! b) Her "Christian" books whilst by no means among the worst of the genre are poor. This is a little surprising as EBD works Christian belief into the CS books very naturally. c) The Chudleigh Hold books are standard adventure stories. Top Secret reminds me very much of the overseas Biggles adventures of the same period. d) The Lost Staircase manages to be a good read whilst simultaneously being rather old-fashioned.
3) It should be noted that a number of EBD's other works are, in fact, written by Josephine M. Bettany. The Chudleigh Hold books are Joey's version of Gillian Culver's family's adventures (although it's hard to see why Joey represented the very nice, competent Gill as the weird Arminel), The Lost Staircase is based on Jessanne's story, and Elizabeth The Gallant is clearly JMB's "A Royalist Soldiermaid". Perhaps this is why the books differ in style to EBD's books.
4) For all their weaknesses, the other books do provided some elucidation of things mentioned in the CS books, not just in terms of back stories. For instance, one of the dogs books (I've only ever read these once so can't remember which) tells us that the "hot cakes" with which Joey often entertains her guests are definitely drop scones, and "Jean of Storms" confirms that Madge's endearment "Joey-Baba" is definitely a reference back to the Bettany's time in India.
5) Personally, my favourite of the other books is "A Thrilling Term at Janeways" which I met very young. It seems to me to have many of the tropes associated with EBD. I wasn't so keen on Caroline The Second which I only read as an adult in the GGBP edition, probably because I was very familiar with "Tenth at Trinders", a Dorothea Moore with a similar theme.
(Edited to correct misspelling)
Last edited by Victoria on 29 Sep 2019, 19:05, edited 1 time in total.
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