MABEL ESTHER ALLAN
aka 'Jean Estoril', 'Priscilla Hagon' and 'Anne Pilgrim'
Thanks to Jo Robins for this page. Page updated 17th August, 2014.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Sources: The Encyclopaedia of Girls School Stories by Sims & Clare, and
Folly No. 24: Article by Sue Sims
bc Born 11 February 1915 – Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula
Died 14 May 1998
MEA had poor eyesight due to congenital retinal problems and due to this was considered stupid at the private schools where she was educated. She was partly of Scottish decent and took pride in that. MEA loved the school stories of EJO, DFB, Dorothea Moore and Katherine Oldmeadow, but did not like EBD. She longed to attend boarding school, but as an adult realised that she would not have liked the lack of privacy. At eight years old she wrote a story called ‘The Bravest Girl in the School’ which she said was a crib from other school stories. MEA enjoyed learning ballet, but her eyesight prevented her from learning this as well as she would have liked and common sense prevailed. She wrote the Drina and Ballet Family books using her experiences of the Ballet world.

Influenced by EJO, MEA did a lot of folk dancing for a time and taught some folk-dancing classes.

During WW2, she served in the land army for a while, taught in a preparatory school and ran a day nursery.

MEA travelled widely and her books are set in many places in the British Isles, Europe and New York. Her first Novel, The Glean Castle Mystery, was accepted near the end of the war but was not in print until 1948. Before this she had many short stories accepted and had sent many manuscripts to publishers from the age of 16. In 1945 MEA’s eyesight improved (largely unexplained) and this was a wonderful improvement for her, although she never had 100% eyesight. At this time she was living in Heswell, The Wirral and loved her home and garden and collection of books!

Towards the end of her life, MEA became incapacitated by blindness, arthritis and trigeminal neuralgia, none of which were life-threatening. However, she died only a few weeks after going into a nursing home.

From DJ of Behind the Blue Gates
Mabel Esther Allan decided to be a writer at the age of eight. Before she left school she had written two full-length books though these were never published. For many years now she has been one of Britain’s most prolific and successful novelists for the young. She loves travel and Paris is just one of the great cities of the world which she has enjoyed exploring.

From DJ of Bridge of Friendship 1975
Mabel Esther Allan lives in Cheshire, but during the past fifteen years she has spent much time in New York City. She knows Manhattan intimately and loves it. Bridge of Friendship is the ninth book she has set in Manhattan, but she has written about many other places, including a large number of stories set in Scotland. Her previous book for Dent An Island in a Green Sea describes life in the Outer Hebrides during the 1920s. This was an Honor Book in the Boston Globe-Horn Book awards in 1973.

From DJ of Time to go Back 1972
I started writing when I was eight, and I sold my first short story at nineteen. But it was many years – and a long struggle – after that before I succeeded in selling a book. I’ve made up for it since, though, for I have now had one hundred and twelve published.

Time to Go Back is not really in the least like any of the others. I wanted to do something quite different, so I have gone back to the bombing of Merseyside. The story is not autobiographical, though there are strong elements of truth. I really did live in Wallasey at that time, at 4 The Willow (a house mentioned in the book), and later left the ruined street to live in Plymyard Avenue, Bromborough … just like the Ellesmeres. And, like Lark, I wrote in the air raid shelter when the bombs were falling, and her poems are my poems; the ones I wrote then.

For part of the Second World War I was in the Women’s Land Army, and later I was Warden of a Nursery attached to a Liverpool slum school. When the war was over I was able to travel to foreign countries, as well as write, and travelling has remained one of my greatest pleasures.

 bc

Bibliography in chronological order.
Pseudonyms in Red

1938 Over the Sea to School BLACKIE
1948 Adventurous Summer, The MUSEUM PRESS
1948 Glen Castle Mystery WARNE
1948 Wyndhams Went to Wales, The SYLVAN PRESS
1949 Cilla of Chiltern’s Edge MUSEUM PRESS
1949 Holiday at Arnriggs WARNE
1949 Mullion HUTCHINSON
1949 Trouble at Melville Manor MUSEUM PRESS
1950 Chiltern Adventure BLACKIE
1950 Every Day Island MUSEUM PRESS
1950 Jimmy John’s Journey DEAN & SON LTD
1950 School Under Snowdon HUTCHINSON
1951 Exciting River, The NELSON
1952 Clues to Connemara BLACKIE
1952 MacIains of Glen Gilleon, The HUTCHINSON
1952 Return to Derrykereen WARD LOCK
1952 School in Danger, A BLACKIE
1952 School on Cloud Ridge, The HUTCHINSON
1952 School on North Barrule, The MUSEUM PRESS
1953 Lucia Comes to School HUTCHINSON
1953 Room for the Cuckoo DENT
1953 Secret Valley, The EJ ARNOLD & SON
1953 Strangers at Brogwerne MUSEUM PRESS
1953 Three go to Switzerland BLACKIE
1954 Adventure Royal BLACKIE
1954 Here We Go Round HEINEMANN
1954 Margaret Finds a Future HUTCHINSON
1954 Meric’s Secret Cottage BLACKIE
1954 New Schools for Old HUTCHINSON
1954 Summer at Town’s End, The HARRAP
1955 Adventures in Switzerland PICKERING & INGLIS
1955 Changes for the Challoners WARD LOCK & CO
1955 Glenvara HUTCHINSON
1955 Judith Teaches (DJ) BODLEY HEAD
1955 Mystery of Deddydane SCHOFIELD & SIMS
1955 Swiss School HUTCHINSON
1956 Adventure in Mayo WARD LOCK
1956 Amber House, The HUTCHINSON
1956 Balconies and Blue Nets HARRAP
1956 Flora at Kilroinn BLACKIE
1956 Lost Lorrenden BLACKIE
1956 Strangers in Skye HEINEMANN
1956 Two in the Western Isles HUTCHINSON
1956 Vine Clad Hill, The BODLEY HEAD
1957 Ann’s Alpine Adventure HUTCHINSON
1957 At School in Skye BLACKIE
1957 Ballet for Drina – Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
1957 Black Forest Summer BODLEY HEAD
1957 Murder at the Flood STANLEY PAUL
1957 Sara Goes to Germany HUTCHINSON
1957 Seven in Switzerland BLACKIE
1958 Blue Dragon Days HEINEMANN
1958 Conch Shell, The BLACKIE
1958 Drina's Dancing Year - Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
1958 House by the Marsh, The DENT
1958 Rachel Tandy HUTCHINSON
1959 Amanda Goes to Italy HUTCHINSON
1959 Catrin in Wales BODLEY HEAD
1959 Drina Dances in Exile - Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
1959 Drina Dances in Italy - Jean Estoril. HODDER & STOUGHTON
1959 Play to the Festival, A HEINEMANN
1960 Drina Dances Again – Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
1960 Shadow over the Alps HUTCHINSON
1960 Summer in Brittany, A DENT
1960 Tansy of Tring Street HEINEMANN
1961 Bluegate Girl HUTCHINSON
1961 Drina Dances in New York – Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
1961 Holiday of Endurance DENT
1961 Pendron Under Water HARRAP
1962 Drina Dances in Paris – Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
1962 Home to the Island DENT
1962 Schooldays in Skye (Omnibus) BLACKIE
1962 Signpost to Switzerland HEINEMANN
1963 Ballet Family, The METHUEN
1963 Drina Dances in Switzerland - Jean. Estoril. HODDER & STOUGHTON
1963 Kate Comes to England HEINEMANN
1963 Sign of the Unicorn, The DENT
1964 Ballet Family Again, The METHUEN
1964 Clare goes to Holland - Anne Pilgrim Abelard-S US 1962 UK
1964 Drina Goes on Tour- Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
1964 Fiona on the Fourteenth Floor DENT
1964 First time I saw Paris - Anne Pilgrim Abelard Schumann US 1961, UK
1964 It Happened in Arles HEINEMANN
1964 Strangers in New York - Anne Pilgrim Abelard-S (US and UK)
1964 Summer in Provence - Anne Pilgrim Abelard-S (US and UK)
1965 Summer at Sea, A DENT
1966 Cruising to danger - Priscilla Hagon World pub,
1966 In Pursuit of Clarinda DENT
1966 Ski-ing to Danger HEINEMANN
1966 Way Over the Windle, The METHUEN
1967 Dancing to danger - Priscilla Hagon World Pub
1967 It Started in Madeira HEINEMANN
1967 Missing in Manhattan DENT
1967 Selina’s New Family ABELARD SCHUMAN
1967 Selina's new family - Anne Pilgrim Abelard-S (US only)
1968 Castle of fear - Priscilla Hagon Scholastic,
1968 Wood Street Secret, The METHUEN
1969 Climbing to Danger HEINEMANN
1969 Kraymer Mystery, The THE CRITERION
1969 Mystery at the Villa Bianca - Priscilla Hagon World Pub
1970 Christmas at Spindle Bottom DENT
1970 Dangerous Inheritance HEINEMANN
1970 Mystery of the secret square - Priscilla Hagon World Pub
1970 Wood Street Group, The METHUEN
1971 May Day Mystery, The SEVERN HOUSE
1971 Secret Dancer, The DENT
1971 Wood Street Rivals, The METHUEN
1972 An Island in a Green Sea ATHENEUM
1972 Behind the Blue Gates HEINEMANN
1972 Time to go Back ABELARD - SCHUMANN
1973 Formidable Enemy, A HEINEMANN
1973 Wood Street Helpers, The METHUEN
1974 Chill in the Lane, A NELSON
1974 Crows Nest ABELARD SCHUMAN
1974 Night Wind, The SEVERN HOUSE
1974 Secret Players, The HEINEMANN
1974 Ship of Danger METHUEN
1975 Away From Wood Street HEINEMANN
1975 Bells of Rome, The DENT
1975 Bridge of Friendship BROCKHAMPTON PRESS
1975 Flash Children in Winter, The ATHENEUM
1975 Romansgrove HEINEMANN
1976 Rising Tide, The ABELARD-SCHUMAN
1976 Trouble in the Glen ABELARD
1977 My Family’s Not Forever ABELARD
1977 View Beyond My Father, The ABELARD
1978 Pine Street Pageant, The WHITE LION
1979 New York for Nicola ABELARD
1979 Tomorrow is a Lovely Day METHUEN
1979 Wood Street and Mary Ellen ABELARD
1980 Mills Down Below, The ABELARD
1980 Pine Street Goes Camping HESWELL
1981 Haunted Valley & Other Poems, The DODD, MEAD
1981 Horns of Danger ABELARD
1981 Pine Street Problem, The ABELARD
1981 Strange Enchantment, A METHUEN
1981 Strangers in Wood Street ABELARD
1982 Goodbye to Pine Street METHUEN
1982 Growing up in Wood Street ABELARD
1982 To be an Author: a short Autobiography HESWELL
1983 Alone at Pine Street METHUEN
1983 Crumble Lane Adventure, The ABELARD
1984 Friends at Pine Street ABELARD
1984 Secret in Spindle Bottom, A METHUEN
1984 Trouble in Crumble Lane SEVERN HOUSE
1985 Dream of Hunger Moss, A HODDER & STOUGHTON
1985 Flash Children, The BLACKIE
1985 More About Being an Author HESWELL
1985 Pride of Pine Street, The METHUEN
1986 Crumble Lane Captives, The BLACKIE
1986 Mystery in Spindle Bottom, A SEVERN HOUSE
1986 Road to Huntingford, The SEVERN HOUSE
1987 Crumble Lane Mystery, The METHUEN
1987 Up the Victorian Staircase MACDONALD
1988 Background Came First, The: My Books and Places Parts 1 & 2 HESWELL
1988 First Term at Ash Grove MACDONALD
1989 Road to the Isles and Other Places, The HESWELL
1989 We danced in Bloomsbury Square – Jean Estoril (Ballet Twins, The) MACDONALD
1990 Drina Dances in Madeira - Jean Estoril SIMON & SCHUSTER
1990 Chiltern School SIMON & SCHUSTER
1990 Mystery of Serafina SIMON & SCHUSTER
1991 Drina Ballerina - Jean Estoril SIMON & SCHUSTER
1991 Queen Rita at the High School and Other School Stories PRIVATELY PUBLISHED
1992 Two Headgirls and Other Stories, The CHESTER
1993 Ragged Robin Began It CHESTER
1993 WAY TO GLEN BRADEN CHESTER
1994 Cat off a Barrow CHESTER

Bibliography in alphabetical order
Pseudonyms in Red

Adventure in Mayo Adventure Royal BLACKIE
Adventures in Switzerland PICKERING & INGLIS
Adventurous Summer, The MUSEUM PRESS
Alone at Pine Street METHUEN
Amanda Goes to Italy HUTCHINSON
Amber House, The HUTCHINSON
An Island in a Green Sea ATHENEUM
Ann’s Alpine Adventure HUTCHINSON
At School in Skye BLACKIE
Away From Wood Street HEINEMANN
Background Came First, The: My Books and Places Parts 1 & 2 HESWELL
Balconies and Blue Nets HARRAP
Ballet Family Again, The METHUEN
Ballet Family, The METHUEN
Ballet for Drina – Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
Behind the Blue Gates HEINEMANN
Bells of Rome, The DENT
Black Forest Summer BODLEY HEAD
Blue Dragon Days HEINEMANN
Bluegate Girl HUTCHINSON
Bridge of Friendship BROCKHAMPTON PRESS
Castle of fear - Priscilla Hagon Scholastic,
Cat off a Barrow CHESTER
Catrin in Wales BODLEY HEAD
Changes for the Challoners WARD LOCK & CO
Chill in the Lane, A NELSON
Chiltern Adventure BLACKIE
Chiltern School SIMON & SCHUSTER
Christmas at Spindle Bottom DENT
Cilla of Chiltern’s Edge MUSEUM PRESS
Clare goes to Holland - Anne Pilgrim Abelard-S US 1962 UK
Climbing to Danger HEINEMANN
Clues to Connemara BLACKIE
Conch Shell, The BLACKIE
Crows Nest ABELARD SCHUMAN
Cruising to danger - Priscilla Hagon World pub,
Crumble Lane Adventure, The ABELARD
Crumble Lane Captives, The BLACKIE
Crumble Lane Mystery, The METHUEN
Dancing to danger - Priscilla Hagon World Pub
Dangerous Inheritance HEINEMANN
Dream of Hunger Moss, A HODDER & STOUGHTON
Drina Ballerina - Jean Estoril SIMON & SCHUSTER
Drina Dances Again – Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
Drina Dances in Exile - Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
Drina Dances in Italy - Jean Estoril. HODDER & STOUGHTON
Drina Dances in Madeira - Jean Estoril SIMON & SCHUSTER
Drina Dances in New York – Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
Drina Dances in Paris – Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
Drina Dances in Switzerland - Jean. Estoril. HODDER & STOUGHTON
Drina Goes on Tour- Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
Drina's Dancing Year - Jean Estoril HODDER & STOUGHTON
Every Day Island MUSEUM PRESS
Exciting River, The NELSON
Fiona on the Fourteenth Floor DENT
First Term at Ash Grove MACDONALD
First time I saw Paris - Anne Pilgrim Abelard Schumann US 1961, UK
Flash Children in Winter, The ATHENEUM
Flash Children, The BLACKIE
Flora at Kilroinn BLACKIE
Formidable Enemy, A HEINEMANN
Friends at Pine Street ABELARD
Glen Castle Mystery WARNE
Glenvara HUTCHINSON
Goodbye to Pine Street METHUEN
Growing up in Wood Street ABELARD
Haunted Valley & Other Poems, The DODD, MEAD
Here We Go Round HEINEMANN
Holiday at Arnriggs WARNE
Holiday of Endurance DENT
Home to the Island DENT
Horns of Danger ABELARD
House by the Marsh, The DENT
In Pursuit of Clarinda DENT
It Happened in Arles HEINEMANN
It Started in Madeira HEINEMANN
Jimmy John’s Journey DEAN & SON LTD
Judith Teaches (DJ) BODLEY HEAD
Kate Comes to England HEINEMANN
Kraymer Mystery, The THE CRITERION
Lost Lorrenden BLACKIE
Lucia Comes to School HUTCHINSON
MacIains of Glen Gilleon, The HUTCHINSON
Margaret Finds a Future HUTCHINSON
May Day Mystery, The SEVERN HOUSE
Meric’s Secret Cottage BLACKIE
Mills Down Below, The ABELARD
Missing in Manhattan DENT
More About Being an Author HESWELL
Mullion HUTCHINSON
Murder at the Flood STANLEY PAUL
My Family’s Not Forever ABELARD
Mystery at the Villa Bianca - Priscilla Hagon World Pub
Mystery in Spindle Bottom, A SEVERN HOUSE
Mystery of Deddydane SCHOFIELD & SIMS
Mystery of Serafina SIMON & SCHUSTER
Mystery of the secret square - Priscilla Hagon World Pub
New Schools for Old HUTCHINSON
New York for Nicola ABELARD
Night Wind, The SEVERN HOUSE
Over the Sea to School BLACKIE
Pendron Under Water HARRAP
Pine Street Goes Camping HESWELL
Pine Street Pageant, The WHITE LION
Pine Street Problem, The ABELARD
Play to the Festival, A HEINEMANN
Pride of Pine Street, The METHUEN
Queen Rita at the High School and Other School Stories PRIVATELY PUBLISHED
Rachel Tandy HUTCHINSON
Ragged Robin Began It CHESTER
Return to Derrykereen WARD LOCK
Rising Tide, The ABELARD-SCHUMAN
Road to Huntingford, The SEVERN HOUSE
Road to the Isles and Other Places, The HESWELL
Romansgrove HEINEMANN
Room for the Cuckoo DENT
Sara Goes to Germany HUTCHINSON
School in Danger, A BLACKIE
School on Cloud Ridge, The HUTCHINSON
School on North Barrule, The MUSEUM PRESS
School Under Snowdon HUTCHINSON
Schooldays in Skye (Omnibus) BLACKIE
Secret Dancer, The DENT
Secret in Spindle Bottom, A METHUEN
Secret Players, The HEINEMANN
Secret Valley, The EJ ARNOLD & SON
Selina’s New Family ABELARD SCHUMAN
Selina's new family - Anne Pilgrim Abelard-S (US only)
Seven in Switzerland BLACKIE
Shadow over the Alps HUTCHINSON
Ship of Danger METHUEN
Sign of the Unicorn, The DENT
Signpost to Switzerland HEINEMANN
Ski-ing to Danger HEINEMANN
Strange Enchantment, A METHUEN
Strangers at Brogwerne MUSEUM PRESS
Strangers in New York - Anne Pilgrim Abelard-S (US and UK)
Strangers in Skye HEINEMANN
Strangers in Wood Street ABELARD
Summer at Sea, A DENT
Summer at Town’s End, The HARRAP
Summer in Brittany, A DENT
Summer in Provence - Anne Pilgrim Abelard-S (US and UK)
Swiss School HUTCHINSON
Tansy of Tring Street HEINEMANN
Three go to Switzerland BLACKIE
Time to go Back ABELARD - SCHUMANN
To be an Author: a short Autobiography HESWELL
Tomorrow is a Lovely Day METHUEN
Trouble at Melville Manor MUSEUM PRESS
Trouble in Crumble Lane SEVERN HOUSE
Trouble in the Glen ABELARD
Two Headgirls and Other Stories, The CHESTER
Two in the Western Isles HUTCHINSON
Up the Victorian Staircase MACDONALD
View Beyond My Father, The ABELARD
Vine Clad Hill, The BODLEY HEAD
Way Over the Windle, The METHUEN
WAY TO GLEN BRADEN CHESTER
We danced in Bloomsbury Square – Jean Estoril (Ballet Twins, The) MACDONALD
Wood Street and Mary Ellen ABELARD
Wood Street Group, The METHUEN
Wood Street Helpers, The METHUEN
Wood Street Rivals, The METHUEN
Wood Street Secret, The METHUEN
Wyndhams Went to Wales, The SYLVAN PRESS

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