How often have we yearned for the long-lost love of a book long-gone; one that’s out of print and, globalised searches of the internet notwithstanding, cannot be found second-hand? It’s something that all avid readers can identify with. And it was precisely the desire to rediscover the books of their formative years, that gave rise to the inspired idea behind Girls Gone By Publishers, the Somerset-based business of Clarissa Cridland and Ann Mackie-Hunter. ‘We published our first book, Northern Lights by Lorna Hill, in 1999, before we formed Girls Gone By,’ Clarissa tells me. ‘It came about because we had been shown the manuscript by Lorna Hill’s daughter, Vicky Emley. We decided it should be made available to fans as it had never been published.’ It was the start of something extraordinary, a point reached after a rather global journey.
Ann was born in Glasgow, moving to Australia when she was 16, where she would escape the heat of the outback by devouring books in her local air-conditioned library. ‘I read everything they had,’ she says. ‘To my joy they had some Elinor Brent-Dyers I had never read before and that is where I met many of the authors we publish now. I spent most of my career as a teacher [of English literature] but took early retirement for health reasons and moved back to the UK in 1994.’ Clarissa is also from a literary background, having worked in publishing since 1976. In 1982 she moved to Somerset to work for Purnell – publishers of Noddy and Disney books, which, at the time, was owned by Robert Maxwell. At this time Clarissa still had some of her favourite childhood books in storage, and began to add to her collection, visiting such places as Hay on Wye. It was soon after this that she discovered the group ‘Friends of the Chalet School’, a club founded by Ann for those who love the Chalet School series of books by Elinor Brent-Dyer. This encounter was to shape the lives of both women.
Clarissa describes what happened after the successful publication of Northern Lights. ‘We then published, under the Friends of the Chalet School banner, New Beginnings of the Chalet School by Heather Paisley.’ This is a continuation of the Brent-Dyer stories, written by a different author, to keep the books alive.
‘This was followed by the first three La Rochelle titles,‘ Clarissa continues. ‘It became clear that we could earn an income if we started seriously publishing and so we set up Girls Gone By Publishers in 2001. All the titles we had published prior to this have since been republished by Girls Gone By – sometimes more than once.’ Working from their base in Coleford (Ann moved to Somerset in 1994) they use complete, unabridged texts, usually from first editions, along with the original illustrations, making hard-to-come-by twentieth century fiction available to the twenty-first century market. Each book also relates the full publishing history of the title, giving a fascinating insight into the background of the book. An introduction by an ‘expert’ in the genre is also included, and in the case of the Chalet School books there’s a short story by one of the Girls Gone By ‘fill-in’ authors. Thus, each book comes alive for modern-day readers.
I wonder about the challenges of copyright law and ask Clarissa how they dealt with this when first embarking on the Chalet School publications. ‘We acquired the rights to the books first,’ she says, ‘and then later on were offered the chance to purchase the copyright. We have not found it difficult to buy rights – my long experience in publishing has helped enormously.’ Ann and Clarissa say that they loved the idea of the name for their new publishing house, reflecting their affinity to past female authors, but that ‘if we had known we were going to publish authors such as Malcolm Saville we might have chosen something else!’ I ask about the ‘fill-in’ stories that aim to keep a much-loved series alive, with current authors stepping into the creative shoes of original writers. Clarissa says that these are mostly linked to the Chalet School books although ‘we did do one Antonia Forest story, Spring Term by Sally Hayward, and one was linked to Elinor Brent-Dyer’s Lorna series: Lorna’s Last Year at Wynyards by Amy Fletcher.’
I wonder if Girls Gone By has many male customers and am told there are plenty! ‘And we have people of all ages, from around the world. We send a lot of books to the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as other countries .’The work of Girls Gone By sometimes extends beyond the books .‘When we published Sylvia Gower’s The World of Elizabeth Goudge,‘ says Clarissa, ‘we realised that Elizabeth Goudge’s memorial cross [in Hampshire] was in a shocking state. We raised enough money for its repair, obtained ecclesiastical permission and permission from the Elizabeth Goudge estate – and the work was completed in February. It’s lucky I am a vicar,’ she adds, ‘and know what to do!’
A vicar?! Indeed. Astonishingly, in addition to Clarissa and Ann’s enormous workload of running a publishing house, Clarissa was ordained Deacon in 2006 and Priest in 2007, initially serving in a non-stipendiary capacity in Coleford and Holcombe. Since 2016 she has been a half-time priest, now serving as Vicar for the benefice of East Mendip Trinity, covering the Somerset parishes of Coleford, Holcombe and Kilmersdon with Babington, and she is also Assistant Area Dean for the Midsomer Norton Deanery. This doesn’t sound very ‘half-time’. How on Earth does she manage to fit it all in? ‘With huge difficulty!’ she laughs. ‘Obviously there are some things which take priority over everything, such as funerals, weddings and Christenings. There are times when I need to focus church-wise, and times when I need to focus publishing-wise and a few times when it all comes together and I really do struggle. I also live with M.E. which is definitely restricting but copeable with!’ she adds.
Clarissa is responsible for all the Girls Gone By contracts, and for organising the publishing programme, including typesetting most of the books and dealing with the printers. ‘I am very fortunate in that I have particularly supportive Churchwardens and other members of my congregations. And when it comes to Friends of the Chalet School I have about 30 people who help with proofreading. With Girls Gone By I have two really good editors and some excellent proof readers as well. Ann looks after a completely different side of things, so she helps in different ways .’Ann looks after the day-to-day administration of the business, maintains the database and sends out the orders. They also have someone to take care of all the pre-ordered copies for new books, as well as sending out the magazines for Friends of the Chalet School. It sounds a strenuous workload and I am astonished that both Clarissa and Ann find time for leisure pursuits, one of which is, of course, reading. And they have eclectic tastes, alongside their own ‘type’ of book. Ann enjoys ‘adult fantasy and some science fiction. And I love such authors as Mercedes Lackey, David Eddings, and David Weber’s Honorverse series. I also re-read Lord of the Rings most years and love some Regency romantic fiction .’Clarissa, on the other hand, when she’s not reading theological tomes, says she’s ‘very keen on clerical biographies. I also enjoy Miss Read, Dick Francis and a few who-dun-its.’ She also reads a lot of the Girls Gone By authors. Ann is also a devoted gardener, looking after the Coleford Vicarage garden, with a bit of outside help, and with the able 'assistance' of ten-year-old Jack and Jill, delightful sibling cats who came to Clarissa Ann from a Cats Protection fosterer in Strete, with whom they keep in touch.
Theirs is a life of dedication on many levels. A glance at the Girls Gone By website is a trip into nostalgia, a reacquaintance with the gloriously enticing worlds of our book-soaked youths, seeing the characters live again in the present day. Absolutely marvellous. Happy reading!
ggbp.co.uk
