The Denehurst Secret Service by Gwendoline Courtney

A school story that contains a mystery and is also an evacuation story – who could ask for anything more, as my friend Fred Astaire would say . . .

Mrs. Sherbourne has news for her two teenage daughters, Elaine and Moira. She is sending them to Denehurst, a boarding school in Cornwall, because London in war time is dangerous and their father needs to concentrate on his Foreign Office work. The girls are mildly indignant because they want to do their bit but cheer up when their cousin, Captain Deryk Holroyd, says he might need their help from school. He asks them to conceal their fluency in German, where the family spent three years.

The term has already begun and the new girls have been assigned to houses that are not merely rivals but are feuding so fiercely they interact only with hostility. Despite never having met the Sherbournes (which amuses me as my nephews and nieces had to interview in person for kindergarten!), Miss Howard, the headmistress, hopes they can break down the walls between the resentful schoolgirls so has deliberately separated them. Everyone at the Queen Elizabeth house is friendly to Elaine and everyone at Queen Victoria house welcomes Moira, who is more impetuous (they remind me of Louise and Jean Dana).

The Sherbournes find their schoolmates’ behavior unsporting but have other things on their minds. When Cousin Deryk visited Denehurst, he asked for their assistance:

“[S]omeone on this part of the coast has been signaling messages in German to some kind of craft out at sea, and I’ve been detailed off to trace the signaling to its source. I’m afraid I haven’t been too successful as yet. One night I went out in a fishing-boat and managed to catch the tail end of a message, but I found it impossible to gauge the exact position of the signaler from there . . . The only spot I haven’t been able to investigate properly is your school – and I can’t do much there.”

Elaine, her new friend Avice (who conveniently knows Morse Code), and Moira are eager to search for espionage at Denehurst. In addition to finding a spy, the sisters come up with projects for their respective houses to support the war effort and Elaine develops a plan to repair the schism between the houses that has crippled the school for weeks.

This is an unusual example of a book written during WWII in which the characters are coping with war. The girls are evacuated just before the Blitz began in London but they aren’t insulated from the realities of war because there’s an actual spy at Denehurst. There are several suspects and lots of late night surveillance so the story is suspenseful. Of course, the conflict between the two houses is trivial compared to the threat of German invasion but Courtney is skilled at depicting the daily squabbles of jealous schoolgirls – especially the moments when pride or spite take precedence over common sense – and the truth is that daily life at school is very real and immediate, no matter the other threats in the outside world.  It's an enjoyable story with a sequel I don’t yet own.

I read this for #ReadIndies month and the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge.  I also recommend A Coronet for Cathie.

Title: The Denehurst Secret Service
Author: Gwendoline Courtney
Publication: Girls Gone By Press, trade paperback, 2005 (originally published in 1940)

Setting: WWII Cornwall
Genre: Juvenile fiction
Source: Personal copy