Dorita Fairlie Bruce

Dorita Fairlie Bruce (1885–1970) was a British children's author, most notably of the Dimsie books published between 1921 and 1941. Her books were second in popularity only to Angela Brazil's during the 1920s and '30s.

She was a pioneer in creating series of books which followed a group of girls throughout their schooldays and even beyond. Her Dimsie, Nancy and Springdale series all follow this pattern, which was widely imitated.[1]

The Colmskirk sequence, a set of nine novels for young adults, widens her scope, dealing with a group of families in the Scottish countryside around Largs from the seventeenth century to the twentieth. [2]

Bruce was involved with the Girls' Guildry for over thirty years. She contributed factual articles to the Lamp of the Girls' Guildry magazine and Girls' Guildry plays a role in her Nancy series and gets a mention in her Dimsie series. The Girls' Guildry later merged with similar organisations to become the Girls' Brigade.

The Dimsie books

External links

School Books by Dorita Fairlie Bruce listed in their Series

Jane Willard (Dimsie) (1921-1941)

The Senior Prefect (Dimsie Goes To School, 1925) (1921) • Dimsie Moves Up (1921) • Dimsie Moves Up Again (1922) • Dimsie Among the Prefects (1923) • Dimsie, Head Girl (1925) • Dimsie Intervenes (1936) • Dimsie Grows Up (1924) • Dimsie Goes Back (1927) • Dimsie Carries On (1941)

St Bride's and Maudsley (Nancy) (1923-1944)

The Girls of St Brides (1923) • Nancy at St Brides (1933) • That Boarding-School Girl (1925) • The New Girl and Nancy (1926) • Nancy to the Rescue (1937) • The Best Bat in the School (1931) • Nancy in the Sixth (1935) • Nancy Returns to St Brides (1938) • Nancy Calls the Tune (1944)

Springdale  (1928-1939)

The New House Captain (1928) • The Best House in the School (1930) • Captain of Springdale (1932) • The New House at Springdale (1934) • Prefects at Springdale (1936) • Captain Anne (1939)

Toby  (1931-1942)

The School on the Moor (1931) • The School in the Woods (1940) • Toby at Tibbs Cross (1942)

Colmskirk Novels (1930-1955)

The King's Curate (1930) • Mistress Mariner (1932) • A Laverock Lilting (1945) • The Bees on Drumwhinnie (1952) • Wild Goose Quest (1945) • The Serendipity Shop (1947) • Triffeny (1950) • The Debatable Mound (1953) • The Bartle Bequest (1955)

Sally  (1956-1961)

Sally Scatterbrain (1956) • Sally Again (1959) • Sally's Summer Term (1961)
British children's and young adults' literature (1900–1949)