Welcome to the School by the Sea

The First School by the Sea Novel

By: Jenny Colgan

Narrated by: Jilly Bond

The first book of Jenny Colgan’s delightful new four-part series, set at a charming English boarding school on the sea.

Maggie went to the window and opened it wide, inhaling the lovely salt air off the sea. Why had she never lived by the sea before? Why had she always looked out on housing estates and not the little white hulls of trawlers bobbing off in the distance?

It’s gloriously sunny in Cornwall as the school year starts at the little boarding school by the sea. Maggie, the newest teacher at Downey House, is determined to make her mark. She’s delighted by her new teaching job, but will it come at the expense of her relationship with her safe, dependable boyfriend Stan?

Simone is excited and nervous: she’s won a scholarship to the prestigious boarding school and wants to make her parents proud. Forced to share a room with the glossy, posh girls of Downey House, she needs to find a friend, fast.

Fliss is furious. She’s never wanted to go to boarding school and hates being sent away from her home. As Simone tries desperately to fit in, Fliss tries desperately to get out.

Over the course of one year, friendships will bloom and lives will be changed forever. Life at the Little School by the Sea is never dull…

©2022 Jenny Colgan (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Wonderful fun story!

I love the English life and hearing tales of it. This is a great story of friendship and life at a girl's school.

Looking forward to the rest!

This is a nice beginning to a series! Characters are well established and the stage is set! This story meandered a little more than other Colgan novels, but is still a good read! I look forward to the rest of the series.

probably won't finish

loved Jenny Colgans other books but the shrill voice of the narrator has me tuning her out.

Good Story and Narration

This was fun to listen to and I enjoyed the multiple storylines. This one did not have as much language and sexual content as some other Colgan novels, perhaps because it is intended to appeal to YA readers. That is fine with me. I wish the rest of the story was available now.

Liked it!

Would recommend! Looking forward to the second book in the series to be released in August, 2023

Disappointed, was this mean for YA readers?

I’ve listened to many books by Jenny Colgan and always loved them, so I was surprised by how poorly this one came across. First, enough with the fat shaming, it’s not cool and I don’t want to read or listen to books where teen girls are referred to as fat and chubby throughout. Second, I found it very tone def with many references that just aren’t cool in 2022. And the narrator made this sound like a book for middle schoolers. Overall disappointed..

Love This Book!

Wonderful sweet story with an excellent narrator. I would recommend this book to young adults and anyone who enjoys listening to happy stories.

Story was very sweet and engaging, great narration

Admittedly, I am unlikely to dislike anything by Jenny Colgan and I relish starting a new series from her with new characters but her familiar writing style.

Great way to start the summer in my opinion

Narrator ruins a great author’s book

I generally love everything Jenny Colgan. However, this book I was unable to get past the third chapter due to the narrator doing such a poor job at narration. This narrator is like listening to someone scrape their nails down a chalkboard. I tried to slow it down it got worse I tried to speed it up it got worse so I’m not going to finish this book in audible would not let me return it so poo on you audible

Trigger warning for anti-fatness and diet culture

While the general sorry is what you’d expect from a tale about boarding school, there’s a very heavy focus and theme about weight, fatness, and losing weight, that ties worth to weight and beauty standards. It was very difficult to listen to, especially from the adults in charge of the school.