Perhaps by then I was too old to really identify with Drina, whereas I loved all the members of the Ballet Family in different ways and was fascinated by their interaction and all their activities. For some reason I only discovered the Drina books when I was quite a bit older, and although I enjoyed them they didn't have the same impact. The depiction of Paris thrilled me as the epitome of excitement and romance, and has coloured my picture of the city ever since. I loved (and love) The Ballet Family and its sequel - the characters, the plots, the settings (and the ballet!) all had a huge effect on me (I suppose c 1970). Rumer Godden wrote a great ballet book called Thursdays Children about a Billy Elliot type boy success and Veronica Tennant wrote On Stage, Please, but I still keep returning to the Drina books. She also wrote The Ballet Twins also set in a school in Bloomsbury which is ok but I don't think is in the same league as the others. I like the 2 Ballet Family books also but not quite as much as the Drina ones. I know real life is full of unresolved situations still it would be good to know. However, we are left with several items of unfinished business such as Rose's relationship with Igor and Drina's with her mother-in-law. I still remember the thrill and feeling of disbelief when I saw it in a bookshop in the early 90s and realise I would now know what happened to Drina now she was in the Dominic Ballet Company. However, am I the only person to be slightly disappointed there wasn't a follow-up to Drina Ballerina? I know it is the logical place to end the series and indeed was written several decades after the rest of the series. I think they are an amazing legacy of Mabel Esther Allan fascinating characters and details of a ballet student's life and wonderful to follow Drina's progress from a young child to budding ballerina. I'm glad I'm not the only one still reading and enjoying the Drina books.

A Dream of Sadler's Wells by Lorna Hill