Oh, dear. Are there any more depressing words in the English language? I’m actually about to be on holiday (vacation) after turning in Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries #4, but even so, contemplating the end of summer is still like fingernails on… well, you know. And for the second year in a row, kids are facing schoolyears fraught with even more strangeness and uncertainty than usual. Let’s have a look at what this annual ordeal was like for Victorian schoolchildren in England. (more…)