Twelve-year-old Angela Grace Collis-Browne was happy attending the comprehensive school in Darnley, the industrial mill town in northern England where her father was vicar. But when Rev. Collis-Browne, who was once a doctor, decided to join a medical mission to Pakistan, and his wife accompanied him, Angela found herself deposited, together with her dog Muffet, at The Moat - an exclusive girls' boarding school in Buckinghamshire, where her coldly distant Auntie Pat was the owner and headmistress.

Significantly overweight, in addition to being the Head's niece, Angela was an immediate target for the bullies in her dorm, led by the mean-spirited Sophie Sharman, who nicknamed her "The Big Pink." But Angela, despite her desire to avoid attention, was no doormat, and she soon had her own group of friends and allies - kindly Matron, eccentric English teacher Miss Moss, and two fellow students (Kath Broughton and Hettie Macbride) known as "The Uglies" - and was fighting back. Who would triumph, the AA (the Anti-Angela Society) or the SAS (the Society Against Sophie)? Would Angela ever find the courage to show the school her singing talent? And would Angela ever understand, or warm up to, her Auntie Pat...?

Originally published in 1987, Ann Pilling's The Big Pink is a school story that came along long after the heyday of the genre, one that incorporates many of its common motifs - the new girl who must find her place at school, the rival societies, the seemingly unfriendly mistresses who are really "OK" in the end, the midnight feast - but also subverts some of its expectations. Angela stays overweight, despite her aunt's efforts at imposing a diet, and although she gains in both self-confidence and insight, during her stay at The Moat, she leaves with some of the same insecurities she brought with her.

In some ways, this felt a little dated, with its references to then-current trends and events - Madonna's song Material Girl is playing, in one scene (although Pilling doesn't mention her by name, I simply adored the fact that she mentioned pop stars sounding like they were constipated), the girls watch video cassettes, one character is greatly concerned about the bombings in Northern Ireland - but it also felt current, in the way it presented issues of bullying, body image and belonging. All in all, this was an engaging read, one I would particularly recommend to fans of the girls' school story genre. ( )