The Chalet School

[ShellacB]

There seem to be plenty of old Chalet School Threads, but I can't find a current one.

In the middle of a re read. I have just finished the Tyrolean and Herefordshire ones. I loved them!

I do remember the Swiss books not being quite of the same quality, so not sure whether to read them all.

Could anyone recommend the best Swiss books if I was to skim through?

I think it's such a shame. I'm vision impaired and I would really love to be able to get eBook so that I can make the font really big

They're all now available on Faded Page:

https://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Brent-Dyer,%20Elinor%20Mary

You can download them in various formats.

Oh wow, thank you!

I've just discovered fadedpage...! Oh my! Thank you so much for posting that 😊😊

I am interested to hear what others view as being the top five best books in the series.

Mine are as below. I would caveat this with the fact that I haven't completed my re read of the Swiss books yet. However, from memory none of those would be in the top 5 anyway.

5.Princess of the Chalet School - Mainly because this is not only a school story but a brilliant adventure, suspense, thriller story also. I was still on tenderhooks re reading it as an adult.

4.The School at the Chalet - This probably places higher than it should on the basis that it is the first of the series and started the whole thing off. Therefore, it gets bonus points for that. Having said that it does a brilliant job of setting the scene. The descriptions of the Tyrol are lovely and it does a great job of making our main characters come alive. For me Madge is the main character in this story and she is so vividly drawn. It is a shame she faded out as the series went on.

3.Jo of the Chalet School - This is just such a lovely book. The characters are settled now and the Chalet School has come out in it's own. The description of the Christmas at Innsbruck is so charming.

2.The Chalet School at War/The Chalet School Goes to it - In second place. This is a brilliant book. Especially in the context of when it was written. EBD was ahead of her time in the explanation of the distinction between Germans and Nazis and her compassion. There is a mix of drama and excitement and the contrast of school girl fun with the serious events going on outside which are always in the background.

1.The Chalet School in Exile - In my opinion there can be no other book at the top spot. An absolute classic and a truly brilliant book. Unbelievable that it was written in 1939/1940. So far ahead of it's time! The depiction of the way the poor Jewish man was attacked by the boys they knew and EBD's empathy for the German girls was so far ahead of it's time. The escape from Austria, whilst slightly far fetched was so dramatic and compelling. The Chalet School Peace League and everything it stood for was just wonderful.

Honourable mentions go to Highland Twins at the Chalet School, Lavender Leigh at the Chalet School, all the other Tyrolean books and Jo to the Rescue (which I only read for the first time last year and absolutely loved, although I would not have appreciated it as a child!)

I saw your question before I clicked on the thread and mentally made a list in my head and it is exactly the same as your top 5!

I also loved Jo to the Rescue but partly because I grew up in Yorkshire I think.

I dont love the Welsh /Swiss books as much but I do still enjoy them.

My top five would be more or less the same, I think, except that I'd want to make room for Gay. It has an actual plot, in that one incident or event leads to another, rather than being a collection of incidents, as many CS books were. Gay is a lovely character, and we have the excellent Grandma Learoyd.

I think EBD was at her peak in the war years.

I don't know which I'd drop. Princess, maybe, although I do love Elisaveta. She's one of my favourite characters; she grows from a happy schoolgirl into a courageous woman. If we were choosing top five characters, she would be on my list.

And Princess has the SSM!

1: Chalet school in exile
2: Rivals of the Chalet School
3: Chalet School
Goes to it.
4: Tom tackles the Chalet School
5: Three Go to the Chalet School

Big shout out to
Lavender
Gay from China
Barbara

Actually yes Gay at the Chalet School should have been in my honourable mentions. It was brilliant also. As you say there is a really strong plot there.

I would agree that the wartime books were her peak as an author. Although the Tyrolean books have such charm to them.

If I was to do a top ten Gay would definitely be in there alongside the other wartime books, a few more of the Tyrolean ones and Jo to the Rescue.

Great to hear someone else has the same top 5. In reality there are so many good books in the series.

I would imagine that Exile would be most people's number one. Interesting to hear what others would include in their top five.

Jo to the Rescue was just so different and charming. TBH it was really more of a spin off than a Chalet School book as the school hardly featured! Also, in reality more of an adult book than a children's one with only the adults really featured. Wonderful all the same!

I don't care so much for Rivals. I think it shows up Mdlle Lepattre's weakness as Head. Madge would have stamped on the feud instantly.

But I think maybe EBD knew that Mdlle wasn't a strong enough character; she removed her as soon as she'd worked off a few plot ideas and as soon as Hilda was established enough to take over.

Oh yes I forgot about Rivals, another really good one!

I would agree re Mlle Lepattre. She was lovely, but not really headmistress material.

Miss Annersley was really Madge mark 2 in my view. It was a shame EBD felt the need to marry Madge off. I think she originally saw the series as lasting for those early books and often wonder whether she originally planned to end it with Madge's wedding and happy ending. At that point in the story we hear so much about the plans others have, for example Joey will soon be going to Belsornia to Elisaveta etc.

I often wonder if that was her original planned ending to the series.

I would agree re Mlle Lepattre. She was lovely, but not really headmistress material.

Her original purpose was to be a kind of chaperone for Madge, since Madge was so young. But there wasn't anyone else. Miss Maynard didn't seem interested in taking on more responsibility, and Miss Wilson was new in Princess, I think.

It does seem to have been planned - Jem was introduced in Book 1 and they were engaged in Book 2. Once they were engaged, EBD had to proceed to a wedding. She couldn't have them engaged indefinitely, even if she expected by then that the series would continue. But I agree it's a shame Madge was removed from centre stage so early in the series.

Both Madge and Miss Wilson have more personality than Miss Annersley, imo.

I did like Triplets of the Swiss genre. Overall agree with OP on the list though.

I think you have a very good point. There was quite an early rush to plan the near futures of the main characters quite early on.

But Miss Annersley's eyes have never needed spectacles, so she's clearly morally superior to speccy four-eyes me.

I agree with the general consensus on 'best', but most enjoyable is another matter. I like Eustacia, Lintons, Highland Twins, Carola, Oberland (the finishing school one with Peggy being very priggish about wearing make up for the sake of people forced to look at us) New Mistress, the one with Joan Baker, Genius.

I like people who don't immediately conform to the spirit of the school.

On one side, ‘Our Lady was the wife of a carpenter.’ On the other, they never seemed to appreciate that most of them were pretty privileged to be able to afford to go to a boarding school in Europe.

Realistically, in the Swiss years, most of them couldn't have afforded it, especially when there were two or more sisters there at the same time. When you think of the cost of living in Switzerland, all the clothes and kit they had, all the excursions and travel costs. Most of them were the daughters of middle class professionals or landed gentry; they just weren't that wealthy.

It was more realistic in Tyrol. The cost of living compared to the UK was lower - it was one of Madge's reasons for going there - they didn't have so much kit or expensive trips, and in the earliest days a large proportion of the girls were local, so no travel expenses.

Top place would be either 'The School at the Chalet' or 'The Chalet School in Exile'. I can't quite decide between them. Iirc, they're both long books. I love how EBD introduced us to all of the pupils and their families in the first few books. She didn't just create a school - she created an entire community. I think that's what's missing about the books set in Switzerland - we don't get to know the pupils' families in the same way.

I think 'Carola' was the first book I read and I always had a soft spot for it. I also liked 'Three go to the Chalet School' - quite a lot of the book is set outside of the school. In fact, I didn't realize it was a CS book when I started reading it (it was my sister who collected the books and I just picked it off the shelf - obviously the title never registered with me). A lot of readers give out about Mary Lou, but actually, she never wanted to go to school in the first place. And when she did go, she came up with that mad scheme to study like crazy, so she'd end up in the same form as her friend Clem. She's not as perfect as she became in the later books.

Fifth place is a tie between 'The Chalet School and the Lintons' and 'A problem for the Chalet School'. They've similar plotlines.

It's been a few years since I read the books. I wonder what I'd make of them now that I'm middle aged? Even when I read them back in the '80s, there were some things that struck me as odd. For example, in one of the books, a pupil described how her aunt (I think) had escaped the Nazis by disguising herself and putting on make up. Her aunt had never worn make up before and the way her niece described it, make up appeared to be an invention of the devil. Perhaps EBD was insinuating that the woman had disguised herself as a prostitute? In another book, one of the pupils said her family had been living in a tiny, cramped cottage. I was sympathising with her until she said that the cottage only had eight rooms! And I was a bit perplexed by the school's obsession with slang.

I loved Bernhilda's wedding - the drama of the wedding and then her grandmother dying. It was all very satisfying to tween me and I assumed Bernhilda would have a 'happy ever after' life and raise lots of flaxen haired children in that mountain paradise (a bit like Heidi). But of course, these days I'd be shaking my head in despair at how poor Bernhilda never got to have a career and was married off when she'd barely left school.

Grizel was a great character - very complex.

Which book had the story about the Balbini twins and their mother dying? That story made a really big impression on me.

I read the books as I came across them - my sister had a big collection and I also borrowed some from the library. I never got to read them in order, so the action kept switching between Austria, Switzerland and the UK. In some of the books, Joey was still a pupil - in other books she was a wife and mother to assorted children, depending on which book I read . And on that subject, wouldn't it have been unusual for a doctor's wife to have such a big family? I mean, surely Jack knew about the facts of life, even if Joey didn't. Same with Dick and Mollie. I don't think the Russells had quite so many.

I mean, surely Jack knew about the facts of life, even if Joey didn't. Same with Dick and Mollie. I don't think the Russells had quite so many.

Jack and Jo were Catholic - though how much EBD knew about birth control is debatable.

Madge had six children, but the last two were twins, so she possibly intended five.

Dick and Mollie had seven I think, but they had a second pair of twins, and then much later a possible accident, so again they may have intended to have five.

Young Mary Lou is ok. A bit bumptious, but is squashed by staff and prefects when necessary. It's after the move to Switzerland and particularly after her accident, she becomes unbearable.

There's one or two books I never got my hands on - 'A Chalet Girl from Kenya' is one of them.

@ShellacB I love the Christmas scene in 'Jo of the Chalet School'. I might treat myself to a copy this Christmas.

That is a good book considering it’s in the Swiss years - which in my opinion aren’t quite so great.

For me, the first five were my top five; they seemed dense and non-formulaic, Jo and her friends were at a relatable age just a little older than I was when I first read them, and I enjoyed the mild educational aspect of the books being liberally peppered with French and German words whose meaning was obvious or explained. Honourable mentions for A Genius at the Chalet School and A Problem for the Chalet School.

@Taytocrisps I think the Balbini twins are in The New Chalet School? It's still in Tirol but after Joey has left school.

My top 5 is very similar to others! Exile at the top, then School at/Jo of. I've not read the unabridged/GGBP version of Goes to It, but I do like the paperback version. Soft spot for Gay from China too, and I cried at the end when Jaycynth got her last letter from her aunt.

What's everyone's favourite of the Swiss books? I know overall they get weaker but there are still some good ones - I like Genius (again, only read the paperback version) and Coming of Age.