to think all UK schools would be better off being Chalet Schools?

[quirrelquarrel]

French, German, English days- hikes up the hills- Kaffe und Küchen- Prees and Joeys and Mary Lous rounding up the miscreants.....would it be impossible, do you think?

Wonder if there is a school like this left!

Ignore that. My perfect Joey would be Rooney Mara. She's American. She will have to learn to speak properly

Maybe the gaga Joey ended up at Claymoore....Winona Ryder?

this thread prompted me to turn a load of word document CS transcripts into ebooks and load up the kindle (one of the fan club website had most of the books typed out, but they were taken down when Girls Gone By bought the copyright ) - now, how can I convince everyone that I am actually working today

Dreadful, illusion shattering book,thebody. A complete fork of fiction. :(

I hated it too, Sarah. Some of the things that happened could be plausible - the school might not carry on being successful, for example, but given their characters as portrayed in the other books, I cannot believe that Jack would commit suicide (surely a mortal sin for a devout catholic), and Mary Lou would never sleep with someone else's husband (and I doubt she'd have sex outside marriage at all).

Oh I so wish all schools were chalet schools! Then I would be so much less stressed about my DD starting school! I am trying to be patient about introducing them to her...meanwhile I think I feel a complete re -read coming on!!!

Angelina Jolie is much too glamorous to play Joey, who is supposed to be on the plain-but-striking side (after being 'goblin-like' as a sickly twelve year old ), always wears a hairstyle which was considered old-fashioned before WWII, and favours faded cotton frocks.

I kind of enjoyed Chalet Girls Grow Up as a sort of kitchen sink realism joke on the Chalet School. God, it was a depressing read, though. I can't remember many of the details, other than that Reg turned into a wife-beating rapist, Mary-Lou started shagging around, and Joey's insistence that she was still just a a Chalet girl turned out to be some kind of indicator for early-onset Alzheimer's...?

I do remember there being an awful ruck when that book was published. Many, many ranty reviews on Amazon.

This thread makes me want to start a Chalet book collection again. Only hardbacks will do though - surely I can persudae dh they're an "investment"!!

I think <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=michelle+dockery&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1366&bih=677&tbm=isch&tbnid=m9PSxX_EJZASQM:&imgrefurl=www.imdb.com/media/rm3920608512/nm1890784&docid=TPQJfbaxdMuG8M&imgurl=ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTMzODk1NDQ5MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTc3NzI3Ng%2540%2540._V1.SX640_SY962.jpg&w=640&h=962&ei=vGdGT6-8Io6x8QPW3_SFDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=371&vpy=271&dur=2344&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=114&ty=152&sig=107089107462356734862&page=3&tbnh=147&tbnw=93&start=54&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:54" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this actress would be great as Jo. She is in Downton Abbey.

IshallwearMidnight - any chance of you emailing any of those transcripts,oh pretty please? My email is Spillane 100 at hotmail dot co dot uk. I'd be soooo happy if you did. My mum claims to have no recollection of my old chalet school books,which means she must have taken them to the car boot sale. (sad)

I agree about the actress, MissAnnersley - Joey HAS to be English!

MissAnnersley great choice! I was thinking of Keeley Hawes for Madge...the men were all big and blond. I reckon you'd have to have Daniel Craig for either Jem or Jack. (I had a crush on Jack too not that there was much choice. ) Or how about lovely Spargo from Upstairs Downstairs? <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=spargo+upstairs+downstairs&um=1&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=653&tbm=isch&tbnid=LZl_ydEA_3J9IM:&imgrefurl=janeaustenfilmclub.blogspot.com/2011/04/upstairs-downstairs-whos-who.html&docid=-Dy89uV7bLbMBM&imgurl=4.bp.blogspot.com/-hayKHpUJ3oc/TasM7gW-quI/AAAAAAAAAl0/T6x0R92CGMI/s1600/harry%252Bspargo.jpg&w=425&h=639&ei=QbNGT6PQOcSt8QPa7M2_Dg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=282&vpy=115&dur=1381&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=99&ty=107&sig=115468758698895735519&page=1&tbnh=146&tbnw=95&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">nice young man

I wasn't mad about the Merryn Williams book, as someone said upthread I don't think she actually liked the Chalet series very much. There were a few people she got quite wrong (eg Sybil) but I loved what she made of Mary-Lou, that "insouciance" and her way of saying things "serenely" would translate to a rather obnoxious and selfish adult.

Daniel Craig for Jack - yes I can see that. And Keeley Hawes too.

Never read Chalet Girls Grow Up, thank God, but I did read the reviews :)

I much preferred the earlier Chalet books, although Mistress was one I did like as well. EBD got a bit repetitive towards the end of the series.

For me, they paved the way for Antonia Forest's books.

Judi Dench or Helen Mirren for Miss Annersley? Can't decide....

I always had Joan Hickson in mind for Miss Annersley but sadly she died :(

Angelina far too glamorous for jo! R u mad? Jo has a creamy. Complexion and a golden voice, also gives birth to her children as opposed to adopting( stealing them) however in later books she adopts a toddler from a train crash( she is in several) Claire Louise de manilion, as well as Eric's standlish) mother a friend from India days)

Just realised u am soooo sad!

Empress I can see Judi Dench as Bill, and Helen Mirren as Miss Annersley, I think they'd be a great double act.

Barbarian I've been thinking about what you said, you are spot on - Tom isn't a lesbian, she's a boy! They really act her like she's the only boy/man in a girls boarding school!

Meant to say this before but brain is a bit fragmented... the Merryn Williams book was perhaps meant to describe the rise of feminism through the Chalet characters, rather than be a continuation. The gradual slowing and demise of the school was really sad, but that's how it must have been for most of those schools. Also to go from "Daughter of Joey" marrying the VILE Reg at age 17 or whatever, to a woman of the 1980s (or whenever it finished) would have been a massive journey that a childhood of perfect obedience and self-sacrifice didn't really equip you for. (The Jack business was ridiculous though. Joey isn't that annoying ALL the time!)

act around her

We should run descriptions of everyone through that literary identikit software that was on the news this week.

Oh YES Sticky. That would work beautifully.

Emma Watson as Len? Her eyes may not be violet but I can still see similarities.

I admit I do have a certain air of Helen Mirren about me.

Without glasses, of course.