To wonder whether you'd prefer to go to Malory Towers or the Chalet School

[Vintagejazz]

I just heard to girls about 11 years of age having an earnest discussion about this on the bus. I didn't think kids even read Chalet School books any more.
I think I'd opt for Malory Towers. They seemed to have more fun. I'd probably be expelled from the Chalet School for cursing, wearing lipstick and forgetting to speak German every Wednesday or whatever it was.

[foodfairy]

I have been secretly following this thread but soo many messages now I'm obviously not the only adult who still remembers. My girls are too young and don't think ds would like but it has inspired me to read the Jennings to him. Linbury court far better than chalet school and mr carter much better with the boys than Hilda, nell or even joey. Food def better at the chalet school however and both use amazing 50s slang - fossilised fish hooks anyone?

One thing I never quite understood is what happened to Juliet? One minute she is madges ward and mentioned all the time the next married and never heard of again??? Also did elisaveta ever become queen? Or was belsornia a casualty of ww2?

Also if anyone has time to send over unabridged manuscripts I would love to read. Only ever had the armada ones.

[Ekka]

Wow! Just found this thread and read it all through. For me it would always be the Chalet School, I had all the Armada paperbacks and am slowly working towards collecting the hardback copies, as well as the GGBP fill-ins. I remember in English lessons we had to write a prospectus for an imaginary school and I pretty much used the Chalet School in its Oberland years as a basis for my work!

If anyone has the transcripts, I would love them, I have only got 3 or 4 of the unabridged books and all my books are still in boxes after our move last year, so I could really do with something to read!

[Wabbitty]

Juliet had 2 sons but did influence the sending of someone (a niece?) to the school.

Belsornia was indeed a casualty of WW2. It became part of the USSR. Elizavetas father emigrated to Australia and owned/ was a partner on a sheep farm. Elizaveta married and had 4 children (2 boys, 2 girls?) one of the girls is of course named after Joey and attends the school. Husband unfortunately gets killed off in a plane crash! Belsornia is hoping to be independent but Elizaveta is not interested in ruling and I don't think her sons are either - more interested in being an engineer or something like that.

[EmpressOfJurisfiction]

Anyone who'd like the transcripts, PM me your email address.

[DeWee]

The abandoning of Juliet and Robin are two of the strange "family" relationships. Both of them disappear hardly to be heard of again except occasional mentions-never any suggestions of visits or trying to see them.
When they're coming up to the Coming of age, and are writing to the old girls, Con says she's writing to tell Robin, and Margo asks what the point is, as she can't come anyway. Which is a bit dismissive of someone whose mother used to describe as "adopted sister" and did a lot of looking after the triplets when they were tiny after yet another of Jo's collapses

It slightly implies that EBD didn't actually think "adoptive" relationships continued into adulthood, once they were old enough not to need mothering, they could fend for themselves.

You'd think that Juliet would have regarded them as the family she didn't have, and would have proudly shown off her "grandchildren" to Madge at least.

Actually I suspect if Robin was as delicate as all that she probably went into rapid decline and faded away shortly after entering as a postulant as the life was somewhat sparten. Maybe no one dared tell Joey, but just discouraged her from trying to visit.

[Summerbreezing]

I was wondering about the Robin as well. In the earlier books Joey absolutely adores her and was heartbroken at the thought of heading back to the UK without her during WWll, even though Robin would be following with the school within weeks.

And then, in the later books, she rarely mentions her. Strange.

Likewise, Madge had all these wards and unofficially adopted kids that she seems to lose all contact with once they leave the Chalet School.

[DeWee]

For great expressions try Monica Edwards Romney Marsh set.

Ds was in stitches last night with "hells bells and buckets of blood", "I'm a blessed hat stand" and "jumping gin bottles".

[MooncupGoddess]

The abandoning of the Robin seems to happen in the later war years - there is a time jump at some point and the books seem to skip over several years very quickly, as opposed to the Oberland years when there is one book for every term (God help us) and sometimes one for the holidays as well.

I can remember Robin aged around 14 in Highland Twins, and nothing more... when exactly does she disappear?

[Burren]

It's the problem with EBD's total obsession with Joey in the later series -she ends up sidelining or actually banishing beloved familiar characters to concentrate on Joey - even in books like Reunion, which were clearly intended for adult fans to reencounter some of the original school (but which is weirdly disappointing, as, say, Juliet, who does attend, doesn't get any narrative attention at all..) And Madge gets sent offscreen to Canada and Australia.

And yes, not only is the famously delicate Robin, Joey's adored baby sister, packed off to be a nun in Canada, but when she subsequently spends a year at a French convent, none of the Maynards go and see her from Switzerland, even once.

Elisaveta is widowed after the war, and continues to be regarded as princess in exile while Belsornia is in Soviet hands, but her father gies too ranching in Australia, and her children don't use titles or expect to return. Her life is rather sad, but EBD clearly likes the idea of the exiled princess fallen on hard times, because there's an unintentionally hilarious bit during the war where Elisaveta, her children and her servant all escape to Wales, but for some reason don't contact Joey or the CS. Instead, Elisaveta works as a charlady in some random small village until they have money for train tickets to get to Joey...

[LeapingOverTheWall]

does anyone have Carola Storms the Chalet School as an ebook? I have others I can share in return (although I think Empress is kindly forwarding ones I shared on the previous thread under a different name).

I think Jo kept up with people via letter once they left school, but Robin would have had limited contact with the outside world - was it not an enclosed convent she ended up in? Although how you'd fit in letter writing to the hundreds of ex pupils and wards on top of a book a year as well as being the spirit of the school, I don't know

[Burren]

It was a teaching order, I think, Leaping. Not enclosed, anyway, as in Adrienne, for some unspecified reason she spends a year at a French convent, and is sent out with another nun to rescue Adrienne from her slum.

But I still think it's weird Joey doesn't go to visit her in Arles. I always think it's rather sad when Robin escorts Adrienne to Paris to meet the CS contingent on their way to Switzerland and us greeted by some of the Russells, that this is the closest she's come to seeing any of her Swiss-based family and friends.

[MooncupGoddess]

All I can remember about Reunion is that poor old Grizel (who previously had an affair with a married man - have I remembered this correctly??) is FINALLY given a husband, to much rejoicing.

Had totally forgotten the Elisaveta charlady episode (or perhaps it was cut from the Armada edition).

[Summerbreezing]

Robin was a Prefect in The Chalet School Goes To It, which was set in the very early forties when the school was moving out of Austria to Wales. She is still Joe's adored baby sister at that stage, even though she has six month old triplets.

Madge was definitely sidelined after the first few books. Appearing now and again to present a prize, before being shipped off to Canada, then remaining in England when the School decamps to Switzerland, then being shipped off again to Australia.

[LeapingOverTheWall]

aha, turns out I haven't read Adrienne, I thought I had all the later ones, but turns out I don't.

[PosyFossilsShoes]

Wouldn't Robin have been on v restricted visits as a nun? I thought they weren't allowed any non-family visits in the 40s.

[Burren]

Adrienne is hilarious. Penniless but genteel orphan rescued from hinted-at prostitution by saintly nun Robin who sends her to the CS on a scholarship, where she rubs people up the wrong way by being terribly earnest, and trying terribly hard at lessons, so that nasty girls think she was lying about not having studied German before. And there's a mysterious locket that can't be opened, but gets forgotten about, and inevitably, Adrienne turns out to be a long-lost cousin of Robin's, Mary-Lou, inevitably, having been the one to notice the resemblance.

[SelectAUserName]

I will miss this thread when it's full :(

[Burren]

But she doesn't even get a family visit, Posy. She's in France for a year (possibly longer?) and we're specifically told none of the Maynards visit at all, which is just odd. Mind you, I don't think EBD knew much about convents. Postulancy pre-Vatican II would have been physically gruelling, and someone as delicate as Robin would have been unlikely to hack it, plus no order then would have let a new young nun go to Paris, apparently alone, to escort a schoolgirl to the CS train.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Mooncup - I may be wrong, but the impression that I got was that Grizel fell in love with a man, but her friend Deira ended up marrying him, and that broke Grizel's heart.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Ooh - and when this thread is full, I am going to start another one - The Chalet School, remove to InterV!

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Actually, as we are at 996 posts, I decided to go ahead and start the thread - here.

See you all there after Kaffee and Kuchen!

[MooncupGoddess]

Did Mary-Lou even know Robin?

Agree re postulancy/novitiate... I read Karen Armstrong's account of her experiences as a young nun recently and it was seriously grim.

It is sad that the series becomes so focused on Joey and the triplets... makes it feel quite insular, whereas the early books feel really lively and open to the new exciting world around them. We never learn anything about Switzerland in the way we learn about pre-war Austria.

[MooncupGoddess]

Ah, thanks SDTG - that sounds more plausible. And and for the new thread!

[Summerbreezing]

Thanks SDTG. Over and out.