To think we are all ready to remove to Inter V at the Chalet School.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

New thread for all the Chalet School fans!

[DeWee]

GGBP are aiming to do them all I think, so if they haven't done them, then they will be done at some point.

[Vintagejazz]

Just started a new thread here

[Vintagejazz]

Could you add Three to it as well?

[fairnotfair]

I wish GGB would reprint Highland Twins, Shocks, and Carola. Maybe I should start a petition...

[shouldbeelsewhere]

Just discovered this thread. And I think I've just discovered what I'll be spending my afternoon doing - my yearly reread of New Mistress... goes hunting on the bookshelves

[Vintagejazz]

Enjoy! I've just ordered The Wrong Chalet School. Apparently the Armada edition only has minor cuts.

[fairnotfair]

My copy of Barbara has just popped through the letterbox!

[Vintagejazz]

I am dying to re-read Three go to the Chalet School but GGB don't have it and it costs a fortune on Amazon and Abe books. I don't want to get an Armada version as I had a proper hardback copy as a child (I wish I'd kept it) and it was one of my favourites so want to re-read the full version.

[Whyamihere]

Vintage - I agree, I've just finished reading Exploits to my dd and I nearly lost the will to carry on with reading the play at the end. I there's a few books that were heavily cut that I'm waiting for GGB to bring out but I don't think they will before I get to read it to dd, especially Highland Twins and Shocks, both were heavily edited. I've managed to get a copy of Three (for an extortionate price) and Gay.

[Vintagejazz]

I know the next one probably should be in Chat but then a lot of posters will miss it and I just love hearing all the different views and insights and funny comments.

I wish, when Armada were editing the books they had left in a bit more of the background detail and cut the long descriptions of sales and plays that seem to always take up a huge part of the final section of each book.

[DeWee]

In the armada version of Barbara there's a lot of hints how Vi didn't want to look after Barbara, how she'd always found her cousin a spoilt brat, and she goes from looking after her from a sense of duty to a close friendship. I assumed hoped that the unabridged version gave much fuller detail of that.

Josette's a lovely character in Kenya, really comes out, but unfortunately most of the rest of the time is at best a minor character in the gang. And as head girl is really EBD's generic "head girl"-says a few strong words to naughty middles, organises sales/staff nights, and complains when she needs to take centre stage.
Maeve never has any personaily except being a little disorganised and briefly hating Peggy when they first meet. Ailie has far more personality.

Stokey's got a point... next Chalet school thread should probably be in chat unless MNHQ will give us the Chalet School topic.

[CorrieDale]

Anyone know what on earth triggered the reams of lacrosse detail I am wading through in Richenda? Just when I thought EBD had explained all the rules so I could safely stop skim reading, there's a bloody match! Which is described pass by pass (only interesting for the super human level of skill displayed by our OAO Mary-Lou).

[Whyamihere]

Apparently Barbara had minor but frequent changes to the Armarda book, if you look at the friends of the Chalet School website it has a list of the books and how much they were cut, it's handy for knowing which of the GGB books to buy.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Thank you!

[Vintagejazz]

It's on sale on GGB at the moment SDT

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

What bits are left out of 'Barbara'? And is there an unabridged version available, does anyone know?

[Summerbreezing]

That's a good point re the triplets DeWee. They were all boxed and labelled a bit and it made them a bit flat as characters. I think Josette Russell and Maeve Bettany were overshadowed by being in the same age group as Mary Lou who, of course, was the star of the show.

[Summerbreezing]

Thanks DeWee you're right.. No wonder it was good.

[Stokey]

Gosh I've only just discovered this thread - why is it on AIBU?

I haven't read through it all but feel like I am missing out huge chunks of my chalet school knowledge - a bit like Joan who doesn't make any attempt to speak French or German

I think I only had the Armada books, had no idea there were bits cut out of them. Mine are boxed up at the moment - two years after we moved house, still waiting to sort out the shelving - but this is making me want to get them out.

[DeWee]

Carola was when they were on the island not Switzerland

The problem with the triplets is they were destined from their birth to be labelled "the responsible one", "the dreamy one" "the naughty one" to split Joey's personality around apparently. I'm sure she comments on that while they're still babies, and they never really grow out of that. She can't use the other traits in the other triplets in case it takes away from their roles.

Problem was, as they split the personality around, that meant they became very one-dimensional. I wonder if she ever regretted making them triplets, and felt she could have worked better with one as the firstborn to focus on-she could have made Joey "wholesale" with triplets next.

[Summerbreezing]

I thought Barbara was quite weak although I've only read the Armada version so maybe there was a lot cut out.
I liked the stories set in Guernsey and Wales but definitely she seemed to be starting to run out of steam once the school moved to Switzerland - with one or two exceptions eg Carola which was quite good.

Does anyone else think that she could have made the second generation of Bettanys a bit more interesting. Apart from Bride and Margot they're a bit meh. I find Len and Con particularly dull and a bit irritating.

[JuniperTisane]

I would agree with that. The series is at ita strongest when there is a story to be told involving the school as a whole. A new venture in Tyrol, war and subsequent upheaval, rising again in Guernsey, then England as the real life war pushes them there. Once the war is ended the stories become progressively more formulaic and it seems to me EBD tries to inject some of the original excitement by moving the school to St Briavels, (why did she do that? What was the point?) and then again to Switzerland to try and bring back the original flavour to the series. Unfortunately i think she had just about run out of steam by then and began recycling plots and storylines just to put out her book a year (or however long it was).

i imagine Joeys school stories were probably suffering the same fate by then too

[DeWee]

x-post with "Cheddar"
I mostly agree with the ones she likes, except I do quite like Barbara, and I don't particularly like trials, which comes across terribly pious to me, and Feud just feels to me like a rehash of New Chalet School without the Mystic M.
Redheads, although I find it fun, doesn't seem to really belong with the stories, almost as though EBD was trying to see if she could branch out into mystery and adventure stories.

I agree about Changes, although I'd add that later in the stories it would probably be Mary Lou and Joey together who find it.

[Wabbitty]

It has been discussed before about the mother choosing to follow husband abroad rather than stay with the kids and the answer came back that it was ensuring that the husband didn't cheat/ meet someone else and want a divorce.

[DeWee]

I would say generally they go downhill with the Swiss books. I quite like Barbara, although I only have the paperback and it feels as though there's a lot of the initial friction between her and Vi left out. I've always assumed you'd see that in the hardback, but if I'm wrong I'm disappointed.
There's one or two I like in the Swiss set, but generally they're much more generic school stories than the others.


The last couple, and certainly Prefects (the last one) there is some doubt whether EBD actually wrote them, or all of them. I can't remember where I've read that, but I've heard it two or three times. The writing style is different, and there's little plot that we haven't heard before.