To wonder why MNHQ still haven't given us our Chalet School topic?

[TheObligatoryNotQuiteSoNewGirl]

Because we probably shouldn't still be hanging out in AIBU, four (or is it five?) threads later.

I've been reading all the lovely transcripts, and although I started Prefects yesterday, I don't want to finish it, because it's the last one! :-(

It's very sad when those Italian brats' mum dies...can't remember what book that is though.

Yes, the Balbinis' mother dying is very sad. Also Margot Venables' back story - that was one of the saddest, for me.

Obligatory I also really like New House, as you say it's at a really good point in terms of the school being very established but also still very family-like, and I think Baby Voodoo is probably my favourite bit of Middles' mischief, but I'm not sure about the SSM. What I really like about EBD over Blyton is that she avoids the one-dimensional pupil-staff antagonism that I seem to recall Blyton going in for - except for the two Bad Matrons, and Miss Bubb, where she thoroughly endorses some quite nasty behaviour towards the staff. I think this makes perfect sense given these are such isolated and atypical occasions within the series - and I can imagine how she came to feel so unforgiving towards ineffectual teachers (in stark contrast to her pupils, who are always capable of reform) - but it rather puts me off saying the book is representative, if that makes sense.

Mooncup I should skim Three Go, probably; I don't remember it very well - only not being very enamoured, and surprised by this, because I know it's quite a popular one. Perhaps this is a red herring though - if it ticks a lot of boxes, it doesn't actually need to be a personal favourite.

I started with Mary Lou so that's probably my archetypal CS book. Found it at a bring and buy sale when I was about 11. By my mid-thirties I had about 50, gathered just as herc describes - W H Smiths and the super little bookshop on the edge of town and every second hand bookshop in the world. Every trip to another town, every holiday began with a pilgrimage to anywhere that might harbour an Armada paperback.

I lost them all in various domestic upheavals. So tried very hard for years not to think about them at all. I'm almost over the loss now...

Exile, Three Go, Highland Twins have probably given me more pleasure than any other book, ever.

3 go is a really excellent example, to be honest. And it's the start of the whole ML era. So it's a good starting point.

Jo to the Rescue was the sweetest. The actual plot was awful, but all the old friends together in the elastic walled cottage, with Frieda kept in bed until nine in the morning and Maria teasing Jack about his baldness and Simone carving a chicken into bits and pieces... A little idyll. Which child turned their vest round and round, wondering 'Where do I go in?'

(Oh, send me the transcripts, lest I weep for what is gone. Please. (Bobs a curtsey.))

The war ones are incredibly strong, but they will only work if you care. They were among the last that I found, for years there was a big black hole for me between the new CS and 3 go (which I got quite early on in my quest, from a jumble sale (I used to love jumble sales when I was a kid. Do they even have them now?)). So for me, they are nearly perfect. I'm not so wild about the last few books - all the people I care about are gone, really, it's just not the same.

See, I think it's the M-L factor that's putting me off Three Go a bit. I need to remember that she is young and brand new and far less bumptious in it, than she is later in the series. I think I also need to distinguish the M-L era from the Swiss era - I keep mentally categorising Three Go as a Swiss book, when obviously it's actually not.

I should write both of these facts out repeatedly, like the thing about what a woman's voice ought to be.

I am being impossible. :(

Why Three Go over Exile?

Just messaged you hagarthorne :)

Herc I like the war ones best, too. Mostly. Apart from all the Tyrol ones I love best too. No wonder I can't choose the ideal exemplar Chalet book...

Jo to the Rescue was the sweetest. The actual plot was awful, but all the old friends together in the elastic walled cottage, with Frieda kept in bed until nine in the morning and Maria teasing Jack about his baldness and Simone carving a chicken into bits and pieces... A little idyll. Which child turned their vest round and round, wondering 'Where do I go in?'

(Oh, send me the transcripts, lest I weep for what is gone. Please. (Bobs a curtsey.))

PS Just seen my email! You have! Thank you, thank you.

Exile would be a rubbish starting point. Why would you be sad that mademoiselle had died. Why would you cry when Rufus returns. How would you know who Freidel is and why you should be glad he is back. How could you mourn onkel Florian if you'd never read the first two books? It just wouldn't work without the context.

Pfft. I've read the majority of the books and still don't understand why you'd cry when Rufus returns.

Surely if you don't start with a Tyrol one you would spend the whole time wondering who the hell Joey was and why she is the spirit of what the School is or ought to be? (I mean, start as an adult - a child would probably just accept it at face value). Ditto the answer to the question "why is Mary-Lou so important?" Damned if I know, but is it in Problem where Len and Rosamund go to ask Joey?

Also, Madge. Why do later CS girls adore Madame? They never bloody well see her! She spends most of her time in Canada or Australia. To explain Madge's character you need a book where she actually features properly (not necessarily a pre-marriage one, given that there are only 3 of those! )

I agree - you need to know the characters for Exile. And be exasperated by Jo insisting she is never going to marry and then falling for the first solid lump of comfort she comes across.

Three is a good start - and actually Verity Anne and the lovely Clem are better characterised than ML.

I'm just reading Joey goes to Oberland. It's the first "holiday" one I've read (don't think Jo to the rescue is in the TS and never had it as a child) and am struck by how different it is, very domestic really. What a logistical nightmare taking 8 children to Switzerland. I can barely manage to get two to the swimming pool at the weekends. Poor Anna is given one twin on each knee and watching over another 5 (who knows where the 6th is) while Jo & Primula chat.

I kind of want a Tyrol one for the scenery, too.

I have to say that I think I prefer the later Tyrol ones, in spite of a declining quantity of Madge. I keep coming back to New/United, which is (today) probably my favourite Tyrol one. Is there a good reason not to choose this one?

I have to confess that Three Go does have very good 'essence of' credentials.

What is the answer to 'why is ML so important', btw? Is it Because Joey Has Chosen Her Successor?

Anna is superhuman. I so want an Anna.

It's because she actually ESCAPES by herself without having a man rescue her. As so few do.

Gah, it frustrates me so much when the books get so close to female self-sufficiency and then a bloody doctor turns up yet again to save the day. I am being really unfair and complaining for more when I should be applauding what is actually there, but - argh!

Also, the inconsistency in the spelling of Clem's surname drives me bonkers. Nearly as much as Mademoiselle Lepattre's changing names do.

Chalet School in Exile arrived in the post a couple of days ago. I will be off work for a month from the middle of next week and am saving it, and the Armishire transcripts that I haven't yet read, for then.

I haven't re-read Three Goes ... as an adult but I do recall it as one of my favourite ever Chalet School books.

It only takes about an hour (even pausing to wipe away the tears... )

....Although - re-reading an unexpurgated Three Go alongside Voss (Patrick White) might be quite a shuddering experience.

I just googled Voss, ZeroSome - yes, I can see that would be rather harrowing!

One of the things I like about Three Go is that it's at a point in the series where EBD still lets bad things happen. Mary-Lou's father is killed and Verity's will never be the same again. If it happened in the Swiss books she'd have allowed them both a thrilling escape to safety.

Ha! What do you think caused that shift?

My biggest disappointment with the Swiss books, I think along with a descent into mad but predictable churned-out plots is that there just aren't many characters left who I really mind about. They're all very interchangeable and uninspiring, I think, once Daisy and Robin have left. There are one or two exceptions but very few, compared with the first half of the series.

Mooncup I forgive you - but no one else must do that... It would be one of the greatest losses in a life to google rather than read (without spoilers) such a stupendous book.