AIBU To Think That The Plots Of The Chalet School Books Were Really Improbable

[TheShellBeach]

.................................such as Prince Cosimo, the endless kidnappings, all the train crashes/bus crashes/car crashes/plane crashes/boat sinkings hang on a minute, were there any boat sinkings

Okay, I've just remembered that there were a couple of near misses with boats when the CS was on the island. Joey was nearly flung overboard once (a missed opportunity for EBD to get rid of her IMO) and there were probably others.

Anyway - all aboard and ahoy there.

Ha ha yes! Well said Rosalie!

One wonders who exactly Rosalie had in mind.

I'm now overthinking the 'treasure hunt' in Adrienne. There's a parcel for each girl, but NOT the parcel they find. They are each allowed to bring one parcel down and place it on a table. The parcels are then distributed, and Adrienne apparently DOES get the one she found in spite of what we were told earlier. And how oh how was anyone going to know which packages had been overlooked if the numbers came up short?

I'd hope that they had some spares kept back. Can you imagine the excitement of finding an extra parcel the next week-although only Joan Baker would have been rude enough to hand it in, I suppose!

Thing is it's one of those games that sounds terribly fun, but I'd have hated it. I'd have been worried about being the last person looking for the only present left while everyone waited. <over-thinker here>

Or finding something immediately and then having to sit alone until someone else (not necessarily a friend) showed up. Altogether more fun to set up than to participate in.

Ha!

I only have another eight books to collect. The GGBP ones, I mean.

Nearly there, nearly there, nearly there...................and no sign of "Werner of the Alps" among them.

BTW Has anyone seen a copy of The CS and Rosalie? It seems to be rare than hens' teeth. I mean the GGBP one.

Hmmm on odd occasions it comes up
on Chalet School sales and wants FB but it’s rare.

I've only got the Armada.

Thanks to whoever recommended "Through the Narrow Door" by Karen Armstrong about being a nun. I've just read it, and the sequel. It's fascinating and really helped me to understand why nobody visited Robin

I've got the Armada "Rosalie" as well. The cover annoys me enormously. I can't stand seeing women with beards.

I remember that cover (I don’t have it anymore), it was a weird one. Some of the Armada covers were quite odd though!

I’m just reading a fill in called Maeve of The Chalet School. It’s disappointing 😕

That sounds interesting. Is it because people couldn’t visit nuns?

Karen Armstrong is a genius (how EBD would have hated her angry account of her time in the convent!) but even in her order, you could be visited. Even in an enclosed order where the sisters never leave the convent apart from medical appointments and voting, you can be visited, and Robin’s order was clearly not enclosed, as she and another nun go to Adrienne’s apartment. I genuinely think EBD forgot about Robin at times, as she forgot about poor little Marie-Claire. Or she was just happier with saintly nuns making occasional appearances to inspire, like the nun who looks after Len, Rosamund and Ted in quarantine and is magically equipped to teach three teenagers, one extremely clever, across all subjects, and give little pep talks about reformation.!😀

Through the Narrow Gate is very good, especially if read alongside the (fictional, but based on a very idealised version of the life of a real nun) The Nun’s Story by Kathryn Hulme.

But Robin would never have made it past postulancy in either order, if she was even accepted as a postulant in the first place. Her ‘delicacy’ would never have coped with the long hours of work and prayer, fasting, physical discomfort, lack of special care, and they took physical as well as spiritual suitability seriously when assessing!

That sounds interesting. Is it because people couldn’t visit nuns?
Because there was so much emphasis on getting rid of your sense of self and your will, it was very difficult to continue relating to your family, and vice versa. So visits (once every six months only) became emotionally very difficult.

Have you read any of the other fill-ins?
I don't like them at all.

Yes I’ve read quite a few. Didn’t think many of them were great, but I did really enjoy Refuge for the Chalet School, it’s when Jo, Madge etc first arrive in Guernsey before they set up the school. And it describes Jo and Jacks wedding.

I've just read The Little Marie José, which is a historical novel which EBD seems to have written to promote Catholicism. As usual it's completely bonkers but brilliant.

She always talked the reader through the Anglican prayers at the CS and mentioned that the Catholics were engaged elsewhere.
But she never told us anything about their service.

I've often wondered why that was, given that EBD was a Catholic convert. Similarly, that other Catholic convert, Antonia Forest, gave very little info when Nicola attended the traditional Catholic mass at Patricks house, other than implying she felt comfortable with it.

I've read a couple but found them disappointing. Though I like the end of 'Guernsey' where they sing as they leave.

That's true I had never thought about it. I would have assumed it was because EBD was CE so surprised to read above that she was catholic.

I liked Two Chalet Girls in India - thought it was well done and struck the right tone, which isn't easy. It's also on Kindle Unlimited so I could read it for free, which isn't the case with the other fill-ins. I'd be happy to pay a couple of quid each but full price is too much when I'm not that bothered about reading them.

I’ve decided that all modern men must be right wimps, chalet school ones from age 20-60 can easily scoop up a long 16 year old girl and carry her miles with no complaint. (Reading and the island)

That was Kester Bellever who wasn't married, so had honed his manly skills.