Some Fretwork and the Interminable Christmas Play at the Chalet School

[EmilyAlice]

Now girls, line up and listen because this term is a busy one. Firstly we are combining our hobbies club and the Christmas play, so we will need our fretworkers to get busy on the scenery, some beautiful découpage for decorations, our nimble-fingered needlewomen on costume duty and some scrapbooks for - er...
Now one other thing girls. As you know the Chalet School has moved from the Tyrol, to Guernsey, to Armishire, to some island or other and thence to Switzerland.
This term we have moved again and the first thing I want you to do is to find out where the bloody hell we are....

In Richenda, does it not say that her father has sent her a letter saying she has to stay at school for half term as she does not deserve treats and that he refuses to bear the cost of the trip? Doesn't one of the staff talking about it say something along the lines of.."You know how it is, we send out the letters saying this is going to happen......and he wrote back saying she was not to go"/..

That would suggest that the trips are added to the bill as extras..

Reading Princess - Miss Denny and Captain Humphries take Juliet to college and see her settled there, which is convenient as Captain H has some business to attend to in Devonshire.

What on earth does he do, that he has business to attend to in Devonshire?! Was it a bustling region in those days? Wasn't he some sort of military / civil service type? Devonshire's not even necessitated by plot - Juliet is going to Royal Holloway...

(Also, though, over Princess generally. I'd forgotten what a very good one it is.)

Captain Humphries used to be a friend of the family so presumably lived in Taverton at some stage...maybe?

In Eustacia, Jo misses a couple of trip days looking after Robin. They go buy some wood carving amid obligatory exclamations of 'das Engelkind!' But Madge says she wants Jo to see the glacier, so Anne volunteers to stay behind. She does give some sort of excuse why she doesn't care about seeing it, but I can't remember what.

as Captain H has some business to attend to in Devonshire

Smuggling, of course. Isn't that what one does in Devonshire?

Ah, I didn't remember any of that, Cheddar, which makes it quite a bit better, I think. Although still not sure anyone ought to be missing out on seeing the glacier (and arguably Jo is one of those most likely to get another chance to see one/ that one in particular, given she is basically indefinitely resident in the Tyrol)...

I also missed Captain Humphries also having Taverton connections, which makes far more sense of it. Although it's unusual for EBD to (if she has) specifically put Taverton into a 'real' place, isn't it? I think it kind of jumps around between Cornwall and Devon for no obvious reason.

Finished Hilda Annersley Headmistress. Agree with whoever said before that it is a good story but poorly edited. Somewhat ironic that a book about the esteemed Chalet School English teacher, with her love of beautiful English should be so badly punctuated. A shame because it did hamper my enjoyment of it.

Going to ask for Bettanys of Taverton High for birthday!

I've just read Highland Twins, Bride Leads and the Chalet School at War, borrowed from the library. Enjoyed all three but especially Highland Twins. These German spies that turn up at the school with surprising regularity during the war do amuse me! Was surprised by the second sight storyline though. I'd expect anything a bit "woo" to get short shrift from the sensible Miss Annersley!

Miss Annersley definitely does not approve, though! ''Tis all a bit odd.

Aw. I think EBD gets herself in a bit of a pickle because she really wants to include the second sight thing but also really doesn't want to condone it, and ends up trying to reconcile this by making it 'special exception for Jo' territory and including a rosary.

I think that, if you suspend judgment on the second sight, the burglar in pursuit of the map of Erisay, the twins' 'Highland' accents (so, possibly everything relating to the title characters), Highland Twins is really good. I think the Betty Wynne-Davies bit is very well done, i think (?) it's got some excellent staff room scenes and evocative wartime stuff too. I like At War best of those three though.

I really like Highland Twins. It's got grown-up sensible Robin, and Betty is handled very well, with the emphasis that actually, Floppy Williams is wrong to refuse to forgive her. It also has the deleted-from-Armada bit with Elisaveta escaping and doing charring for a living. The bit with Miss Dene being chased and then fainting - I have a vague idea that the actual chase is cut from Armada but not the bit where the twins see someone (not Gaudenz, but similar brawny handyman type - Griffith Griffiths?) carrying Rosalie in, and it didn't make any sense! Can anyone remember if that's true?

Oh, how did I forget Elisaveta?! I love her in Highland Twins. And yes lovely older Robin too. Is it also the one with Dr Jack travelling around in a bathchair chariot thing?

The Highland Twins copy I read described Miss Dene being chased. Every other character faints and has to be carried off at some point so why not the head's secretary?! It's not very clearly explained but I think the spy chases her and then the gardener or whatever he is sweeps her up into his brawny arms.
It was nice to catch up with Elisaveta again. And Frieda, and others like the Linders sisters too.
We have oblique references to Jo's pregnancy and Jem appears with his trusty syringe when it seems Jack has died. No bathchair thing though.
In War Jo's escape from Guernsey was very tense. Although I obviously knew she survived to give birth to another 100 kids.
Loved the Scottish accents although I had to translate in my head. As for the Armitage locals, of course they have to throw in the odd "look you" just to remind the readers that after years of peasants cheerily calling "Gruss Gott" we are now in Wales!

I love Highland Twins. Mostly.

I really dislike Joey's reaction to Jack's death. She basically abandons her triplets. If he really had died, then when would she have come out? Weeks? Years?
She goes upstairs leaving Robin and Daisy, young teenagers who would be upset themselves to deal with the toddler triplets-Daisy has to run out to fetch help.

But I think what really irritates is when in subsequent books Joey tells people how she knew she had to keep strong for the girls... she doesn't give the impression she thinks about them at all.

That's true, but at least the faithful Anna is there to say "come with thy Anna, my little lambs" - or words to that effect!

With the exception of Rescue, i find young-mother-Joey particularly trying.

I find generally Older mother-Joey more trying. Simply because the teenage triplets say things like "you'll love mamma, she's a poppet."
That's not what teens say, they say "Mum is so embarrassing". And that's teens with perfectly normal parents, not ones that are trying to pretend they're teenagers too.

I remember one time when I was mid teens we shared lifts with a friend. When mum took us she was so embarrassing, she asked questions about things she should know and said things I'd rather she didn't say and I spent the entire journey with my toes curled. When my friend's dad took us he chatted nicely about things he had an interest in, and thought we'd be interested in and it was lovely...
One day my friend got out of the car and said "I'm so sorry about dad, he's so embarrassing..."

I think Margot occasionally skirts on the edge of that, but we're clearly supposed to disapprove of her attitude.

I suppose Joey's collapse was typical of her. She never faced up to difficulties, always left other people to deal with it. When she's single it's okay, but I find the abandonment of the triplets to Daisy and Robin so thoughtless. Daisy and Robin are obviously going to be distraught too, and probably the triplets by the reaction round them. They're lisping sentences, so must be around 2yo and certainly mine at 2yo would have been very aware of the distress around them.
She is the best example of a spineless jellyfish in the books.

Ijii uj

Just reading Joey Goes to the Oberland.... she falls into a trunk, needs 2 adults to get her out...then requires a sleeping tablet and bedrest to recover. How does she manage to get dressed by herself in the morning!! I love the concept that it takes all morning to sort out the table linen for packing (mine would fit into a carrier bag)
I've just moved house and finally have space to have my Chalet School books displayed. After 40years, I am reading them in order (think I have them all). I have my mum's copy of Jo To the Rescue - published in 1947 - that's probably my favourite.

Older mother Joey definitely annoys me the most. Running into the school every 5 minutes, insisting on having a finger in every pie, having zillions of new babies and ignoring the boys. Although I think it's maybe War when Bill kicks her out of a class, which makes me laugh.

I would like to differ re never dealing with difficulties, because she does as a child. She goes off up the Tiernjoch after Grizel, rescues Elisaveta from her mad uncle and tries to rescue Maureen from the lake. The drippiness/being unable to cope stuff all really dates from Exile onwards, once she's an adult. Although I'm not sure where to class getting brain fever/pleuro-pneumonia/standing at the door and nearly getting pneumonia! I think I class those as things she can't help. Whereas having to be practically carried home by Jack in Exile in mental agony is utterly pathetic. And all the bits later on where Mamma mustn't be worried because she's "busy" again just make me sorry for her existing children. I think perhaps it's because when she's a kid she's awfully delicate (i.e., physically), whereas much is made of the fact that she outgrows that (witness Peter Chester when the Triplets are born), but she remains subject to mental stress to a ridiculous degree.

I quite forgot that Reunion was on OneDrive! I was just considering buying a GGBP copy and thought I'd read Redheads for the craic, and lo and behold, there it was! So I'm reading it instead, because chronological order and all that. Grizel is quite clearly suffering from depression at the beginning, isn't she? I was surprised to find EBD describing it so well - suspect she either suffered from it herself or knew someone well who did. And Grizel is described as "heading for a breakdown" - I wonder if nervous breakdown = clinical depression in many Victorian books?

I've just moved house and finally have space to have my Chalet School books displayed. After 40years, I am reading them in order (think I have them all). I have my mum's copy of Jo To the Rescue - published in 1947 - that's probably my favourite.

Ooh, I'm very on all counts. All my books are double-shelved (ie there's a row at the back of the shelf, and another row in front of it) and a fair few are in piles because I just don't know where to put them. On the plus side, double shelving means I'm likely to forget what I've got, and it can be a nice surprise when if ever I get round to rotating the rows on each shelf to see what's at the back. My CS collection is Armada p/backs and some GGBP versions. I think I have some gaps in the middle of the series somewhere and one of these days I'll do a stocktake. I'd love to have some hardbacks, but I don't think it's going to happen.

The drippiness/being unable to cope stuff all really dates from Exile onwards, once she's an adult.

Poor Jo is an object lesson in what happens when you take a bright, quirky, resourceful girl, and shoe-horn her into a wife-and-mother role to which she's eminently unsuited. She really doesn't have enough to do to occupy her mind, and it kind of turns in on itself, I think. Her youthful rebellion against growing up and determination not to marry were rather prescient, and make me very sad that she didn't go to university and live the bo-ho lifestyle she was clearly cut out for.

Although I'm not sure where to class getting brain fever/pleuro-pneumonia/standing at the door and nearly getting pneumonia

I don't mind those, because they were physical weakness which she tried her best to overcome through strength of personality. In one of the fillers (I think) - or perhaps on this thread, even - someone suggested that she was asthmatic at a time when the condition wasn't known about and certainly couldn't be managed. But they're a far cry from having to be put to bed because she's fallen into a trunk.

And it's weirdly inconsistent. In Reunion she falls downstairs and headbutts the newel post, but is essentially ok. That's an actual proper injury! But she recovers faster than the box incident.

I know there are many here who disagree, but I have a real soft spot for Reunion. Partly just for the simple fact of Grizel finally getting her happy ending. But also I think it's a refreshing change in subject matter and one that EBD handles well, I think - especially compared to her writing in the other books at that's point in the series, and especially given that she's not much been sympathetic towards Grizel's character before that point. Joey is utterly ridiculous in it, I realise - but she's so ridiculous it's just eye-rolly and sometimes genuinely funny. (This is perhaps also why I find Joey more frustrating as a younger mother - she's running around doing that 'look at ME, I have triplets you know' thing, and she's not yet reduced to predictable, harmless, irrelevant bonkers, which is how I see her in the Swiss books.)

So, Juniors. Can we discuss it properly, or is it still too spoilerish? I found it a very enjoyable read, but for me, it failed the GGBP fill-in requirement that it can't contain anything EBD wouldn't have referenced in other books. I found the 'EBDism' it's aimed at correcting a completely harmless one, whereas the suggested explanation here, whilst a really interesting idea and well executed, would certainly have been mentioned in Princess.

Also - this is super pedantic, but it's also in a similar vein to the 'EBDism' of Princess, so I'm raising it - I don't think Peggy Burnett ought to be there. None of the Burnetts appear in Princess - Mary is there in Head Girl and isn't new then, but there's a term gap between the two books and that's when I would envisage her starting. The younger two don't get a mention until Rivals. So for me, that jarred somewhat - especially in the context of a book about explaining why someone is somewhere they shouldn't really be.

I have a suspicion that Rosalie Dene and Mary Burnett are both referenced in Jo of as starting next term. Both ex-Taverton girls who feature briefly in School At. So they ought to be there in Princess. I would have thought that Peggy would be too young - far more likely that it would be Kitty, though! Peggy's a fair few years younger than Mary.