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Is there a current chalet school thread? Anyone fancy it?

369 replies

FelicityBeedle · 17/05/2021 18:36

Was introduced to these on MN a few years ago, having a reread. Forgotten the extent to which I want to shake Mary Lou!

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Aroundtheworldin80moves · 23/05/2021 20:58

We were actually skiing!
It's a beautiful part of the world.

FelicityBeedle · 23/05/2021 21:10

I think it is the social history I love, whenever I’m reading them my google history is full of terms from them. I spent a happy hour reading about invalid diets the other day! I love Laura Ingalls Wilder’s prairie books for the same reason. Any other books anyone can recommend full of social history? I do read adult novels too!

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JassyRadlett · 23/05/2021 21:13

The Anne books (and all LM Montgomery) are wonderful for that too, Felicity, though from a Canadian perspective.

I’ve been reading them with 9yo DS and we’ve had some really wonderful conversations as a result.

burnoutbabe · 23/05/2021 21:14

I am up to shocks/exploits in my re-read. Not sure I have done a complete re-read before but they are easy reads on my kindle on tubes.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 23/05/2021 21:17

I definitely have to reread my CS, I'd forgotten half this stuff and I did a bit for GBB years ago.

Lovelanguedoc · 23/05/2021 21:30

Another huge fan of Antonia Forest here. I went to a similar, though far less posh, version of Kingscote, where the mistresses were all the same strict, distant and slightly scary (some very scary indeed) copies of the Kingscote staff. None of them was married (I am late sixties) as they were all relics of the time when a woman had to choose between a teaching career and a husband.
Miss Forest's characterisation is impeccable, to the extent that I'm sure I 'know' each of the Marlows (with the possible exception of Peter) as well, or better than I know my own family.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 23/05/2021 21:39

@BinocularVision

I agree the ‘put down your burden and collapse’ thing is deeply appealing (though I’d rather Penny Rest than Jack ‘Trigger Happy with the Wife-Sedation, Not So Keen on Contraception’ Maynard), but I confess I would find the ordinary day to day activities of the CS which EBD evidently finds so appealing, very burdensome!

I’d have been an unwholesome combination of Joan Baker, Stacie Benson and Naomi Elton — foul-mouthed, liking a dash of red lipstick and horrified at paper games, sneaking off to read stuff from the ‘restricted’ part of the library and atheist.

Plus I’d have been expelled within about five minutes for pushing the Robin into the Tiernsee/Channel/ any body of water in the vicinity of Plas Howell. Surely someone has written fan fic in which that was Gertrud Becker’s secret mission?

Oh, but there's hope for you yet! Quick bout of crying in Miss Annersley's study and you'll be a real Chalet School girl in no time. Wink
ignatiusjreilly · 23/05/2021 22:21

I started re-reading them all again when lockdown started. Some highlights from recent books (I'm currently on Bride Leads) include:

  • somebody coming down with jaundice and being isolated in the san, but too late! It spreads quickly through the school as it's so contagious.
  • Joey giving some money to some local Welsh children who help her by picking up her dropped groceries. They don't speak English but thank her with their "odd guttural noises" (i.e. Welsh).
  • Gwensi Howell refusing to speak to anyone until she hears the sound of singing (might have been Jo) and then she finds herself unable to resist being drawn in because she is Welsh and all Welsh people have music in their blood.
  • anyone French having "French fingers" which make them beautiful embroiderers.
  • constant references to a "creamy Irish brogue" and Miss Annersley's beautiful deep voice, "one of her greatest assets".
ignatiusjreilly · 24/05/2021 08:28

I've just remembered another one:

  • all Scottish girls being able to predict the weather. They don't know how they do it; it's just in their blood.
BinocularVision · 24/05/2021 09:03

I was always intrigued by the French fingers (though I think Mary-Lou also had them) which apparently instinctively know how to ‘settle a dress’ so that it looks its best. I mean, other than putting it on, smoothing it down and buttoning or zipping it, how many other ways are there of wearing the average dress?

Unless the gruesome-sounding Swiss-era uniform reboot with the smocking and white revers was one of those ‘wear this simple tie dress in six ways’ ones... Grin

Is there a current chalet school thread? Anyone fancy it?
OhYouBadBadKitten · 24/05/2021 10:48

@ignatiusjreilly

I started re-reading them all again when lockdown started. Some highlights from recent books (I'm currently on Bride Leads) include:
  • somebody coming down with jaundice and being isolated in the san, but too late! It spreads quickly through the school as it's so contagious.
  • Joey giving some money to some local Welsh children who help her by picking up her dropped groceries. They don't speak English but thank her with their "odd guttural noises" (i.e. Welsh).
  • Gwensi Howell refusing to speak to anyone until she hears the sound of singing (might have been Jo) and then she finds herself unable to resist being drawn in because she is Welsh and all Welsh people have music in their blood.
  • anyone French having "French fingers" which make them beautiful embroiderers.
  • constant references to a "creamy Irish brogue" and Miss Annersley's beautiful deep voice, "one of her greatest assets".
I used to try and cultivate a beautiful deep voice on the back of CS, so I was quite surprised when I was put in the alto section of a singing group. Blush Grin
BinocularVision · 24/05/2021 10:55

That's actually a good point, @OhYouBadBadKitten -- the Abbess has a beautiful, deep, cello-like speaking voice, but none of the girls famed for their lovely singing voices (Joey, Verity) are anything other than soprano, are they? EBD clearly didn't like the idea of a CS girl with a big, powerful contralto.

Perhaps when Miss Annersley sang, her deep speaking voice magically migrated up an octave? Grin

ignatiusjreilly · 24/05/2021 11:20

Peggy is described as owning "a charming mezzo-soprano" in The Chalet School in the Oberland, but otherwise yes, it's silvery sopranos every time (often with "bell-like clarity").

I love EBD's turns of phrase. It's nice to find fellow chalet school fans! I've never met anyone else in real life who's even heard of them.

ignatiusjreilly · 24/05/2021 11:24

I love the thought of OhYouBadBadKitten trying to cultivate a deep voice like Miss Annersley's Grin

BinocularVision · 24/05/2021 11:33

Which novel is it where some girls or staff go to a recital where a young singer sings 'Gretchen am Spinnrade' and someone (Bill?) is a bit dubious about such a young girl singing that lied so well (presumably because it's about sexual obsession and regrets?) until someone leans over and reassures her it's all OK, possibly because the singer is widowed or something, so has had 'legitimate' sexual experience? Or am I inventing this?

(Is this why, despite having a number of talented classical singers at the CS, none of them go on to have operatic careers, because about 90% of soprano roles are fallen women, and that's Just Not Nice?') Grin

Arbadacarba · 24/05/2021 12:08

I was always intrigued by the French fingers (though I think Mary-Lou also had them)

Wasn't it Mary Lou who dealt with the curling points on someone's collar by tacking them down with thread? That struck me as a really strange thing to do. As soon as the wearer moves, the dress will sit really oddly because the collar can't move about.

Cassie124 · 24/05/2021 12:38

@BinocularVision

Which novel is it where some girls or staff go to a recital where a young singer sings 'Gretchen am Spinnrade' and someone (Bill?) is a bit dubious about such a young girl singing that lied so well (presumably because it's about sexual obsession and regrets?) until someone leans over and reassures her it's all OK, possibly because the singer is widowed or something, so has had 'legitimate' sexual experience? Or am I inventing this?

(Is this why, despite having a number of talented classical singers at the CS, none of them go on to have operatic careers, because about 90% of soprano roles are fallen women, and that's Just Not Nice?') Grin

I remember that part but can't think which book it came from. IIRC, the singer had a tragic backstory about being widowed after a very brief marriage and returning to her stage career.
FelicityBeedle · 24/05/2021 12:57

I think the widowed opera singer was the first Oberland book with the finishing branch

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ignatiusjreilly · 24/05/2021 13:08

It's in The Chalet School in the Oberland, when they go to a concert in Interlaken, shortly before the train incident. It doesn't mention anything about her being a widow in my copy, but it's the Armada version so all the juicy bits have been removed.

Is there a current chalet school thread? Anyone fancy it?
BinocularVision · 24/05/2021 13:34

@ignatiusjreilly

It's in The Chalet School in the Oberland, when they go to a concert in Interlaken, shortly before the train incident. It doesn't mention anything about her being a widow in my copy, but it's the Armada version so all the juicy bits have been removed.
Thank you, @ignatiusjreilly! I've never owned a copy of that and I don't think I've read it since I was in my teens (which is not today or yesterday). And yes, I think the uncut version has some other audience member telling them about her being widowed and going back to her singing career.

It still amuses me, though, because I think implicitly, it's not a matter of her age making the song inappropriate (after all, we've seen the CS girls regularly act characters much older than themselves in various plays and pantomimes), it's the fact that it's a passionate and very sexy lied, sung by a fallen woman -- I think the implicit message is that you should only be singing about kisses and longing if you're married and hence have a legiimate reason for having kissed a man. In which case you shouldn't be on the stage, you should be at home darning your husband's socks, or whatever it is Miss Annersley says about marriage at some point. But in that case, Bill, Mlle and Miss Norton, all unmarried, should definitely not be listening to it and pronouncing authoritatively on it, either. Grin

Do you suppose Joey and Verity's voice training, such as it was, had to explicitly avoid operatic arias by fallen women? Joey's repertoire, insofar as we ever hear about it seems to be largely English art songs or folk, doesn't it?

BinocularVision · 24/05/2021 13:35

Is this the book with Elma Conroy, who plays cards on Sunday and has gone to 'roadhouses' with her unsuitable boyfriend?

That's what you get from listening to Schubert sung by unsuitably young singers. Grin

ignatiusjreilly · 24/05/2021 13:47

They definitely seem to focus on sacred music rather than opera. I love the thought of them putting on their own performance of something like La Traviata or Madama Butterfly. Imagine the tableaux they could do! That would certainly raise money for the free beds at the San.

ignatiusjreilly · 24/05/2021 13:49

Ha ha! Yes, that's the one. Elma sounds like the most normal teenager to ever attend the Chalet School.

KevinTheGoat · 24/05/2021 15:01

@FelicityBeedle

I think it is the social history I love, whenever I’m reading them my google history is full of terms from them. I spent a happy hour reading about invalid diets the other day! I love Laura Ingalls Wilder’s prairie books for the same reason. Any other books anyone can recommend full of social history? I do read adult novels too!
Me too. As I explained to my mum, one reason why I read them is that they're period pieces and they give an insight into what life was like, batshit though they are (e.g. hair washing being less frequent, synthetic maps for geography classes, Empire-centric history etc.) Mum was a head girl herself and yes, they really did have a lot of power back then, ditto prefects.

I think one of Joey's daughters is a contralto. Con? Margot can sing, but I have a feeling she's a soprano. (I'm a natural mezzo myself.) When Joey sings, it's nearly always folk or religious music. I was legit surprised when Debussy - who I really like - got a mention in Genius, as his stuff is relatively avant-garde for the CS.

The dress sounded fugly with that crimson honeycomb pattern. I don't know why the girls were all so enthusiastic about it. If you've got the GGBP version of Ruey, there's a section about uniforms at the beginning and it's an eye-opener.

KevinTheGoat · 24/05/2021 15:02

@BinocularVision

I agree the ‘put down your burden and collapse’ thing is deeply appealing (though I’d rather Penny Rest than Jack ‘Trigger Happy with the Wife-Sedation, Not So Keen on Contraception’ Maynard), but I confess I would find the ordinary day to day activities of the CS which EBD evidently finds so appealing, very burdensome!

I’d have been an unwholesome combination of Joan Baker, Stacie Benson and Naomi Elton — foul-mouthed, liking a dash of red lipstick and horrified at paper games, sneaking off to read stuff from the ‘restricted’ part of the library and atheist.

Plus I’d have been expelled within about five minutes for pushing the Robin into the Tiernsee/Channel/ any body of water in the vicinity of Plas Howell. Surely someone has written fan fic in which that was Gertrud Becker’s secret mission?

I'd be a mixture of Eustacia and Odette (the weepy homesick French girl). I like paper games but I'm autistic and my social skills are not great, and I need my own space, so boarding school would have been hell.
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