The Chalet School 2 - Still talking about it a century later!

[ShellacB]

Hi everyone. Here is the new thread!

I’ve been reading on Archive Of Our Own so far, must have a look at LGM.

I don't think I ever read that book. But Jack being prone to uncontrollable and prolonged rages makes sense of Merryn Williams having him blow his brains out rather than become a solid lump of comfort when the chips were down for the family. And also makes sense of Len marrying an abusive man. Was Jo's apparent Victorian-parent behaviour because she was walking on eggshells to try to avoid Jack blowing his stack and administering "discipline" to her and the children?

There’s also the thing about Jack’s old nickname being Jigger - a whisky measure.

I didn't know that. I assumed it had something to do with the tropical fleas of the same name. I feel a re-read through the lens of Jack being a volatile drunk coming on.

I didn’t know about the tropical fleas!

Yes, though do we know if Jack ever lived outside of Europe? Because they’re only found in sub-Saharan Africa, South America and the Caribbean, I think.

I will admit that my familiarity with them stems from reading the appallingly racist Congo part of The Nun’s Story, where apparently the European boys growing up there all have a ‘native’ guardian of their own age, part of whose job is to dig out jigger infestations (usually from walking barefoot).

Oh, Merryn Williams absolutely picked up on things that are there in the series, but which EBD intends us to read as positives! MW reads them against the grain… So we’re supposed to find it a charming fate for Len that Reg ‘knows what he wants’ and she’s bagged a San doctor before even leaving school, but MW picks up on the fact that it’s not suggestive of R being a nice, well-balanced man interested in an equal marriage, and nor does it suggest that Jack and Joey are good parents.

Yes I read that as well, that's what lead me to Lime Green Musings

Re the triplets, my friends mother did not know that her final pregnancy was twins. She had actually asked the doctor as she felt it was different & presumably was bigger but was told no. So no one knew until she gave birth. This was in the 1970s.

There are probably stories, even now, of one twin hiding behind the other in a scan etc. It is rare but I am sure it still happens.

Although Joey being pregnant with Triplets, which are full term as far as we are aware and not one of the Doctors she sees regularly even speculating that it might be a multiple birth is odd. She would have been much bigger than usual.

And much is always made about how slim she always was so her bump would have been huge.

I have reached Chalet School overload. I've just started Redheads and a couple of chapters in I just could not bring myself to read it. I'm waiting for my cousin to catch up with me and then we will read it at the same time.

She's just read Richenda and I woke up to a Whatsapp message that simply read "Displaced organ!"

I have reached Chalet School overload

I reached overload just as I bought the book which completed my GGB collection.

I now own them all.

I can't bring myself to read them again, though. I simply can't bear Jo.

There are certainly some books in the later Swiss part of the series that I would be in no rush to read again.

Exile, on the other hand, I could read at least once a year and not be bored of.

I think Redheads is one of the better Swiss books. The crime plot is bonkers but it's entertaining.

I might give it another try when I have finished what I'm reading now. But I think I was at risk of giving myself brain fever!

Yes I love it. It's farcical but fun

I think Redheads is one of the better Swiss books. The crime plot is bonkers but it's entertaining.

I like Flavia/Copper. I think she'd have been a good Second Prefect when she reached the Sixth. (Unfortunately I think we'd have been stuck with Jack Lambert as HG in that year.)

I’ve just been reading all the Abbey books available on fadedpage, which is most of them although they don’t have Joy’s New Adventure or Rosamund’s Castle.

I enjoyed them & I love that although Oxenham pays plenty of lip service to the importance of men & marriage, it’s the female friendships & networks she writes about best. Also that Mary & Rachel are allowed to remain happily single.

The books really haven’t aged well, though. The language, & Jen’s plan to send some of her sons to Kenya to bolster the British Empire, & Andrew Marchwood being a big game hunter - but what really annoyed me was the cats being allowed to constantly have kittens. Which of course would have been totally normal at the time.

I’m afraid this is a total non sequitur but reading later Chalet books alongside Style&Beauty- how EBD loved her nylon! Pretty nylon dresses with embroidery…a far cry from the early uniform but you get a real sense of how revolutionary easy care, modern fabrics must’ve seemed in the 50s

As we have taken a slight detour and wandered into the Abbey may I recommend this site
https://allisonthompson.blog/abbey-girls/
The books are so bonkers that the Chalet School is an oasis of calm in comparison 😁

And they more than make up for the CS's refusal to entertain nicknames!

I’ll have a good look at Allison Thompson later. I also discovered that the books faded page doesn’t have are available on Amazon in Kindle.

I’ve commented on the Queens all becoming children’s nurses before but I forgot just how bonkers it seems - there’s one bit with an impromptu dance at the Castle, a visitor suggests asking the nursery Queens to join them & Rosalind says ‘They’re not dressed for dancing. They’d be embarrassed.’ Presumably because they’re all in uniform & would look like servants.

I suppose it’s partly about women still having a very limited number of possible careers at the time.

Can I also point you all to archive.org which has a pretty good collection of Chalet and Abbey books (including some fill ins) to borrow online.
They've been scanned in from the actual books (mostly the hardbacks) so quality can vary but, as someone who used to spend hours scanning textbooks at a university library, they've not done too bad a job.
At the moment I'm borrowing Rosamunds Tuck Shop, Juliet of the Chalet School and The Maids of La Rochelle 🙂

At the moment I'm borrowing Rosamunds Tuck Shop, Juliet of the Chalet School and The Maids of La Rochelle

Maids of La Rochelle was published only a year before School At, but School At seems far more modern. Madge had a great deal more gumption than Elizabeth. What would have become of Janie if Elizabeth hadn't married well? Limited education, no training for anything, limited job opportunities.

ETA compare Janie with Biddy Devine, who was the same age. Feeble as Mary was made to appear, she was at least ensuring that Biddy could earn her own living.

Yes indeed. In Maids, Janie is treated very much like The Robin. Very babyfied!
And the weird French/English way of speaking grates too. Also the Guernsey accent is written very like the Highland Twins speech patterns.
in fact Janie and Jo are so similar that I'm surprised Janie doesn't fall in a packing crate in the later La Rochelle books! 😂