Chalet School

The Chalet School is a series of approximately sixty school story novels by Elinor Brent-Dyer, initially published between 1925 and 1970. The school was initially located in Austria, moved to Guernsey in 1939, following the rise to power of the Nazi Party, then to "Plas Howell", a house on the border of England and Wales, then to St Briavels, close to the English - Welsh border and finally to Switzerland.^[1]

Background and main characters

The Chalet School is founded in 1925 by Madge Bettany when her brother Dick has to return to his job in the Forestry Commission in India. She comes to the conclusion that starting a school would be a convenient way to generate some much-needed income, while also looking after her infirm younger sister Joey. Finding that suitable locations in England would be too expensive for her plans, she decides to look abroad, and finally settles on a large chalet in the Austrian Alps, conveniently providing a helpful climate for Joey's recuperation. Within a few years a sanatorium is built not far from the school, where tuberculosis patients convalesce. The founder, Dr Jem Russell, along with Dr Jack Maynard, provides assistance to members of the school and they eventually marry Madge and Joey respectively. Robin Humphries (in the later books Soeur Cécile) is also a main character, until she leaves the Chalet school to go to Oxford and later becomes a nun. The books then follow a variety of characters, including Daisy Venables, Bride Bettany and Gay Lambert, until Mary-Lou Trelawney comes to the school, and becomes the main character for several books. After she leaves school, in the later books, Joey's triplets, Len, Con & Margot, become main characters. The three main leads throughout the series are generally accepted to be Joey Bettany, Mary-Lou Trelawney and Len Maynard.

Throughout the series, various girls arrive at the school with personal problems, bad attitudes or behavioural issues. As a result of the ministrations of better-behaved classmates and the school mistresses, including Miss Annersley and Miss Wilson, they all tend to discover the error of their ways and become model pupils, or 'real Chalet School girls'. This formula of a troublesome new girl who reforms and conforms is most common in the later books.

Book details

Hardback

Chalet School books were originally published in hardback between 1925 and 1970 by W. & R. Chambers.^[2]

	Title	Year
1	The School at the Chalet	1925
2	Jo of the Chalet School	1926
3	The Princess of the Chalet School	1927
4	The Head Girl of the Chalet School	1928
5	The Rivals of the Chalet School	1929
6	Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School	1930
7	The Chalet School and Jo	1931
8	The Chalet Girls in Camp	1932
9	The Exploits of the Chalet Girls	1933
10	The Chalet School and the Lintons ^[a]	1934
11	The New House at the Chalet School	1935
12	Jo Returns to the Chalet School	1936
13	The New Chalet School ^[b]	1938
14	The Chalet School in Exile	1940
15	The Chalet School Goes to It ^[c]	1941
16	The Highland Twins at the Chalet School	1942
17	Lavender Laughs in the Chalet School ^[d]	1943
18	Gay From China at the Chalet School ^[e]	1944
19	Jo to the Rescue	1945
20	Three Go to the Chalet School	1949
21	The Chalet School and the Island	1950
22	Peggy of the Chalet School	1950
23	Carola Storms the Chalet School	1951
24	The Wrong Chalet School	1952
25	Shocks for the Chalet School	1952
26	The Chalet School in the Oberland	1952
27	Bride Leads the Chalet School	1953
28	Changes for the Chalet School	1953
29	Joey Goes to the Oberland	1954

	Title	Year
30	The Chalet School and Barbara	1954
31	Tom Tackles the Chalet School ^[f]	1955
32	The Chalet School Does It Again	1955
33	A Chalet Girl from Kenya	1955
34	Mary-Lou of the Chalet School	1956
35	A Genius at the Chalet School ^[g]	1956
36	A Problem for the Chalet School	1956
37	The New Mistress at the Chalet School	1957
38	Excitements at the Chalet School	1957
39	The Coming of Age of the Chalet School	1958
40	The Chalet School and Richenda	1958
41	Trials for the Chalet School	1958
42	Theodora and the Chalet School	1959
43	Joey and Co in Tirol	1960
44	Ruey Richardson: Chaletian ^[h]	1960
45	A Leader in the Chalet School	1961
46	The Chalet School Wins the Trick	1961
47	A Future Chalet School Girl	1962
48	The Feud in the Chalet School	1962
49	The Chalet School Triplets	1963
50	The Chalet School Reunion	1963
51	Jane and the Chalet School	1964
52	Redheads at the Chalet School	1964
53	Adrienne and the Chalet School	1965
54	Summer Term at the Chalet School	1965
55	Challenge for the Chalet School	1966
56	Two Sams at the Chalet School	1967
57	Althea Joins the Chalet School	1969
58	Prefects of the Chalet School	1970

Paperback

The novels were reissued in paperback format between 1967 and 1995. Usually with updated language. Some were more or less uncut, but many others were abridged to various extents, including chapters deleted from some titles. A few were split into two paperback volumes, and several were retitled.^[3]

	Hardback	Paperback
10	The Chalet School and the Lintons	The Chalet School and the Lintons
10	The Chalet School and the Lintons	A Rebel at the Chalet School
13	The New Chalet School	The New Chalet School
13	The New Chalet School	A United Chalet School
15	The Chalet School Goes to It	The Chalet School at War
17	Lavender Laughs in the Chalet School	Lavender Leigh at the Chalet School
18	Gay From China at the Chalet School	Gay Lambert at the Chalet School
35	A Genius at the Chalet School	A Genius at the Chalet School
35	A Genius at the Chalet School	Chalet School Fête
44	Ruey Richardson: Chaletian	Ruey Richardson at the Chalet School

Additional books

Title	Year
The Chalet Book for Girls (including The Mystery at the Chalet School)	1947
The Second Chalet Book for Girls (including Tom Tackles the Chalet School, part 1)	1948
The Third Chalet Book for Girls (including Tom Tackles the Chalet School, part 2)	1949
The Chalet School and Rosalie	1951
The Chalet Girls’ Cookbook	1953
The Chalet Club News Letter Book	2004
Elinor M Brent Dyer's Short Stories	2005

Books by other authors

Several authors have written books about the Chalet School. Some of them follow on from the last book of the series, and others attempt to fill in some of the "gaps" in the earlier years of the school. All books are published by Girls Gone By Publishers (formerly Friends of the Chalet School) unless otherwise stated.

Prequel

This title describes the events which led to the founding of the Chalet School.

Before the Chalet School: The Bettanys on the Home Front - Helen Barber (2015)
The Bettanys of Taverton High - Helen Barber (2008)

Fill in novels

This list contains all fill ins that have been published so far. The second title listed is the book that immediately precedes the respective fill in unless otherwise stated.

Joey and Patricia: A Reunion in Guernsey - Helen McClelland (2000) Published by The New Chalet Club - The Chalet School in Exile
Gillian of the Chalet School - Carol Allan (2001) - The New Chalet School (and A United Chalet School)
The Chalet School and Robin - Caroline German (2003) - The Chalet School Goes to It
A Chalet School Headmistress - Helen Barber (2004) - Same term as The Mystery at the Chalet School
Visitors for the Chalet School - Helen McClelland (2004) First published by Bettany Press and later by Collins - The Princess of the Chalet School
Hilda Annersley: Headmistress - Lesley Green (2005) Published by Matador - Gay From China at the Chalet School
Peace Comes to the Chalet School - Katherine Bruce (2005) - The Chalet School and Rosalie
Juliet of the Chalet School - Caroline German (2006) - The Guides of the Chalet School
Two Chalet School Girls in India - Priyadarshini Narendra (2006) Published by Bettany Press- The New Chalet School (and A United Chalet School)
Cornelia of the Chalet School - Jackie Roberts (2009) Published by Yersinia Press - Three go to the Chalet School
The Guides of the Chalet School - Jane Berry (2009) - Jo of the Chalet School
Deira Joins the Chalet School - Caroline German (2010) - The Guides of the Chalet School
A Difficult Term for the Chalet School - Lisa Townsend (2011) - Three Go to the Chalet School
The Müller Twins at the Chalet School - Katherine Bruce (2012) - Jo Returns to the Chalet School
Chalet School World - Helen Barber (2013) - Various
Champion of the Chalet School - Adrianne Fitzpatrick (2014) - Peace Comes to the Chalet School
Surprises for the Chalet School - Jackie Roberts (2014) Published by Yersinia Press - Same term as Peggy of the Chalet School
Joey and Co in Canada - Jackie Roberts (2016) Published by Yersinia Press - follows Carola storms the Chalet School

Sequels

The first book follows some of the Chalet School characters, though it is not set in the School itself. It is not recommended for younger readers.

Chalet Girls Grow Up - Merryn Williams (1998) Published by Plas Gwyn Books

These books follow on after Prefects of the Chalet School

New Beginnings at the Chalet School - Heather Paisley (1999 Published by Friends of the Chalet School and 2002 Published by GGB)
Nicola Goes To The Oberland - Josephine M. Hardman (2010) Published by Blurb (takes place over the year immediately following New Beginnings)
The Chalet School Librarian - Pat Willimott (2005) Published by Matador

Others

Beginning in 2013, Girls Gone By published the first of four volumes of The Chalet School Encyclopedia by Alison McCallum. This categorises all of the mentions of every character in the entire series, along with articles focusing on specific aspects of the school written by various authors associated with other fill-ins. The first volume covers characters with names from A to D, the second from E to L. The books are also full of illustrations. Future volumes will be published in 2015 and 2016.

The Chalet School on the Internet

Friends Of The Chalet School issue a quarterly magazine to members, and also run Girls Gone By Publishers re-publishing the books with the original text and illustrations, as Hardbacks can often reach hundreds of pounds on auction sites and elsewhere. Girls Gone By also publishes new novels set in the Chalet School universe.
In May 1995 the New Chalet Club was formed at the request of the late Helen McClelland, who became its first President until her death in November 2008. The Club produces regular Journals for members and has issued various supplements on EBD-related topics.
The Chaletian Bullet Board (CBB) is a forum where members discuss topics about Elinor Brent-Dyer and all of her published works, along with other Girls Own fiction. The site is however mainly dedicated to the Chalet School series.
The Sally Denny Library (SDL) is the fanfiction arm of the CBB, an affiliated but otherwise separate site.

References

↑ Ann Mackie-Hunter (May 1998). "The Chalet School's homes". Friends of the Chalet School. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
↑ "Complete Numerical List of Titles in the Chalet School Series". Friends of the Chalet School. Archived from the original on 2008-03-14. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
↑ "Chalet School reference list". The New Chalet Club. Retrieved 2008-03-20.

External links

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