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The Chalet School #4
The Head Girl of the Chalet School
It was a big experiment making Grizel Head Girl. Though she hated to do anything and fail, Grizel didn't like the sound of the school motto - "school first, self last". However, there are plenty of opportunities to test her when there is a kidnapping and a difficult new pupil.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1928
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About the author
Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
171 books113 followersElinor M. Brent-Dyer was born as Gladys Eleanor May Dyer on 6th April 1894, in South Shields in the industrial northeast of England, and grew up in a terraced house which had no garden or inside toilet. She was the only daughter of Eleanor Watson Rutherford and Charles Morris Brent Dyer. Her father, who had been married before, left home when she was three years old. In 1912, her brother Henzell died at age 17 of cerebro-spinal fever. After her father died, her mother remarried in 1913.
Elinor was educated at a small local private school in South Shields and returned there to teach when she was eighteen after spending two years at the City of Leeds Training College. Her teaching career spanned 36 years, during which she taught in a wide variety of state and private schools in the northeast, in Middlesex, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, and finally in Hereford.
In the early 1920s she adopted the name Elinor Mary Brent-Dyer. A holiday she spent in the Austrian Tyrol at Pertisau-am-Achensee gave her the inspiration for the first location in the Chalet School series. However, her first book, 'Gerry Goes to School', was published in 1922 and was written for the child actress Hazel Bainbridge. Her first 'Chalet' story, 'The School at the Chalet', was originally published in 1925.
In 1930, the same year that 'Jean of Storms' was serialised, she converted to Roman Catholicism.
In 1933 the Brent-Dyer household (she lived with her mother and stepfather until her mother's death in 1957) moved to Hereford. She travelled daily to Peterchurch as a governess.
When her stepfather died she started her own school in Hereford, The Margaret Roper School. It was non-denominational but with a strong religious tradition. Many Chalet School customs were followed, the girls even wore a similar uniform made in the Chalet School's colours of brown and flame. Elinor was rather untidy, erratic and flamboyant and not really suited to being a headmistress. After her school closed in 1948 she devoted most of her time to writing.
Elinor's mother died in 1957 and in 1964 she moved to Redhill, where she lived in a joint establishment with fellow school story author Phyllis Matthewman and her husband, until her death on 20th September 1969.
During her lifetime Elinor M. Brent-Dyer published 101 books but she is remembered mainly for her Chalet School series. The series numbers 58 books and is the longest-surviving series of girls' school-stories ever known, having been continuously in print for more than 70 years. One hundred thousand paperback copies are still being sold each year.
Among her published books are other school stories; family, historical, adventure and animal stories; a cookery book, and four educational geography-readers. She also wrote plays and numerous unpublished poems and was a keen musician.
In 1994, the year of the centenary of her Elinor Brent-Dyer's birth, Friends of the Chalet School put up plaques in Pertisau, South Shields and Hereford, and a headstone was erected on her grave in Redstone Cemetery, since there was not one previously. They also put flowers on her grave on the anniversaries of her birth and death and on other special occasions.
Elinor was educated at a small local private school in South Shields and returned there to teach when she was eighteen after spending two years at the City of Leeds Training College. Her teaching career spanned 36 years, during which she taught in a wide variety of state and private schools in the northeast, in Middlesex, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, and finally in Hereford.
In the early 1920s she adopted the name Elinor Mary Brent-Dyer. A holiday she spent in the Austrian Tyrol at Pertisau-am-Achensee gave her the inspiration for the first location in the Chalet School series. However, her first book, 'Gerry Goes to School', was published in 1922 and was written for the child actress Hazel Bainbridge. Her first 'Chalet' story, 'The School at the Chalet', was originally published in 1925.
In 1930, the same year that 'Jean of Storms' was serialised, she converted to Roman Catholicism.
In 1933 the Brent-Dyer household (she lived with her mother and stepfather until her mother's death in 1957) moved to Hereford. She travelled daily to Peterchurch as a governess.
When her stepfather died she started her own school in Hereford, The Margaret Roper School. It was non-denominational but with a strong religious tradition. Many Chalet School customs were followed, the girls even wore a similar uniform made in the Chalet School's colours of brown and flame. Elinor was rather untidy, erratic and flamboyant and not really suited to being a headmistress. After her school closed in 1948 she devoted most of her time to writing.
Elinor's mother died in 1957 and in 1964 she moved to Redhill, where she lived in a joint establishment with fellow school story author Phyllis Matthewman and her husband, until her death on 20th September 1969.
During her lifetime Elinor M. Brent-Dyer published 101 books but she is remembered mainly for her Chalet School series. The series numbers 58 books and is the longest-surviving series of girls' school-stories ever known, having been continuously in print for more than 70 years. One hundred thousand paperback copies are still being sold each year.
Among her published books are other school stories; family, historical, adventure and animal stories; a cookery book, and four educational geography-readers. She also wrote plays and numerous unpublished poems and was a keen musician.
In 1994, the year of the centenary of her Elinor Brent-Dyer's birth, Friends of the Chalet School put up plaques in Pertisau, South Shields and Hereford, and a headstone was erected on her grave in Redstone Cemetery, since there was not one previously. They also put flowers on her grave on the anniversaries of her birth and death and on other special occasions.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
October 8, 2021
September 22nd: This time I reread an unabridged edition, which was definitely an advantage. Strangely enough, I didn’t link Deira’s burning of Grizel’s manuscript book with ‘Little Women’ before now, but not only the act, but even the language are eerily reminiscent! I wonder if it was intentional….
August 23, 2021
It always fascinates me how early this series shifts things; how early things change. The status quo of the first few books is already being changed at this point. Head girls have been and gone (my beloved Bette Rincini has not had her moment in the sun but this is addressed by Helen McClelland's excellent Visitors for the Chalet School) and now it is Grizel's turn. Grizel is a complicated beast, one of the most intriguing characters ever to walk the stage of the Chalet School, and coupled with this - Madge has left the school to get married. Mademoiselle Lapattre (Le Pattre, La Pattre... ;) ) is now the headmistress.
And the problems begin before we even get to school. Joey and Grizel, their fractious and vividly real relationship makes Things Occur. Grizel is hotheaded. Joey is tactless. Brent-Dyer's writing is superb. She's so early on in her sprawling, generational saga of school stories that her writing is fresh, sharp and so so lovely. There are of course the traditional 'oh my god is she dead' moments that only the Chalet School can carry off, and an amazing cameo from an already established character in the series. (A brief pause: we're four books in, four!, and yet this series is already so layered and thick and satisfying and Brent-Dyer is quite genuinely throwing everything at it like some gorgeous mad scientist of writing and I love it, I love it).
Also it's Cornelia Flower's first term. She has yellow hair and a ramrod chin. Still not *quite* sure what a ramrod is, mind, but Corney is awesome.
God these books are good.
And the problems begin before we even get to school. Joey and Grizel, their fractious and vividly real relationship makes Things Occur. Grizel is hotheaded. Joey is tactless. Brent-Dyer's writing is superb. She's so early on in her sprawling, generational saga of school stories that her writing is fresh, sharp and so so lovely. There are of course the traditional 'oh my god is she dead' moments that only the Chalet School can carry off, and an amazing cameo from an already established character in the series. (A brief pause: we're four books in, four!, and yet this series is already so layered and thick and satisfying and Brent-Dyer is quite genuinely throwing everything at it like some gorgeous mad scientist of writing and I love it, I love it).
Also it's Cornelia Flower's first term. She has yellow hair and a ramrod chin. Still not *quite* sure what a ramrod is, mind, but Corney is awesome.
God these books are good.
July 20, 2014
On the whole, Elinor M. Brent-Dyer was at the peak of her authorial powers when she first created the Chalet School series. In the Tyrol, everything about this quaint, reassuring, wonderful universe was still fresh - it could get a bit outlandish, in the style of school stories with a healthy dollop of adventure thrown in, but the characters were real and the setting quite glorious. And so, The Head Girl Of The Chalet School is very much a great installment in the series, focused this time on erstwhile troublemaker Grizel Cochrane as she tries to make good in the titular post in her beloved school. It's also a sad, if rather lovely, little transition into a new era for the school: when former headmistress Madge Russell (nee Bettany) acknowledges that, once Grizel and her compatriots leave, the school will no longer be quite hers any longer, we at least get to see the old girls all back again one last time.
That being said, Head Girl was never one of my favourites from this era. I enjoyed reading (and re-reading) it, but never sought it out the way I do some of the other earlier titles. Perhaps it just felt a bit disjointed, with Grizel's spiky character disappearing after the first couple of chapters into Brent-Dyer's attempt to reform her once and for all. Of course, the best thing about Grizel is that she's precisely the kind of character Brent-Dyer talks about in this book when describing the writerly aspirations of her own favoured character, Joey Bettany - Joey sets foot on the road to becoming a professional author when her paper children start to become real, and refuse to do what their author tells them. Grizel - tough to love, desperate for affection, difficult, sarcastic, hard, honest, honourable, selfish Grizel - is Brent-Dyer's finest creation, though you get the feeling it wasn't always intended that way. It's only four books into the series, and you can tell already tell Brent-Dyer's trying to reform Grizel, a series-long effort that will never quite succeed because the character is so perfectly credible a troubled young human being. And because this Grizel disappears a little into the Head Girl she must become, the story feels a bit humdrum, even though plenty happens. (I had forgotten what a dreadful first impression the otherwise delightful Cornelia Flower makes on the school... and readers!)
Read the GGBP edition this time, and was delighted with the restoration of three whole chapters that have been sliced out of the earlier paperback editions. These chapters might not add a lot in terms of incident (those come in the chapters that weren't cut: like the burning hotel in Salzburg, the lunatic who wants to kidnap schoolgirls to be his fairy princesses!, Grizel's madcap jaunt to the Falls of Rhine etc), but they're rich with the kind of detail and character work that Brent-Dyer is so very good at layering into her narratives.
That being said, Head Girl was never one of my favourites from this era. I enjoyed reading (and re-reading) it, but never sought it out the way I do some of the other earlier titles. Perhaps it just felt a bit disjointed, with Grizel's spiky character disappearing after the first couple of chapters into Brent-Dyer's attempt to reform her once and for all. Of course, the best thing about Grizel is that she's precisely the kind of character Brent-Dyer talks about in this book when describing the writerly aspirations of her own favoured character, Joey Bettany - Joey sets foot on the road to becoming a professional author when her paper children start to become real, and refuse to do what their author tells them. Grizel - tough to love, desperate for affection, difficult, sarcastic, hard, honest, honourable, selfish Grizel - is Brent-Dyer's finest creation, though you get the feeling it wasn't always intended that way. It's only four books into the series, and you can tell already tell Brent-Dyer's trying to reform Grizel, a series-long effort that will never quite succeed because the character is so perfectly credible a troubled young human being. And because this Grizel disappears a little into the Head Girl she must become, the story feels a bit humdrum, even though plenty happens. (I had forgotten what a dreadful first impression the otherwise delightful Cornelia Flower makes on the school... and readers!)
Read the GGBP edition this time, and was delighted with the restoration of three whole chapters that have been sliced out of the earlier paperback editions. These chapters might not add a lot in terms of incident (those come in the chapters that weren't cut: like the burning hotel in Salzburg, the lunatic who wants to kidnap schoolgirls to be his fairy princesses!, Grizel's madcap jaunt to the Falls of Rhine etc), but they're rich with the kind of detail and character work that Brent-Dyer is so very good at layering into her narratives.
August 2, 2016
Very much of its time (1928), this boarding school could be anywhere in England if they didn't insist on calling lunch "Mittagessen" and dinner "Abendessen"--as if English weren't insisted on at all times, which it is. However all the girls seem to learn to chatter away in German, French and Italian as well! The tropes for the series are firmly in place by this fourth installment: Someone gets hurt, someone gets sick, someone runs away from the school and gets lost/hurt. Someone spends two or more days unconscious, due to illness, hysteria or concussion (take your pick). When things get a bit dull, she throws in a fire! But weddings and holidays are glossed over in about two sentences.
I was glad to hear it was Grizel's last year at the school; I never have liked that character. (Item: "Grizel" really was a popular name at the beginning of the 20th century in upper-class England; David Niven had a sister named Grizel.) She is named head girl in hopes it will be the making of her, and of course it is--after she is twice unconscious for days! Another character gets rheumatic fever "from lying in a damp place for hours". Never mind that it is caused by streptoccocal infection. Quite possibly in 1928 that wasn't known. My neighbour who is younger than I am told me not ten years ago that wearing damp clothes would cause me to have it! Illness or injury is seen as a moulder of character in Brent-Dyer's universe, and it always moulds for the better; apparently she never met a demanding, querulous, impossible invalid.
Another reason this review only has 2 stars is the impossible dialogue she puts in the mouths of her American characters. I suppose she thought it gave her stories a nicely international flavour, but her American millionaire businessman talks like a hillbilly ("Oh I guess you ken buy what you want, darlin'") while his daughter talks like an upper-class English miss. I also cannot forgive her for borrowing a key event from Little Women, practically wholesale.
Angela Brazil is more believable, but harder to find these days. And I do laugh over the Chalet School stories, usually in the most tragic places!
I was glad to hear it was Grizel's last year at the school; I never have liked that character. (Item: "Grizel" really was a popular name at the beginning of the 20th century in upper-class England; David Niven had a sister named Grizel.) She is named head girl in hopes it will be the making of her, and of course it is--after she is twice unconscious for days! Another character gets rheumatic fever "from lying in a damp place for hours". Never mind that it is caused by streptoccocal infection. Quite possibly in 1928 that wasn't known. My neighbour who is younger than I am told me not ten years ago that wearing damp clothes would cause me to have it! Illness or injury is seen as a moulder of character in Brent-Dyer's universe, and it always moulds for the better; apparently she never met a demanding, querulous, impossible invalid.
Another reason this review only has 2 stars is the impossible dialogue she puts in the mouths of her American characters. I suppose she thought it gave her stories a nicely international flavour, but her American millionaire businessman talks like a hillbilly ("Oh I guess you ken buy what you want, darlin'") while his daughter talks like an upper-class English miss. I also cannot forgive her for borrowing a key event from Little Women, practically wholesale.
Angela Brazil is more believable, but harder to find these days. And I do laugh over the Chalet School stories, usually in the most tragic places!
January 19, 2011
Grizel Cochrane, the reluctant school girl of _The School at the Chalet_ has unexpectedly become Head Girl, a bold move on the part of the school administration. Can she live up to the responsibility of her position? Can she follow the motto, "School First, Self Last"? when Cornelia is captured by a deranged tramp Grizel's mettle is tested. Grizel is a flawed character, thus more interesting than some of the more virtous characters in the Chalet School books.
February 7, 2026
This is not the normal style of this series, because it starts with a holiday runaway (technically, a run to) and covers two terms.
It would have been much better to have made this two books because so much else happens: a kidnapping, another running away involving another kidnapping, a fire, a big thing made of someone’s six month leave from India then nothing much made of it once they arrive, lots of engagements and weddings (though only the ‘peasants’, as EBD would say, gets a whole chapter on theirs whilst the ex-school girls’ ones are barely written about), etc.. Imagine inviting your whole school to your wedding and everyone attending this in term time! Some other things are amazing too, like a four hour walk from the school to the Sonnalpe, undertaken both ways by Dr Jack to collect Joey etc.
And the priceless, first example of a baby arriving after not a single intimation that anyone was pregnant, bar the fact Madame couldn’t walk down to the school! Don’t you just love them?
It would have been much better to have made this two books because so much else happens: a kidnapping, another running away involving another kidnapping, a fire, a big thing made of someone’s six month leave from India then nothing much made of it once they arrive, lots of engagements and weddings (though only the ‘peasants’, as EBD would say, gets a whole chapter on theirs whilst the ex-school girls’ ones are barely written about), etc.. Imagine inviting your whole school to your wedding and everyone attending this in term time! Some other things are amazing too, like a four hour walk from the school to the Sonnalpe, undertaken both ways by Dr Jack to collect Joey etc.
And the priceless, first example of a baby arriving after not a single intimation that anyone was pregnant, bar the fact Madame couldn’t walk down to the school! Don’t you just love them?
April 13, 2019
The chalet school stories are REALLY GOOD!! Also if you like this one there is 61 other books to get buried in.😀 If you like school stories like Enid Blyton's St. Claires or Malory Towers.
April 6, 2020
SO exciting!
January 17, 2026
It has been many years since I read this book. Really enjoyed it
September 12, 2023
Grizel was a fascinating character, and I wish the book had focused a little more on her. It was sad to say goodbye to her at the end.
January 3, 2026
Another book down and we say auf wiedersehen to Grizel. She quite grew on me this book, so I hope she pops up again in the future.
I will say I'm growing a little weary of the books ending with a girl running off/getting kidnapped off into the mountains/woods and now caves. Honestly it's not normal for a school to need so many search parties. They should probably add it as a Girl Guides module at this point.
I will say I'm growing a little weary of the books ending with a girl running off/getting kidnapped off into the mountains/woods and now caves. Honestly it's not normal for a school to need so many search parties. They should probably add it as a Girl Guides module at this point.
June 7, 2015
The first original Chalet in which Madge isn't head - although you'd scarcely know it for the first half of the story, as she seems to nip up and down the Sonnalpe every other day. After that she's 'busy'.
In this book, EBD solves the problem of the new girl who isn't a decent sort by having her kidnapped by a madman and discover some salt mines. Apart from this, there is lots of Chaletish stuff going on - old girls get betrothed, staff get married, it snows, it's very hot (there's a reason EBD doesn't normally put two terms into the same book) - and the story is really about Grizel's journey from uncaring rebel to tophole head girl.
It's not a hugely convincing journey. She does indeed become a tophole head girl, but the uncaring rebel inside never really goes away and, as the rest of the series shows, comes back to the fore quite quickly. But then, I've never understood why Grizel kept going as a music mistress. She could easily have just taught two or three girls music, and spent the rest of her teaching time running hockey practices or tennis coaching. Even Rosalie Dene referees the odd hockey match as a staff member but Grizel seems forever condemned to teaching a subject she hates to girls who aren't terribly good at it.
This is of course all in the future. But the future does keep harking back to this book: Grizel touching her scar, references to Cornelia's stormy first term, Deira. And here we have the first Sale of Work for the San, and Miss Annersley and Matey now on the staff. So it's in this book that the foundations are laid for the Chalet School of the future.
Plus, of course, we get peasants head-banging and break-dancing at a wedding, and an entrance to a cave which is a 20-minute gallop back to the Chalet for Rufus but an eight-hour hike for anybody else. It's just a hint, really, of the heights the Chalet Series will eventually attain.
In this book, EBD solves the problem of the new girl who isn't a decent sort by having her kidnapped by a madman and discover some salt mines. Apart from this, there is lots of Chaletish stuff going on - old girls get betrothed, staff get married, it snows, it's very hot (there's a reason EBD doesn't normally put two terms into the same book) - and the story is really about Grizel's journey from uncaring rebel to tophole head girl.
It's not a hugely convincing journey. She does indeed become a tophole head girl, but the uncaring rebel inside never really goes away and, as the rest of the series shows, comes back to the fore quite quickly. But then, I've never understood why Grizel kept going as a music mistress. She could easily have just taught two or three girls music, and spent the rest of her teaching time running hockey practices or tennis coaching. Even Rosalie Dene referees the odd hockey match as a staff member but Grizel seems forever condemned to teaching a subject she hates to girls who aren't terribly good at it.
This is of course all in the future. But the future does keep harking back to this book: Grizel touching her scar, references to Cornelia's stormy first term, Deira. And here we have the first Sale of Work for the San, and Miss Annersley and Matey now on the staff. So it's in this book that the foundations are laid for the Chalet School of the future.
Plus, of course, we get peasants head-banging and break-dancing at a wedding, and an entrance to a cave which is a 20-minute gallop back to the Chalet for Rufus but an eight-hour hike for anybody else. It's just a hint, really, of the heights the Chalet Series will eventually attain.
August 12, 2023
The Chalet School series is delightful. As the book was published in 1928, we are transported to the customs and traditions of those long gone years.
The schoolgirls all come from affluent and high class backgrounds. They live in a Society where the girls marry really young to men from their own background. These men are mostly in the armed forces and treat their fiancées with great deal of respect and love.
As expected for the age, there are a great many servants to help out in the school as well in their houses too. Dick, who lives in India, has an ayah for his kids.
I liked the fact that the girls were shown as girls with flaws as well as virtues, the terrible fights between high handed Grizel, who is the Head Girl and Deira who has a violent temper. The humble prayers during times of distress all go to show us those years of the late twenties.
A good view of the twenties through the eyes of a School.
The schoolgirls all come from affluent and high class backgrounds. They live in a Society where the girls marry really young to men from their own background. These men are mostly in the armed forces and treat their fiancées with great deal of respect and love.
As expected for the age, there are a great many servants to help out in the school as well in their houses too. Dick, who lives in India, has an ayah for his kids.
I liked the fact that the girls were shown as girls with flaws as well as virtues, the terrible fights between high handed Grizel, who is the Head Girl and Deira who has a violent temper. The humble prayers during times of distress all go to show us those years of the late twenties.
A good view of the twenties through the eyes of a School.
May 16, 2020
Fourth in the Chalet School series for teenagers, set in the Austrian Tyrol. In this book, Grizel Cochrane is made head girl for two terms. The staff are not sure that she will cope, particularly when her temper makes her do something irresponsible shortly before she takes up her new role.
However, Grizel determines to succeed. Her two terms as head girl are enlivened by a revengeful prefect, a snow fight which turns nasty, various weddings, an abduction, a trip to Salzburg that has an unpleasant ending, and a surprising discovery.
There's good characterisation, and a variety of plotlines, but overall I found it a bit mediocre on re-reading yet again ten and a half years after the previous time.
Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...
However, Grizel determines to succeed. Her two terms as head girl are enlivened by a revengeful prefect, a snow fight which turns nasty, various weddings, an abduction, a trip to Salzburg that has an unpleasant ending, and a surprising discovery.
There's good characterisation, and a variety of plotlines, but overall I found it a bit mediocre on re-reading yet again ten and a half years after the previous time.
Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...
January 27, 2016
It's interesting to begin a book with a girl running - but not away, rather to something. Of course, it's a place she isn't meant to go and this shadow could be seen as the shadow that haunts a lot of Grizel's actions for the first half of this book. Her attempts to do well are the reason she has a run-in with a fellow prefect (another aspect that is not common in EBD's titles - her prefects are generally a pretty united body) and nearly cause her death. It is noteworthy that, unlike earlier books, here we have the major illness happening behind the scenes, allowing the focus to be on the perpetrator. This book is interesting in terms of the CS series because it adopts some of the other concepts EBD has introduced in the La Rochelle series, in particular the concept of fairy-folk and witchcraft.
January 23, 2013
Frankly not her best, though I really enjoyed the descriptions of the Tyrol and all the oher places they visit. The Chalet School series is really as much a travelogue as an adventure series and it adds real depth to the novels. That being said, Grizel and Cornelia were poorly drawn and the general kidnapping plot was beyond unrealistic. What is the most disturbing part of the book is really the sexism constantly thrown at the girls by various men, society at large and even female members of staff and the girls' acceptance of their status as spectators of men's lives. This happens at least twice when they can't enter a monument as it's forbidden to women and don't even comment on it and when Grizel is told women's purpose in life is to get married. This alone would warrant one star, I'm lenient as I haven't read the whole series and somewhat reserving judgement but it's disgusting.
February 29, 2008
Book 4 - Grizel stuffs up in the beginning, but then generally acts like an exemplary head girl. There's a kidnapping incident with the Robin, a marriage (and a bit of a speech to Grizel about how marriage is a woman's true destiny, etc), and a snow ball fight. Cornelia Flower is introduced, and is American and terrible for a little while, before reforming. Madge and Jem's have their first baby, despite absolutely no mention of Madge's pregnancy, which is rather funny, and Grizel readies herself to leave the school.
January 16, 2014
Not one of my favourites, although I've still given it 5*, as they are such cute stories. I thought Grizel was a strange choice for head girl given her history, still, she proved us all wrong and made the best of it. I like the way the author puts in little familiar references, Frau Berlin appears in the fire! Also funny that the only reference to Madge's pregnancy is that a walk is too much for her, then we're told she's given birth!
January 13, 2010
Grizel's just been appointed head girl in this book, a task which she is not looking forward to, because she knows that she'll have to put the school first and herself last. She's put through many tests, from a fire in the hotel when a group of them are staying for the holidays, to a revengeful girl in school, but comes through with flying colours.
June 21, 2018
This is the fourth in the Chalet girl series.
It's not my favourite as it focuses on Grizel who is not my favourite character. She goes through trials in order to become head girl and then has to show everyone she was the right choice.
It's not my favourite as it focuses on Grizel who is not my favourite character. She goes through trials in order to become head girl and then has to show everyone she was the right choice.
November 28, 2025
I reread this as I am going through the whole series again out of pure nostalgia! Amazingly I still remember all the names and it feels like I'm reading about old friends I knew once upon a time...conjures up images of forgotten friends from my own childhood ☺️
July 17, 2007
I love these books!! They were my favourite when I was growing up and I loved reading the stories...:)
May 3, 2009
Not one of my favourites - I just never liked Grizel.
March 21, 2014
Reminded me of reading Enid Blyton school stories when younger. Rather old fashioned now as written in 1928, but a relaxing easy read.
February 14, 2015
First read of the unabridged text with the new Girls Gone By edition. Interesting as usual to see what the paperback edition omitted.
May 11, 2019
After reading the brand new fill-in book The Chalet School and Cornelia, I decided to go back and read this, since it covers both the prior term as well as Cornelia' first, but from a different perspective.
Grizel has been chosen to be the next Head Girl, much to her displeasure, since she would rather continue as Games Pree. And even before term begins, she rebels, but repents almost immediately. She worries that she may be degraded, but Madge (now Mrs. Russell) decides to give her one more change. And Grizel rises to the opportunity, showing growth and maturity, as she also worries about the future, since she will be leaving the Chalet School at the end of the year. As usual in this series, excitements abound, which keep the reader glued to the page.
Grizel has been chosen to be the next Head Girl, much to her displeasure, since she would rather continue as Games Pree. And even before term begins, she rebels, but repents almost immediately. She worries that she may be degraded, but Madge (now Mrs. Russell) decides to give her one more change. And Grizel rises to the opportunity, showing growth and maturity, as she also worries about the future, since she will be leaving the Chalet School at the end of the year. As usual in this series, excitements abound, which keep the reader glued to the page.
January 9, 2018
My next installment in this classic series.
I love the series even though I am also happy to take the mick out of some of its premises - tweeness, casual (mostly) benign racism, unrealistic portrayal of teenage girls, unrealistic portrayal of Roaring Twenties (the jazz age, flappers, Berlin & the Weimar Republic), the barely plausible series of perils, escapades, abscondings, kidnappings, & unfeasible walks in the Alps.
But the characters are so warmly portrayed, and there is such a strong sense of place that I continue to love these books and intend to continue reading them while there is still breath in my body (there are so many that I might not finish them in 20 or 30 years, given that I'm deliberately picking them spasmodically!)
I love the series even though I am also happy to take the mick out of some of its premises - tweeness, casual (mostly) benign racism, unrealistic portrayal of teenage girls, unrealistic portrayal of Roaring Twenties (the jazz age, flappers, Berlin & the Weimar Republic), the barely plausible series of perils, escapades, abscondings, kidnappings, & unfeasible walks in the Alps.
But the characters are so warmly portrayed, and there is such a strong sense of place that I continue to love these books and intend to continue reading them while there is still breath in my body (there are so many that I might not finish them in 20 or 30 years, given that I'm deliberately picking them spasmodically!)
June 13, 2020
More of the same. The emphasis on getting married before you’re twenty of course makes me laugh in this day and age and the coyness about pregnancy where it’s mainly ignored but treated as more of an illness when mentioned.
March 2, 2024
Quite a lot of sightseeing involved in this one: Basel, Innsbruck, Salzburg all get a mention. And everyone seems to be getting married very young, which didn't strike me so much when I was 10 years old (and 20 seemed ancient)!
March 25, 2019
Far better than I remembered - the first appearance of Matey and Jack Maynard .....
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