Two Sams at the Chalet School

The Chalet School #56

by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

Samantha van der Byl, an American girl, and Samaris Davies, a Welsh girl, arrive at the Chalet School at the beginning of the second term. Although there is a two-year difference in their ages, they become firm friends. The two have many adventures.

Genres: School Stories, Childrens, School, Fiction, Boarding School, British Literature

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Elinor 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.

Reviews

[Daisy May Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two Sams at the Chalet School is a book of peaks and troughs and near-unbearable coincidence. So the same old thing really.

Samantha Van Der Byl and Samaris are two new girls at the Chalet School. Although they're different ages, and in different forms, they're drawn into being friends with each other FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON. It's sort of glorious the way Brent-Dyer can't resist going THERE'S A CONNECTION CAN YOU GUESS WHAT IT IS with them, and then when that connection is revealed it's sort of glorious how a little part of me dies each time.

Two Sams is also full of some nicely telling ideological moments representative of the series as a whole. I'm always pleased to see the recurrence of Nina Rutherford who is a bit of a fascination of mine, and it's fascinating to see that the issues Brent-Dyer previously had with writing her is still in situ. I don't think she ever quite found the same level of comfort with Nina and her 'extreme' genius, as she did with somebody like Margia Stevens say, and so Nina remains an awkwardly drawn, and very stiff character.

It's also interesting to compare and contrast the treatment of Nina in this book with the treatment given to Con Maynard. Con is one of those characters who is never quite allowed to live in the way she's been written to be. I've written more about this here.

As a whole though, Two Sams suffers from a lack of focus. I'm never really sure who we're meant to root for, whether it's a good thing that THE MYSTERIOUS CONNECTION is what it is, and whether we're really meant to care. There are moments when the old Brent-Dyer skills shine (say, with Phil in particular) but as a whole it's a written by numbers affair. One for completionists and not to be read after Adrienne and the Chalet School otherwise you will collapse from coincidence-overload.

[Jannah]

I read this one when I was a mere 10 years old in my school library. And have been searching for it since! Many a dream I've had about returning there in the dark of the night :D Not even kidding. T_T

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very.much an end of series book, cliches abounding and old stories rehashed. I wish my children would stage dramatic recoveries when someone squeaks a flute at them!

[Tria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. First read November 2012, second March 2014.

Not my favourite, but not one of the worst of the series by a long chalk. This story revisits a lot of Brent-Dyer's previous themes in the series, being mainly focused on two new girls introduced to the school in Switzerland while also giving us some time around the youngest members of Jo Bettany/Maynard's long canonical family of eleven, three-year-old twins Geoff and Philippa.

Here it deals with the aftermath of tiny Phil's having nearly died from mastoid and polio, which may surprise new readers to the series given the rarity of polio today; Phil isn't the only character to have suffered from this in the series, the other most easily recalled being eleven-year-old Cherry Christy, but she is the last in the series to have experience with it. Geoff and Phil are the youngest biological children of Joey's we are ever to meet, as "Two Sams" is the second-to-last book in the entire Chalet School canon.

It's been the single most difficult instalment in the series to obtain for many years; thanks to Girls Gone By that is changing--but I could very happily do without having fanfiction and essays added into the edition, thank you very much. They ought rather to be in volumes of their own, available separately so that those of us who only want to own the original story can do so. All that aside, the GGB edition is a nice clear print, easily magnifiable. (I shall add the edition soon if necessary - or switch my review to it - whichever proves needful, since using the GR app I can't tell.)

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-read March, 2012. Definitely not a favourite, I'm afraid! I don't know if it's just that I haven't read many of the books in years, and that this was never my favourite era to begin with, but so many of the schoolgirls mentioned were completely unfamiliar to me! Of course the Maynard triplets were present, and Jack Lambert; I recognised a few other names like Val Pertwee, Wanda von Eschenau, Priscilla Dawbarn, Janice Chester, Ailie Russell, Erica Standish... but then there were SO many others that just had me going, who? Like there was a Robina who was mentioned a lot and I swear I'd never heard her name before!

Speaking of names - Samaris I have never heard of outside of this book, but calling Samantha "unusual"... really?! Was it that peculiar a name in 1967? That struck me as a little odd. Also it just seems kind of random that these two new girls become tied together through the tenuous connection of their similar names, and everyone thinks they're related or something because they're both Sams. Was EBD running out of plot-lines or something?! And then lo and behold they ARE related! Their great-grandmothers were twins, one called Samaris and the other Samantha.

The two girls were likeable enough, but I suppose I'd have to have read this one in order with the rest of the series to have really enjoyed it more. To me it wasn't just two new girls among a sea of old favourites - it was two new girls in a school I knew but without any old favourites for them to bounce off!

Also, you know what really bugged me? Samantha being told off for doing the dangerous ski run, which resulted in her breaking her collarbone. See, she saw the run and wanted to try it. Con said that Samaris was too young but Samantha should be fine. The three prefects at the top of the run gave her pointers and sent her off. And then they got a dressing down for not checking that she had permission first, and then Sammy was given the same dressing down for not gaining permission... BUT SHE'S NEW! SHE DIDN'T KNOW! And if none of the prefects asked her, and in fact they sent her down with their blessing and tips, how on earth was she meant to know that she was supposed to ask a mistress first and have her skiing ability checked? It's up to the old girls to clue her in, and I thought that was unfair that she got into so much trouble as well. Hmph.

But yay for many mentions of Innsbruck! "Innsbruck lies in the valley and is shut in by mountains" which makes it exceedingly hot in the summer months. Hah, not when we were there - I've been three times and I swear the coldest was in June! (Okay maybe December was colder, but it was 17 degrees and sunny a couple of weeks ago at the end of February and I was walking around in a t-shirt.)

(Also, I've read all the CS books now (save for one) and I don't think I've ever quite figured out what "the Coadjutor" exactly is. I guess Rösli is like the nanny or something... but what a strange word "coadjutor" is!)

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

All true Chalet fans dream of finding a hardback Chalet for 10p at a jumble sale (or, even better, a complete hardback collection in an aunty's attic). Well, 'Two Sams' ended that dream for me - I danced all the way home, and then made the mistake of actually reading it. When I was offered the chance to swap it for an Antonia Forest, I didn't hesitate. So my copy is the Armada paperback, which reaches an all-time low for accuracy in Chalet covers: it shows the fair-haired (erm...) Samantha, wearing her uniform dress (but that's a pleated skirt and blouse under the blazer, surely?), rescuing the school cat - which I always thought was a tabby. Sigh. How hard can it be?

The story. Yes, well. There are just two new girls this term: Samaris and Samantha, who start wondering if they might be related because their names are so similar. Not their surnames, but their first names. Seriously, was this the best EBD could come up with? Surely they should have had similar gestures or intonations or hair or something, to demonstrate true kinship ... Anyway, other stuff happens, mostly accidents (there's a car accident, a train accident, a ski jump accident, a fire, an imprisonment, and a rockfall accident), Samaris gets a flute, and then they find out they are second cousins. Or third cousins. Relations, anyway. And that's not a spoiler - anything that saves you the experience of reading this book should be welcomed.

If you are only ever going to read one Chalet School book, please make sure it's NOT this one. There's not even much in it for the die-hard Chalet fan.

[Sarah A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favourite chalet book but this was my first time ever reading it so it took longer to get into it. Starring many familiar faces but has the two Sams as the main characters. Usual adventures but harder to relate and follow since it focused on many girls who were previously very minor characters.

[Rosemary Carroll]

All the books marked as read I own the rest I am after who can help me

[Margaret Conmey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat better than the last few books in the series but well below EBD’s best.
This book did at least try to follow the ‘two Sams’ through the book but EBD struggles to whip up enough energy to describe the usual half-term travelogue ( extremely brief description of a church and a near miss potential accident).
EBD also does not give her usual detailed account of the finishing-school’s pantomime.

3 stars is probably generous, especially compared with her earlier books but allowances for EBD’s age and I’ll health.

SPOILER ALERT
As with the last book baby Claire who was in process of being adopted at end of Summer Term at the Chalet School is once again missing from this book and it appears that EBD has completely forgotten about her!
I know EBDisms as legion in the series but EBD would remember the children of the Bettany / Russell / Maynard clan.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

56th in the original series, 60th in the Armada re-prints, some of which are abridged, but not - apparently - this one.

There are only two new girls in January: Samantha, who is 15, and Samaris, who is 13. Despite being different in almost every respect, they make friends and are involved in several escapades in this book.

It's rather similar to several others, and not particularly exciting. Not one of the author's best in my view, although there's quite a moving section outside the school when we see three-year-old Phil who is recovering from polio. Still, as with all this series it makes pleasant, nostalgic (if lightweight) reading for those of us who remember the Chalet School fondly from childhood.

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not outstanding. Almost every episode is recycled. The coincidence of the two Sams is so farfetched and so unnecessary. And it’s not as if I even cared that much because, this late in the series, EBD doesn’t show us why they were such good friends or make us care very much about their friendship - we are just supposed to accept it. This is not Joey and Simone or Gay and Jacynth.

But still…there are glimmers. Miss Annersley tells Joey off as if she were still a schoolgirl. Miss Ferrars is brisk and snappy and awesome. There is enough to remind you of how wonderful these books could be when EBD was on form - and maybe that makes it even sadder.

[Flora · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dismally poor Chalet School book, written by numbers, stupid plot, generally the worst Chalet School I have read. Really disappointing.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scrapes a four. The whole family connection thing between the two Sams is dull but still a good comfort read for when you want to escape to a different world.