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Chiltern School
Rose Lesslyn faces many difficulties and challenges when she is uprooted from her lonely life spent with her grandparents on the Isle of Wight, and sent to Sherlenden House school in the Chilterns by her father who lives and works in Canada. Although at first 'all wrong' at school, Rose loves the Chilterns, and especially Summerdowns House, ancestral home of her friend Ann St Cloud-Lacey, a beautiful manor house with its Tudor banqueting hall. Rose gradually settles down at school and becomes a respected member of Dormitory Number Seven, and at the end of her second term, her long suppressed and half forgotten talent surprises the school at the Christmas play performed at Summerdowns House.
Mabel Esther Allan originally wrote Chiltern School in 1950. In 1951 it was sold to a well known publisher, but was never actually published and was eventually withdrawn.
During the revival of interest in school stories in the late 1980s, Chiltern School was published privately in 1990 by Mabel, this being made possible financially by the success of the Drina series reprints.
Mabel describes Chiltern School as 'one of my best', and it owes much to the time she spent at Hampden House as a house mistress, just after the end of World War Two, where she grew to love the house and the surrounding Chiltern countryside, which she explored at every opportunity.
Also included in Chiltern School is Mabel's short story, also set at Sherlenden House, The School That Wasn't Welsh.
Sheila Ray has written an absolutely fascinating introduction on Mabel Esther Allan and Chiltern School, and Helen Ware has compiled a bibliography of all Mabel Esther Allan's books.
Mabel Esther Allan originally wrote Chiltern School in 1950. In 1951 it was sold to a well known publisher, but was never actually published and was eventually withdrawn.
During the revival of interest in school stories in the late 1980s, Chiltern School was published privately in 1990 by Mabel, this being made possible financially by the success of the Drina series reprints.
Mabel describes Chiltern School as 'one of my best', and it owes much to the time she spent at Hampden House as a house mistress, just after the end of World War Two, where she grew to love the house and the surrounding Chiltern countryside, which she explored at every opportunity.
Also included in Chiltern School is Mabel's short story, also set at Sherlenden House, The School That Wasn't Welsh.
Sheila Ray has written an absolutely fascinating introduction on Mabel Esther Allan and Chiltern School, and Helen Ware has compiled a bibliography of all Mabel Esther Allan's books.
- GenresSchool Stories
243 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
23 people want to read
About the author
Mabel Esther Allan
231 books33 followersA prolific British children's author, who also wrote under the pen-names Jean Estoril, Priscilla Hagon, Anne Pilgrim, and Kathleen M. Pearcey, Mabel Esther Allan is particularly known for her school and ballet stories.
Born in 1915 at Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula, Allan knew from an early age that she wanted to be an author, and published her first short stories in the 1930s. Her writing career was interrupted by World War II, during which time she served in the Women's Land Army and taught school in Liverpool, but the 1948 publication of The Glen Castle Mystery saw it begin to take off in earnest. Influenced by Scottish educator A.S. Neill, Allan held progressive views about education, views that often found their way into her books, particularly her school stories. She was interested in folk dance and ballet - another common subject in her work - and was a frequent traveler. She died in 1998.
Born in 1915 at Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula, Allan knew from an early age that she wanted to be an author, and published her first short stories in the 1930s. Her writing career was interrupted by World War II, during which time she served in the Women's Land Army and taught school in Liverpool, but the 1948 publication of The Glen Castle Mystery saw it begin to take off in earnest. Influenced by Scottish educator A.S. Neill, Allan held progressive views about education, views that often found their way into her books, particularly her school stories. She was interested in folk dance and ballet - another common subject in her work - and was a frequent traveler. She died in 1998.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 10, 2016
Oh I love classic boarding school stories. I love the Drina series. And this is a school story with theatrical overtones written by Jean Estoril's alter ego. What's not to like?! Rose is an engaging heroine who doesn't make an instant success at her school (unlike so many heroines) and who sees her own faults.
There are definite echos of some of the later Drina books here - with Rose's secret and the beautiful descriptions of the Chilterns. I really enjoyed this.
There are definite echos of some of the later Drina books here - with Rose's secret and the beautiful descriptions of the Chilterns. I really enjoyed this.
November 22, 2025
When Rose’s mother died, her father went to America and left her to be raised by old fashioned grandparents on the Isle of Wight. Now he wants her to go to boarding school in the Chiltern hills - will shy Rose, with all the wrong clothes and no obvious talents, ever fit in?
Mabel Esther Allan’s first school story is an interesting mix of conventional school story tropes about the shy new girl, wish fulfilment of every girl’s dream of achieving the school spotlight, and an insight into adolescent emotions that was unusual in children’s fiction of the days when it was first written. There is a real sense of place - but also a surprising thread running through the book of naive deference to those fortunate enough to be born into a title and a stately home. Full of threads that will run through Allan’s work, it just about stands as more than an apprentice work, with Rose and her surroundings conjured up with imaginative sensitivity.
Mabel Esther Allan’s first school story is an interesting mix of conventional school story tropes about the shy new girl, wish fulfilment of every girl’s dream of achieving the school spotlight, and an insight into adolescent emotions that was unusual in children’s fiction of the days when it was first written. There is a real sense of place - but also a surprising thread running through the book of naive deference to those fortunate enough to be born into a title and a stately home. Full of threads that will run through Allan’s work, it just about stands as more than an apprentice work, with Rose and her surroundings conjured up with imaginative sensitivity.
October 16, 2021
For five years, ever since her mother’s sudden death in an accident, Rose has led a rather dull life with her stuffy grandparents on the Isle of Wight, while her father is away working in Canada. Then he writes that he wants Rose to go to Sherlenden House, a progressive girls school in the Chilterns. Rose is shy and not very happy among the cheerful, confident girls at first, but she finds consolation in the beauty of the Chilterns, and gradually begins to come out of her shell and develop confidence in herself and enjoy the freedom that the girls have to explore the countryside and develop their own interests. And Rose may have an unsuspected talent of her own.
This is a charming school story set in a part of the country that Mabel Esther Allan loved very much, her descriptions must make anyone who has never visited the Chilterns want to do so.
This is a charming school story set in a part of the country that Mabel Esther Allan loved very much, her descriptions must make anyone who has never visited the Chilterns want to do so.
March 13, 2021
Really enjoyed this. Definitely one of her best school stories. Glad it got published eventually.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews