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The Chalet School #6
Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School
"A rotten little sneak!" "A smug prig!" that's how the girls at the Chalet Scholl described Eustacia after she'd been there just a day! but they plan to take her down at least 50 pegs so she'll be fit to live with.
But Eustacia continues to be rude to the mistresses, impertinent to the the prefects, and superior to the girls. She is unbearable... until her grim accident in the mountains, Then the long months of recovery give her time to realize how horrid she's been, and to want the new "Stacle" to be a very different girl.
But Eustacia continues to be rude to the mistresses, impertinent to the the prefects, and superior to the girls. She is unbearable... until her grim accident in the mountains, Then the long months of recovery give her time to realize how horrid she's been, and to want the new "Stacle" to be a very different girl.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
8 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
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 41 reviews
October 24, 2021
A comfortably predictable school story that neither thrills or disappoints.
To be honest, it’s the romance and social history of the Austrian Tyrol of a century ago that keeps me glued to this series! Travelling by sleigh through snowy Innsbruck; the swollen rivers of the Tiern Pass; sleeping under a plumeau and enjoying milky coffee, warm rolls and honey every day - what’s not to love? Well, sloppy editing and typos, and the expression ‘having to work like niggers’ for a start - but then, it is 1929. And there’s always the freshly edited and unabridged Girls Gone By edition for real purists.
To be honest, it’s the romance and social history of the Austrian Tyrol of a century ago that keeps me glued to this series! Travelling by sleigh through snowy Innsbruck; the swollen rivers of the Tiern Pass; sleeping under a plumeau and enjoying milky coffee, warm rolls and honey every day - what’s not to love? Well, sloppy editing and typos, and the expression ‘having to work like niggers’ for a start - but then, it is 1929. And there’s always the freshly edited and unabridged Girls Gone By edition for real purists.
August 9, 2014
It's odd to say so, but re-reading Elinor M. Brent-Dyer's most enduring series really makes very clear that EUSTACIA GOES TO THE CHALET SCHOOL is where a great deal of it really falls into place. The first five books were all about the school finding its feet and identity - from being founded, to growing, developing, and brushing up against a rival school. With EUSTACIA, the school has settled into itself, and the template for many of the remaining books in the series - a girl arrives at the Chalet School who does not fit into the proper schoolgirl mould and must pick up the right values to make her a real Chalet girl - is set.
The girl in question is, of course, Eustacia Benson - an unfortunate protagonist who's introduced as an "arrant little prig", whose cloistered upbringing by her elderly parents has turned her into a snappy, unsociable martinet. She turns up at the Chalet School quite incapable of understanding the difference between reporting and sneaking on her school-mates, and soon manages to antagonise everyone around her: from form-mates to prefects and even the staff. Few characters are as alienating as poor Eustacia, and many confrontations with characters and tropes we know and love (including Brent-Dyer's deep adoration of mountain-top peril) must take place before she can really become the person she's meant to be.
It's a formula that will grow more tedious as the series goes on, but here, it still feels remarkably fresh - especially with Brent-Dyer operating at the height of her powers. The writing is, as always, full of rich character detail and local flavour, sprinkled with some choice sarcasm that feels as biting now as it must have done when she wrote the book over eighty years ago. Brent-Dyer's characterisation of Eustacia herself is also quite masterful, creating a very difficult, genuinely unlikable child, while providing some real insight into why she's as difficult as she is. The rivalry that springs up between Eustacia and Joey Bettany, our window into the School and all its doings, feels real too: at this point, the latter remains a credible character, whose great popular appeal does not disguise or excuse the fact that she can be headstrong, hot-tempered and tactless at times.
There's also some fun to be had for the long-time Chalet reader to see major characters coming to the fore: Miss Annersley, who has hitherto played a colourless and very tiny role as a supporting player within the School, is suddenly gifted a personality and many conversations with girls and staff alike. It presages her eventual promotion to Headmistress, even as Mademoiselle herself gains more of a spine than she's demonstrated in the preceding tales. Schoolgirls who develop quite distinctive personalities of their own in future books are suddenly to be found as an extant part of the school population in EUSTACIA, like Elsie Carr, Anne Seymour and Louise Redfield. Leave us not forget Miss Wilson and her continuing misfortune in bringing girls on mountain-climbing expeditions, whether or not they're fleeing from the Nazis. DON'T GO MOUNTAIN-CLIMBING WITH YOUR STUDENTS, NELL, IT WILL ONLY LEAD TO YOU TURNING YOUR ANKLE AND/OR YOUR HAIR GOING WHITE!!!
The girl in question is, of course, Eustacia Benson - an unfortunate protagonist who's introduced as an "arrant little prig", whose cloistered upbringing by her elderly parents has turned her into a snappy, unsociable martinet. She turns up at the Chalet School quite incapable of understanding the difference between reporting and sneaking on her school-mates, and soon manages to antagonise everyone around her: from form-mates to prefects and even the staff. Few characters are as alienating as poor Eustacia, and many confrontations with characters and tropes we know and love (including Brent-Dyer's deep adoration of mountain-top peril) must take place before she can really become the person she's meant to be.
It's a formula that will grow more tedious as the series goes on, but here, it still feels remarkably fresh - especially with Brent-Dyer operating at the height of her powers. The writing is, as always, full of rich character detail and local flavour, sprinkled with some choice sarcasm that feels as biting now as it must have done when she wrote the book over eighty years ago. Brent-Dyer's characterisation of Eustacia herself is also quite masterful, creating a very difficult, genuinely unlikable child, while providing some real insight into why she's as difficult as she is. The rivalry that springs up between Eustacia and Joey Bettany, our window into the School and all its doings, feels real too: at this point, the latter remains a credible character, whose great popular appeal does not disguise or excuse the fact that she can be headstrong, hot-tempered and tactless at times.
There's also some fun to be had for the long-time Chalet reader to see major characters coming to the fore: Miss Annersley, who has hitherto played a colourless and very tiny role as a supporting player within the School, is suddenly gifted a personality and many conversations with girls and staff alike. It presages her eventual promotion to Headmistress, even as Mademoiselle herself gains more of a spine than she's demonstrated in the preceding tales. Schoolgirls who develop quite distinctive personalities of their own in future books are suddenly to be found as an extant part of the school population in EUSTACIA, like Elsie Carr, Anne Seymour and Louise Redfield. Leave us not forget Miss Wilson and her continuing misfortune in bringing girls on mountain-climbing expeditions, whether or not they're fleeing from the Nazis. DON'T GO MOUNTAIN-CLIMBING WITH YOUR STUDENTS, NELL, IT WILL ONLY LEAD TO YOU TURNING YOUR ANKLE AND/OR YOUR HAIR GOING WHITE!!!
August 16, 2016
I only have access to one more of the Chalet School books and for now, I'm just as glad. They're getting awfully repetitive. Even when the authoress tries to ring a few changes she not only finds herself repeating paragraphs from previous books on how "delicate" Joey and the Robin are, she actually repeats herself about the Robin twice in this book, almost word for word!! Yes we know her mom died of TB. You've told us that every time she appears. We know everyone's afraid she has "inherited" the germ. (Which is not how you catch TB, but never mind.) But we are told twice--twice in the same book!--all about the special regime Dr Jem has instituted for her of rest and sleep and specially nutritious meals. Never mind that Joey herself was stated as being "stronger than ever" after an attack of pleuropneumonia last time--any excuse is a good one to say that she is "not strong" and send her to bed for the day. (Really, Miss B-D, do make up your mind! Are these girls candidates for an affecting deathbed scene, or are they not? One minute the Robin is rosy and strong enough to "astonish" the doctors, the next a "nervous" upset can destroy the health of this suprisingly robust child, "setting her back a year" just because she is worried about Joey for a day. )
Flood takes the place of fire in this installment, along with blizzards. Teachers as well as girls are constantly being swept into the arms of burly mountain men and carried hither and yon--!!
At first I was interested; the Chalet School gets its first thoroughly unpleasant, arrogant little prig (the author's description) for a student in the form of Eustacia. She's a bookworm, a know-all, and a nasty piece of work; a tattletale who thinks herself above rules and even basic obedience to her teachers. (Eustacia is told at one point that if she had been at boy's school she would have been thrashed, ie caned. Curiously, in those days European and English girls' boarding schools practiced smacking and beating your hand with a ruler for infractions, but not in Brent-Dyer's universe. ) But I have to be honest, here. Her "normal" auntie, who takes her in at the beginning of the book, is about as priggish and nasty as Eustacia herself, though neither she nor the authoress recognise that fact. Don't spend time with the kid, trying to get to know her better; don't teach by example, don't cut her any slack, and above all, don't give her a second chance! Oh, no--throw up your hands after just a few weeks, and shovel her off overseas to a boarding school; that way you won't have to deal with her as a person!
The old "rebellious student runs away from school and comes a cropper" trope is here again, as well as spending hours in a coma (described as such, this time) in the rain. But no rheumatic fever for her! She's too much of a prig to be redeemed by an actual illness, though she is redeemed for having to pay physical penance for her wrongheadedness. Suddenly she is all sweetness and light and all the anger vanishes in a shared laugh--oh yeah, because Chalet girls are so special!
yeah. right.
Flood takes the place of fire in this installment, along with blizzards. Teachers as well as girls are constantly being swept into the arms of burly mountain men and carried hither and yon--!!
At first I was interested; the Chalet School gets its first thoroughly unpleasant, arrogant little prig (the author's description) for a student in the form of Eustacia. She's a bookworm, a know-all, and a nasty piece of work; a tattletale who thinks herself above rules and even basic obedience to her teachers. (Eustacia is told at one point that if she had been at boy's school she would have been thrashed, ie caned. Curiously, in those days European and English girls' boarding schools practiced smacking and beating your hand with a ruler for infractions, but not in Brent-Dyer's universe. ) But I have to be honest, here. Her "normal" auntie, who takes her in at the beginning of the book, is about as priggish and nasty as Eustacia herself, though neither she nor the authoress recognise that fact. Don't spend time with the kid, trying to get to know her better; don't teach by example, don't cut her any slack, and above all, don't give her a second chance! Oh, no--throw up your hands after just a few weeks, and shovel her off overseas to a boarding school; that way you won't have to deal with her as a person!
The old "rebellious student runs away from school and comes a cropper" trope is here again, as well as spending hours in a coma (described as such, this time) in the rain. But no rheumatic fever for her! She's too much of a prig to be redeemed by an actual illness, though she is redeemed for having to pay physical penance for her wrongheadedness. Suddenly she is all sweetness and light and all the anger vanishes in a shared laugh--oh yeah, because Chalet girls are so special!
yeah. right.
October 5, 2012
The sixth in the series, rich with the gorgeous detail of the Tyrol and the sheer thrill of the early titles, Eustacia Goes To The Chalet School is spectacular. It's sort of a blueprint of everything the Chalet School series could be when it was on form.
Following the now traditional concept of new term, new girls, this term sees Eustacia join the Chalet School. Eustacia is sort of different. She's an 'arrant little prig'. It took me a long time to actually figure out what that means but it's not good. Even the narrator hates her.
Eustacia's time at the Chalet School isn't brilliant. She breaks rules left, right and centre - and does it with an insouciant aplomb. And, perhaps inevitably, she ends up making enemies of all and sundry - even the darling of the series Joey Bettany.
If you've previously read any of the Chalet School series, you'll know this sort of behaviour is Not On and Not Becoming Of A Chalet School Girl and Eustacia is Ripe For A Reformation. Eustacia's reformation is pretty damn spectacular, even in a series obsessed with near-death incidents.
This book is brilliant, but it's one you sort of can't judge with anything remotely approaching logic. Basically, it's like the Chalet School gone a little bit nuts. It's amazing.
For another perspective on Eustacia, I'd recommend you read this from the excellent Fantastic Reads.
Following the now traditional concept of new term, new girls, this term sees Eustacia join the Chalet School. Eustacia is sort of different. She's an 'arrant little prig'. It took me a long time to actually figure out what that means but it's not good. Even the narrator hates her.
Eustacia's time at the Chalet School isn't brilliant. She breaks rules left, right and centre - and does it with an insouciant aplomb. And, perhaps inevitably, she ends up making enemies of all and sundry - even the darling of the series Joey Bettany.
If you've previously read any of the Chalet School series, you'll know this sort of behaviour is Not On and Not Becoming Of A Chalet School Girl and Eustacia is Ripe For A Reformation. Eustacia's reformation is pretty damn spectacular, even in a series obsessed with near-death incidents.
This book is brilliant, but it's one you sort of can't judge with anything remotely approaching logic. Basically, it's like the Chalet School gone a little bit nuts. It's amazing.
For another perspective on Eustacia, I'd recommend you read this from the excellent Fantastic Reads.
July 17, 2025
Poor Eustacia. "Arrant little prig" she may be, but I defy any girl who has spent the first fourteen years of her life living with elderly parents in Oxford and reading erudite books, to relish being told by her nearest remaining relative that she is unlovable, and then being sent away, not just to boarding school, but to a boarding school as far away as humanly possible, where she is forced to take part in physical activity that she loathes, has no time to herself, and is told that every value she has grown up holding dear is, in fact, wrong.
Of all the characters who turn up at the Chalet School, don't fit in, and have to be moulded into a Real Chalet School Girl, Eustacia is probably the most fascinating. The thing is that when she first turns up, she genuinely doesn't know how to behave, and probably doesn't have enough allowances made for her upbringing (certainly no one is ever going to laugh at the way she addresses staff, say 'it's only our One-And-Only Eustacia', and overlook what in other girls would be seen as shocking rudeness). However, as the book goes on it becomes clear that she is bringing more and more of her troubles on herself, and that if she were less proud, she would probably have a better time of it. This is what makes me feel most sorry for her - being the cause of your own misery is probably worse than being a victim of misfortune.
Her transformation at the end of the book has echoes of What Katy Did; although it's probably even less credible. I do love EBD's firm belief that it merely takes a near-death experience to change someone's personality entirely - and in fact I often wish it were that straightforward.
Of all the characters who turn up at the Chalet School, don't fit in, and have to be moulded into a Real Chalet School Girl, Eustacia is probably the most fascinating. The thing is that when she first turns up, she genuinely doesn't know how to behave, and probably doesn't have enough allowances made for her upbringing (certainly no one is ever going to laugh at the way she addresses staff, say 'it's only our One-And-Only Eustacia', and overlook what in other girls would be seen as shocking rudeness). However, as the book goes on it becomes clear that she is bringing more and more of her troubles on herself, and that if she were less proud, she would probably have a better time of it. This is what makes me feel most sorry for her - being the cause of your own misery is probably worse than being a victim of misfortune.
Her transformation at the end of the book has echoes of What Katy Did; although it's probably even less credible. I do love EBD's firm belief that it merely takes a near-death experience to change someone's personality entirely - and in fact I often wish it were that straightforward.
August 10, 2007
It was... challenging. It pushed a lot of my buttons in the bad way. This is not to say that I hated it, just that, well, it was challenging.
I really don't think it's such a dreadful personality flaw to hate (or even simultaneously hate and have a crush on) Joey Bettany. Bill and Charlie are still my favourite characters.
I prefer the prig to the reformed girl. One of the tropes I really really hate in school stories, especially the Chalet School, is when a girl can redeem herself and become acceptable, worthwhile, 'loveable', through conforming to the limited social norm of a community of schoolgirls, and at the cost of the obliteration of her entire past personality. Enid Blyton's actually *less* bad in this particular area, which isn't to say she isn't an offender (hello, Mavis?)
"Jolly glad to see you at last, Stacie. Your sister wasn't nice at all; but I'm jolly sure you're going to be one of us in no time!" (159)
"Eustacia was her ordinary smug self again; and so she remained until the terrible happening put an end to all feuds and all hates, and a new Eustacia Benson was born who had very little in common with the old one." (129)
That's not touching, it's creepy. Keep mashing on those buttons, why don't you, Brent-Dyer.
And as usual (Eustacia is here the the direct female equivalent of Eustace Clarence Scrubb from Voyage of the Dawn Treader) it's the fault of these modern English parents with their ruinous ideas of treating children like adults. No, Eustacia's parents weren't bad because they were cold, classist boors who didn't teach her manners or socialisation or self-knowledge or indeed any academic subjects except those in her father's field of study... no, they were bad because they let her be too grown-up.
The ideal state for a child, according to these books, is one of such receptivity that their salvation or damnation is completely in their parents' hands (unless they're so fortunate as to be sent to a good school, naturally,) while all the consequences fall on the child.
I really don't think it's such a dreadful personality flaw to hate (or even simultaneously hate and have a crush on) Joey Bettany. Bill and Charlie are still my favourite characters.
I prefer the prig to the reformed girl. One of the tropes I really really hate in school stories, especially the Chalet School, is when a girl can redeem herself and become acceptable, worthwhile, 'loveable', through conforming to the limited social norm of a community of schoolgirls, and at the cost of the obliteration of her entire past personality. Enid Blyton's actually *less* bad in this particular area, which isn't to say she isn't an offender (hello, Mavis?)
"Jolly glad to see you at last, Stacie. Your sister wasn't nice at all; but I'm jolly sure you're going to be one of us in no time!" (159)
"Eustacia was her ordinary smug self again; and so she remained until the terrible happening put an end to all feuds and all hates, and a new Eustacia Benson was born who had very little in common with the old one." (129)
That's not touching, it's creepy. Keep mashing on those buttons, why don't you, Brent-Dyer.
And as usual (Eustacia is here the the direct female equivalent of Eustace Clarence Scrubb from Voyage of the Dawn Treader) it's the fault of these modern English parents with their ruinous ideas of treating children like adults. No, Eustacia's parents weren't bad because they were cold, classist boors who didn't teach her manners or socialisation or self-knowledge or indeed any academic subjects except those in her father's field of study... no, they were bad because they let her be too grown-up.
The ideal state for a child, according to these books, is one of such receptivity that their salvation or damnation is completely in their parents' hands (unless they're so fortunate as to be sent to a good school, naturally,) while all the consequences fall on the child.
March 12, 2008
Book 6 of the Chalet School series, and we meet Eustacia, probably the worst student ever (so far, at least). To give you a sample, the first sentence of this book - "There is no disguising the fact that Eustacia Benson was the most arrant little prig that ever existed." (Which is an awesome insult, by the way - I have been waiting for the opportunity to call someone an arrant little prig.)
(Also, I love that the synopsis on the book page makes it sound like Eustacia is plotting to firebomb the Chalet in revenge.)
Anyway, Eustacia is a snob who tells on the other girls (sneaking is very frowned upon) and generally prances around being a twit (this is the fault of her "elderly" parents who have raised her in an improperly adult manner). She and Jo really get on each other's nerves (which lets you know that we're supposed to particularly hate Eustacia). Eventually the entire school, including the mistresses, hate Eustacia, until (as usual) a dreadful accident occurs. Honestly, so many dreadful accidents occur at the Chalet School it seems a rather dangerous place (and it is only book 6). Anyway, the dreadful accident "peels off the layers of priggishness" and Stacie emerges - a far nicer girl. People basically say to her, "Wow, Eustacia was a bitch, but you're quite nice Stacie," and Stacie nods happily in agreement. Personality change to a proper Chalet school girl completed, complete with a new name. Another reviewer said this was really creepy, and I agree - I prefer it when the naughty girls just get a bit less naughty.
At one point Jo gets a talking to about her general influence with people - how everyone pretty much automatically loves and admires her and how this gives her a greater responsibility - I actually liked how Jo's heroine nature was acknowledged in this way.
(Also, I love that the synopsis on the book page makes it sound like Eustacia is plotting to firebomb the Chalet in revenge.)
Anyway, Eustacia is a snob who tells on the other girls (sneaking is very frowned upon) and generally prances around being a twit (this is the fault of her "elderly" parents who have raised her in an improperly adult manner). She and Jo really get on each other's nerves (which lets you know that we're supposed to particularly hate Eustacia). Eventually the entire school, including the mistresses, hate Eustacia, until (as usual) a dreadful accident occurs. Honestly, so many dreadful accidents occur at the Chalet School it seems a rather dangerous place (and it is only book 6). Anyway, the dreadful accident "peels off the layers of priggishness" and Stacie emerges - a far nicer girl. People basically say to her, "Wow, Eustacia was a bitch, but you're quite nice Stacie," and Stacie nods happily in agreement. Personality change to a proper Chalet school girl completed, complete with a new name. Another reviewer said this was really creepy, and I agree - I prefer it when the naughty girls just get a bit less naughty.
At one point Jo gets a talking to about her general influence with people - how everyone pretty much automatically loves and admires her and how this gives her a greater responsibility - I actually liked how Jo's heroine nature was acknowledged in this way.
January 23, 2014
What a horrid little girl! I wondered what it was going to take to turn things around. As per usual all comes right in the end.
I was really shocked at one sentence though - and I suppose it shows the age the book was written - Mary says "we'll have to work like niggers" - terrible.
I was really shocked at one sentence though - and I suppose it shows the age the book was written - Mary says "we'll have to work like niggers" - terrible.
November 23, 2012
Chambers hardback edition. Review to come.
January 9, 2026
I enjoyed this one quite a bit but it was letdown by the classic 'girl runs away from the school' ending. Honestly, I'd love one of these to end without anyone running away or nearly dying from an illness.
Also a conversation between several of the adults at the start of the book talking about how great children who have been raised to be "joyfully obedient" are and how bad it is that parents in some countries let their children "develop their own personalities". I get that it's a sign of the times but still, big yikes from me.
Also a conversation between several of the adults at the start of the book talking about how great children who have been raised to be "joyfully obedient" are and how bad it is that parents in some countries let their children "develop their own personalities". I get that it's a sign of the times but still, big yikes from me.
September 6, 2021
I quite enjoyed it - I do love the way Elinor Brent-Dyer places such importance on school community - she sort of weaves all her characters together - it seems random at first - but by the end you understand it’s her way of conveying how the school and it’s wider community is the one family. Also, there’s some really choice sentence phrasing in this story.
November 14, 2019
Fun, but not my favorite I accidentally caught sight of the last paragraph and that completely spoiled the ending for me. (I had been between two thoughts.)
January 22, 2013
Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School is the sixth in the series and, fortunately for me, is still set in the Austrian Tyrol. Of the books I own, the Austrian years were my favourite and firmly put Austria on my travel wishlist. Although the later books, with their references to familiar characters, were pretty enjoyable too.
The book follows the travails of 14-year-old Eustacia Benson who, in the very first sentence, is described as “the most arrant little prig that ever existed.” The narrator makes no bones about the fact that the eponymous character is thoroughly unlikable. But deliciously detestable characters are exactly what make books fun. Even the ones who you want to rip out from the pages and smack, they work so well precisely because they push our buttons.
Eustacia didn’t evoke any such violent tendency on my part though. True, she’s selfish and self-righteous, randomly flies into a temper and, horror of horrors, tells tales (utter blasphemy in a school story). However, the way she casually breaks rules and makes enemies with brazen cheek made me laugh at her audacity more than anything else. Eustacia is thoroughly entertaining, she certainly doesn’t deserve the ire the narrator has in store for her. Heck, even Voldemort got off with mass genocide with nary a peep from a neutral narrator.
Through the rest of the book, Eustacia wages a perpetual war against the Chalet School darling Joey Bettany, is wholly ostracised for a fairly minor infraction and has the whole school baying for her blood. At one point, the entire school is asked for suggestions about the best way to tackle the unpleasant girl in a school of fairly well-behaved students. You almost have to feel sorry for the girl.
The book also includes a snowball fight (I only mention it because it had all the strategies of a battle, which I would have loved to be a part of), a feud between two forms, a half-term picnic where they end up getting caught in a snowstorm (of course they do! Nothing’s ever simple in the Chalet School world), pranks, a broken foot, a nearly fatal accident (another staple) and Bernhilda’s wedding, who was one of the original students of the school. An already-married Gisela (the school’s very first Head Girl) chooses to remain at home without explanation which, knowing Brent-Dyer’s ways, made me suspicious of a pregnancy.
The book’s Exciting Happening had Eustacia running away. I almost expected Joey to play heroine again and was thoroughly relieved that she didn’t. Apparently, she nearly died of pneumonia last term (in a previous book) which was reason enough for Brent-Dyer to lay off the damsel-in-perennial-distress, at least for this story. The book made for a great read, but then again, I’m biased towards the charming series, insanity and all. And the last chapter made me want to yell “I knew it!” in triumph – Gisela went and delivered her baby.
The book follows the travails of 14-year-old Eustacia Benson who, in the very first sentence, is described as “the most arrant little prig that ever existed.” The narrator makes no bones about the fact that the eponymous character is thoroughly unlikable. But deliciously detestable characters are exactly what make books fun. Even the ones who you want to rip out from the pages and smack, they work so well precisely because they push our buttons.
Eustacia didn’t evoke any such violent tendency on my part though. True, she’s selfish and self-righteous, randomly flies into a temper and, horror of horrors, tells tales (utter blasphemy in a school story). However, the way she casually breaks rules and makes enemies with brazen cheek made me laugh at her audacity more than anything else. Eustacia is thoroughly entertaining, she certainly doesn’t deserve the ire the narrator has in store for her. Heck, even Voldemort got off with mass genocide with nary a peep from a neutral narrator.
Through the rest of the book, Eustacia wages a perpetual war against the Chalet School darling Joey Bettany, is wholly ostracised for a fairly minor infraction and has the whole school baying for her blood. At one point, the entire school is asked for suggestions about the best way to tackle the unpleasant girl in a school of fairly well-behaved students. You almost have to feel sorry for the girl.
The book also includes a snowball fight (I only mention it because it had all the strategies of a battle, which I would have loved to be a part of), a feud between two forms, a half-term picnic where they end up getting caught in a snowstorm (of course they do! Nothing’s ever simple in the Chalet School world), pranks, a broken foot, a nearly fatal accident (another staple) and Bernhilda’s wedding, who was one of the original students of the school. An already-married Gisela (the school’s very first Head Girl) chooses to remain at home without explanation which, knowing Brent-Dyer’s ways, made me suspicious of a pregnancy.
The book’s Exciting Happening had Eustacia running away. I almost expected Joey to play heroine again and was thoroughly relieved that she didn’t. Apparently, she nearly died of pneumonia last term (in a previous book) which was reason enough for Brent-Dyer to lay off the damsel-in-perennial-distress, at least for this story. The book made for a great read, but then again, I’m biased towards the charming series, insanity and all. And the last chapter made me want to yell “I knew it!” in triumph – Gisela went and delivered her baby.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2011
Haha!! What a holy terror of a girl Eustacia is! This was a re-read, but it's been so long since my first (and I think only) read that I didn't recognise much of it, if any, really.
Eustacia is awesome to read about. She's just plain awful! An uppity little sneak who looks down on everyone and doesn't care who she is rude to. Older students, prefects, even teachers! Certainly makes for fun reading! I was laughing out loud more than once at her antics.
Interesting to re-read a very early book in the series as well, since my 'pet' era generally tends to be the Guernsey/Armiford/St. Briavel's era - most of my favourite characters seem to be at school during those books. So to go back to book 6, where Jo is still a student herself, as was at least one other future teacher; to read about girls whose characters I'd more or less forgotten and whose names I only knew as 'old girls', it was interesting! The whole wedding chapter I found very slow and dull, though. And I am still just as meh over Robin as ever.
Eustacia is awesome to read about. She's just plain awful! An uppity little sneak who looks down on everyone and doesn't care who she is rude to. Older students, prefects, even teachers! Certainly makes for fun reading! I was laughing out loud more than once at her antics.
Interesting to re-read a very early book in the series as well, since my 'pet' era generally tends to be the Guernsey/Armiford/St. Briavel's era - most of my favourite characters seem to be at school during those books. So to go back to book 6, where Jo is still a student herself, as was at least one other future teacher; to read about girls whose characters I'd more or less forgotten and whose names I only knew as 'old girls', it was interesting! The whole wedding chapter I found very slow and dull, though. And I am still just as meh over Robin as ever.
April 29, 2016
I'm calling this a reread as I have read the paperback version of Eustacia before. All the same, it's kind of a new read as well.
While I've known for a long time that many of the Chalet school paperpacks were abridged, I didn't always realise how drastic some of those abridgements had been. This is one that was chopped to pieces. Reading this new, Girls Gone By edition, I occasionally went and pulled my old Armada paperback of the shelf to discover that a long chapter in the one I was reading had been reduced to a few pages in the paperback.
This makes me all the more delighted to have a full and unabridged copy at last. There's something about the early, Tyrol-based books that the later ones, no matter what interesting things might happen in them, never quite manage to match.
I thoroughly enjoyed re-meeting Eustacia and I may just have to reread some more of the early books as the year goes on. (Of course, the fact I just started an Abbey book instead, isn't going to help with that goal.)
While I've known for a long time that many of the Chalet school paperpacks were abridged, I didn't always realise how drastic some of those abridgements had been. This is one that was chopped to pieces. Reading this new, Girls Gone By edition, I occasionally went and pulled my old Armada paperback of the shelf to discover that a long chapter in the one I was reading had been reduced to a few pages in the paperback.
This makes me all the more delighted to have a full and unabridged copy at last. There's something about the early, Tyrol-based books that the later ones, no matter what interesting things might happen in them, never quite manage to match.
I thoroughly enjoyed re-meeting Eustacia and I may just have to reread some more of the early books as the year goes on. (Of course, the fact I just started an Abbey book instead, isn't going to help with that goal.)
August 6, 2020
Eustacia is the daughter of an eminent professor who dies at the start of the book. Left with an aunt and five lively boy cousins, she becomes upset and is quite obnoxious. Then she is sent to the Chalet School. She considers herself superior to the other girls, which inevitably leads to some clashes and - eventually - high drama.
This is sixth in the lengthy series, and I'm delighted to have it in hardback now. Although apparently not much was cut, I found it much better than the abridged paperback version which I read in 2003.
Good light reading that doesn't use up too much brain power, and yet is surprisingly moving in places. This would make a good starting point for someone wanting to read the Chalet School series, without starting at the beginning.
Four and a half stars, really.
Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...
This is sixth in the lengthy series, and I'm delighted to have it in hardback now. Although apparently not much was cut, I found it much better than the abridged paperback version which I read in 2003.
Good light reading that doesn't use up too much brain power, and yet is surprisingly moving in places. This would make a good starting point for someone wanting to read the Chalet School series, without starting at the beginning.
Four and a half stars, really.
Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...
January 30, 2024
Many upsets on the way
May 29, 2011
This is the second of the books I bought yesterday, although it's a few books further on. I love these books; they're a different world, being as they're set in the 1920/30's, yet they're still accessible.
I enjoyed this book, though I felt it ended a little sooner than it should have. It's your basic "new, disagreeable girl joins the school, but comes good in the end" story, but still enjoyable.
I enjoyed this book, though I felt it ended a little sooner than it should have. It's your basic "new, disagreeable girl joins the school, but comes good in the end" story, but still enjoyable.
August 12, 2009
One of the best of the Chalet School series. Eustacia is bright, but arrogant and self-centered. Naturally she has to be whipped into shape, and Joey is helpful in achieving that! A character study, but there is lots of Alpine adventure too.
January 4, 2017
I thought this book was good, but not as good as the previous chalet school books. Still, I enjoyed it and would certainly recommend it.
January 25, 2025
This is quite a different Chalet School story to most of Elinor Brent-Dyer's other novels in the series as the protagonist Eustacia Benson is portrayed very much what could be classed as an anti-heroine rather than one of the usually clean-cup Chalet School girls. She is trouble from the very beginning and continues her behaviour almost to the very end of this most entertaining story. Indeed the opening sentence of the book sums her up, 'There is no disguising the fact that Eustacia Benson was the most arrant little prig that ever existed.'
Eustacia had lost her mother in the preceding June and shortly thereafter her father, a learned Greek professor at Oxford University, had also died so her Aunt Margery was appointed her guardian with her uncle Edward Trevanion as her trustee. However, Mrs Trevanion found herself confounded by her unchildlike niece who was almost 14.
A decision was made to close the big house in which they lived and the whole Trevanion family with their five boys would move back to Devon but this did not suit Eustacia who declared, 'I have no desire to leave Oxford, and I can manage the house and servants quite well.' But Mrs Trevanion told her that she would do no such thing, so begrudgingly she was obliged to move with the family to Devon.
The Trevanion boys soon got fed up with Eustacia and her attitude and one of them asked to his mother, 'Why can't you send her away to a school where they don't have holidays?' As it happened Mrs Trevanion knew one of her neighbours who was step-mother to Grizel Cochrane, who had been a boarder at the Chalet School, which was at that time in Briesau am Tiernsee in the Austrian Tyrol. So to cut a long story short, it was arranged that she should attend the school begining with the forthcoming Easter term.
Not surprisingly Eustacia objected but Mrs Trevanion told her, I cannot keep you here Eustacia. you have upset the whole house in the short time we have had you. You have never tried to think of anyone but yourself.' And so Eustacia was packed off to Austria, much to her chagrin.
Unfortunately when she arrived at the Chalet School her character did not change and the other girls there very quickly took a strong dislike to her. And Eustacia made no effort to change their opinion, in fact she antagonised them even more, She told tales, was extremely rude, and behaved in a most unfitting way to both her fellow students and, more often than not, her teachers. The result was that she was universally disliked.
Her behaviour continues throughout the story and, despite some efforts being made by head girl Joey Bettany in particular to befriend her, it made no difference. It seemed that every bit of trouble that reared its ugly head in the school stemmed from something said or done by Eustacia. And that theme continues throughout the book.
Even a half-term holiday spelled trouble when her and her fellow pupils, plus members of staff went on holiday together. Indeed on a visit to the Stubai Glacier, matters got so bad that Eustacia disappeared. Many of the students were not unhappy about her departure but the teachers realising their responsibility made efforts to find her. This despite one of the teachers, Miss Stewart, declaring, 'And there's no judging Eustacia by ordinary standards, either. She is unique, I should think, in the annals of school-girls.'
A most exciting climax follows and bearing in mind that the word 'kindness' has just been chosen as the Children's Word of the Year for 2024 following a survey by Oxford University Press (OUP) of more than 6,000 children across the UK, suffice it to say, without giving too much away, kindness eventually prevailed at the Chalet School!
Eustacia had lost her mother in the preceding June and shortly thereafter her father, a learned Greek professor at Oxford University, had also died so her Aunt Margery was appointed her guardian with her uncle Edward Trevanion as her trustee. However, Mrs Trevanion found herself confounded by her unchildlike niece who was almost 14.
A decision was made to close the big house in which they lived and the whole Trevanion family with their five boys would move back to Devon but this did not suit Eustacia who declared, 'I have no desire to leave Oxford, and I can manage the house and servants quite well.' But Mrs Trevanion told her that she would do no such thing, so begrudgingly she was obliged to move with the family to Devon.
The Trevanion boys soon got fed up with Eustacia and her attitude and one of them asked to his mother, 'Why can't you send her away to a school where they don't have holidays?' As it happened Mrs Trevanion knew one of her neighbours who was step-mother to Grizel Cochrane, who had been a boarder at the Chalet School, which was at that time in Briesau am Tiernsee in the Austrian Tyrol. So to cut a long story short, it was arranged that she should attend the school begining with the forthcoming Easter term.
Not surprisingly Eustacia objected but Mrs Trevanion told her, I cannot keep you here Eustacia. you have upset the whole house in the short time we have had you. You have never tried to think of anyone but yourself.' And so Eustacia was packed off to Austria, much to her chagrin.
Unfortunately when she arrived at the Chalet School her character did not change and the other girls there very quickly took a strong dislike to her. And Eustacia made no effort to change their opinion, in fact she antagonised them even more, She told tales, was extremely rude, and behaved in a most unfitting way to both her fellow students and, more often than not, her teachers. The result was that she was universally disliked.
Her behaviour continues throughout the story and, despite some efforts being made by head girl Joey Bettany in particular to befriend her, it made no difference. It seemed that every bit of trouble that reared its ugly head in the school stemmed from something said or done by Eustacia. And that theme continues throughout the book.
Even a half-term holiday spelled trouble when her and her fellow pupils, plus members of staff went on holiday together. Indeed on a visit to the Stubai Glacier, matters got so bad that Eustacia disappeared. Many of the students were not unhappy about her departure but the teachers realising their responsibility made efforts to find her. This despite one of the teachers, Miss Stewart, declaring, 'And there's no judging Eustacia by ordinary standards, either. She is unique, I should think, in the annals of school-girls.'
A most exciting climax follows and bearing in mind that the word 'kindness' has just been chosen as the Children's Word of the Year for 2024 following a survey by Oxford University Press (OUP) of more than 6,000 children across the UK, suffice it to say, without giving too much away, kindness eventually prevailed at the Chalet School!
February 23, 2024
“There is no disguising the fact that Eustacia Benson was the most arrant little prig that ever existed.”
So begins Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School, the sixth book in Elinor M. Brent-Dyer’s Chalet School series. You just know that all is not going to be tickety-boo for Eustacia once she gets to the Chalet School!
When her parents die within months of each other, Eustacia is left in the care of an aunt, who promptly takes Eustacia back to Devonshire with her. But finding the strangely brought up girl at odds with her five boys, Eustacia is sent to the Chalet School on recommendation of an acquaintance in the village shop.
This book was such a lot of fun to read. Eustacia is most definitely a little prig, as many of the girls are quick to call her. And while all along you know that Eustacia must have a change of heart and become a proper Chalet School girl, I had a very hard time imagining how the transformation would come about.
Eustacia is a sneak. She has no respect for the prefects or the staff. She corrects her fellow girls, as though she isn’t one herself. And she refuses to see how she could possibly be in the wrong, even in the most damning of circumstances!
Joey Bettany has been newly made a prefect, and it is going to take all her patience not to let her temper get the better of herself where Eustacia is concerned. And let’s be honest, she isn’t always very successful at keeping it in check. Eustacia may be “a little ass” but Joey probably shouldn’t be so vocal about it!
This book starts in November and has many descriptions of winter in the Tyrol. The Chalet School girls have an organized snowball fight with the girls of the school across the lake, St. Scholasticas, followed by Kaffee und Kuchen. Yes, please! But it was the half-term in Fulpmes, and the hike to the Stubai glacier that made me love this book. Everything hinges on that trip and the sudden blizzard was an absolute treat for this winter lover to read!
***Beware spoilers ahead!***
The only part that I wasn’t completely on board for was the final scene. Eustacia’s transition seemed unbelievably swift and the Eustacia/Stacie thing didn’t ring true for me.
So begins Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School, the sixth book in Elinor M. Brent-Dyer’s Chalet School series. You just know that all is not going to be tickety-boo for Eustacia once she gets to the Chalet School!
When her parents die within months of each other, Eustacia is left in the care of an aunt, who promptly takes Eustacia back to Devonshire with her. But finding the strangely brought up girl at odds with her five boys, Eustacia is sent to the Chalet School on recommendation of an acquaintance in the village shop.
This book was such a lot of fun to read. Eustacia is most definitely a little prig, as many of the girls are quick to call her. And while all along you know that Eustacia must have a change of heart and become a proper Chalet School girl, I had a very hard time imagining how the transformation would come about.
Eustacia is a sneak. She has no respect for the prefects or the staff. She corrects her fellow girls, as though she isn’t one herself. And she refuses to see how she could possibly be in the wrong, even in the most damning of circumstances!
Joey Bettany has been newly made a prefect, and it is going to take all her patience not to let her temper get the better of herself where Eustacia is concerned. And let’s be honest, she isn’t always very successful at keeping it in check. Eustacia may be “a little ass” but Joey probably shouldn’t be so vocal about it!
This book starts in November and has many descriptions of winter in the Tyrol. The Chalet School girls have an organized snowball fight with the girls of the school across the lake, St. Scholasticas, followed by Kaffee und Kuchen. Yes, please! But it was the half-term in Fulpmes, and the hike to the Stubai glacier that made me love this book. Everything hinges on that trip and the sudden blizzard was an absolute treat for this winter lover to read!
***Beware spoilers ahead!***
The only part that I wasn’t completely on board for was the final scene. Eustacia’s transition seemed unbelievably swift and the Eustacia/Stacie thing didn’t ring true for me.
February 6, 2023
Eustacia Benson comes to the Chalet School most unwillingly after the death of her parents. Unused to other girls, convinced that she is far better than any of them, will she ever settle down?
In its short existence the Chalet School has had some difficult pupils already, but Eustacia is the first that we see unhappy at home and sent unwillingly to school. Her journey through quarrels with fellow-pupils, settings-down from prefects, and dramatic escapades in the mountains through to rebirth as a real Chalet girl sets a pattern which will be repeated many times in the series.
This book bounces with energy. Eustacia, unhappy but arrogant and self-centred, attracts sympathy in spite of being very hard to like: today fans sometimes focus on her love of reading and excuse her high-handedness with the servants and quasi-eugenicist views of the poor in a way that surprises me. Meanwhile we also see Jo and the rest of the school get on with their lives - Jo’s sisterly bond with Robin, visits to Innsbruck and the family relationship between school and founding pupils. But the school isn’t perfect - quarrels and tricks disrupt friendships and cross words are exchanged - but still comes together over a snow fight (so much more fun than hockey matches) or the Sale to help local people in need. In spite of gentle Mademoiselle and wise Miss Annersley, the staff are shown to be anything but perfect and their bad moods play a part in how Eustacia’s story develops.
The unhappy new girl who needs some life lessons before she settles down is one of the major school story tropes. EBD here gives us a complex heroine and a school which doesn’t want to bash her into shape - in the end it is the forces of nature that do that. And all in a style which sweeps the reader along. This book shows why this series survived for so long and still has a community of fans today.
In its short existence the Chalet School has had some difficult pupils already, but Eustacia is the first that we see unhappy at home and sent unwillingly to school. Her journey through quarrels with fellow-pupils, settings-down from prefects, and dramatic escapades in the mountains through to rebirth as a real Chalet girl sets a pattern which will be repeated many times in the series.
This book bounces with energy. Eustacia, unhappy but arrogant and self-centred, attracts sympathy in spite of being very hard to like: today fans sometimes focus on her love of reading and excuse her high-handedness with the servants and quasi-eugenicist views of the poor in a way that surprises me. Meanwhile we also see Jo and the rest of the school get on with their lives - Jo’s sisterly bond with Robin, visits to Innsbruck and the family relationship between school and founding pupils. But the school isn’t perfect - quarrels and tricks disrupt friendships and cross words are exchanged - but still comes together over a snow fight (so much more fun than hockey matches) or the Sale to help local people in need. In spite of gentle Mademoiselle and wise Miss Annersley, the staff are shown to be anything but perfect and their bad moods play a part in how Eustacia’s story develops.
The unhappy new girl who needs some life lessons before she settles down is one of the major school story tropes. EBD here gives us a complex heroine and a school which doesn’t want to bash her into shape - in the end it is the forces of nature that do that. And all in a style which sweeps the reader along. This book shows why this series survived for so long and still has a community of fans today.
February 10, 2026
One of the joys of reading this series as an adult is being able to laugh now at the outdated ideas in them. For example:
* A conversation between several of the adults at the start of the book talking about how great children are who have been raised to be "joyfully obedient" and how bad it is that parents in some countries let their children "develop their own personalities";
* Robin, a child of 9, sits on the lap of a newly-met bishop at a wedding;
* Robin has to have an afternoon nap; she’s continually referred to as a baby;
* Lots of people get sent to bed for the day (imagine sending a 15 year old girl to bed for the day in our times!);
* A back injury of strained muscles causes someone to be confined to bed, flat on her back, for months and months, then to be in a wheelchair for a while afterwards. I’m sure the NHS would have the resources for that!;
* Once again, someone doesn’t go to the wedding of her sister (or maybe her sister-in-law, the intermarrying and interconnecting of the old girls sometimes escapes me) because she’s pregnant, though it only alluded to as ‘her being very busy’, similar wording being used to describe Madge’s pregnancy. For the best example of how a pregnancy is hidden, see The Chalet School in Exile;
Yes, these books seem very formulaic, especially as I’m read so many of them in such a short, but I still enjoy them. A nonconformist girl joins, she is taken down a peg or two, she probably runs away, there’s a weather-related incident that causes people to need to be rescued, in part by the ‘peasants’
i.e. the local, poor people, someone becomes ill or is already delicate etc. etc.
I loved Eustacia, even if she is a little prig (such a lovely word, don’t you think?), and wished hadn’t had to be reformed to make her a ‘shy, pretty girl’ as so many of them are.
* A conversation between several of the adults at the start of the book talking about how great children are who have been raised to be "joyfully obedient" and how bad it is that parents in some countries let their children "develop their own personalities";
* Robin, a child of 9, sits on the lap of a newly-met bishop at a wedding;
* Robin has to have an afternoon nap; she’s continually referred to as a baby;
* Lots of people get sent to bed for the day (imagine sending a 15 year old girl to bed for the day in our times!);
* A back injury of strained muscles causes someone to be confined to bed, flat on her back, for months and months, then to be in a wheelchair for a while afterwards. I’m sure the NHS would have the resources for that!;
* Once again, someone doesn’t go to the wedding of her sister (or maybe her sister-in-law, the intermarrying and interconnecting of the old girls sometimes escapes me) because she’s pregnant, though it only alluded to as ‘her being very busy’, similar wording being used to describe Madge’s pregnancy. For the best example of how a pregnancy is hidden, see The Chalet School in Exile;
Yes, these books seem very formulaic, especially as I’m read so many of them in such a short, but I still enjoy them. A nonconformist girl joins, she is taken down a peg or two, she probably runs away, there’s a weather-related incident that causes people to need to be rescued, in part by the ‘peasants’
i.e. the local, poor people, someone becomes ill or is already delicate etc. etc.
I loved Eustacia, even if she is a little prig (such a lovely word, don’t you think?), and wished hadn’t had to be reformed to make her a ‘shy, pretty girl’ as so many of them are.
May 14, 2017
I really like this one. The details are well done, starting with Mrs. Cochrane (a chillingly realistic evil stepmother type), all the way through the prefects' handling the library situation, especially Deira; she's never been noted for good sense, but I thought this was spectacular:
It's a confusing tangle, viewing that approach alongside her more complicated descriptions of class. But credit where credit is due: it's a realistic tangle. And Deira is absolutely correct in what's a great moment here.
It's weird to read this and realize that a world war was behind them and no one had any idea what was coming. But that's true of any book published in 1930, I guess.
"I did not see that [the library rule] need apply to me. I have been accustomed to have access to any book in my father's library, and I should not mark or harm them as an ordinary girl might do. I dare say many of these foreigners have no idea how to treat books -"That feels like the beginning of Brent-Dyer's outspoken cosmopolitanism, which eventually leads to her amazingly clear-sighted view of Hitler and the Nazis, as well as various unsubtle asides (meant to show poor breeding) about people who are less than thrilled to meet Austrians or Germans during WWII. It's a fascinating thing, because she does strongly believe in "an English education", but her school also requires French and German and the students end up trilingual as a result.
"Less about foreigners, if you please!" struck in Deira. "I don't know if you realize that this is not England; still, in case you haven't, it's Austria, and the foreigners are not the Austrians."
It's a confusing tangle, viewing that approach alongside her more complicated descriptions of class. But credit where credit is due: it's a realistic tangle. And Deira is absolutely correct in what's a great moment here.
It's weird to read this and realize that a world war was behind them and no one had any idea what was coming. But that's true of any book published in 1930, I guess.
August 29, 2019
I shall probably shut about this after this book (or perhaps not) but Robin isn't a baby. If she's at school, she doesn't need a cot!
I know she's delicate and I have found that Mother-to-child transmission of TB is a serious matter even today, let alone then. I just don't think that staying up beyond 7pm is a high trigger factor in itself. And poor old Eustacia having months of bed rest just because of a pulled muscle in her back.
Silliness aside, if you're an adult reading Chalet School Books, you're probably reading them in order. You know the score by now, a lot of silliness wrapped up in a jolly good yarn, some decent characterisations (for some) and some spiffing foreign names and casual racism.
I know she's delicate and I have found that Mother-to-child transmission of TB is a serious matter even today, let alone then. I just don't think that staying up beyond 7pm is a high trigger factor in itself. And poor old Eustacia having months of bed rest just because of a pulled muscle in her back.
Silliness aside, if you're an adult reading Chalet School Books, you're probably reading them in order. You know the score by now, a lot of silliness wrapped up in a jolly good yarn, some decent characterisations (for some) and some spiffing foreign names and casual racism.
September 8, 2021
I read a lot of Chalet School books as a child, and was recently delighted to come across a couple I missed. Eustacia happens early in the run (number six), when the school is still in Austria. Eustacia herself is insufferable, but so is pretty much everyone else. Featuring: people getting stuck on mountains, people falling off mountains, people being mysteriously delicate, weird rules (no mountain climbing in plaits).
October 7, 2017
A favorite childhood series of mine.
April 4, 2018
Really? Stacie?
November 14, 2018
Totally Loooove C.S. No more to be said. Find yourself the first CS book and go forward.
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