Gillian of the Chalet School

Chalet School - Complete

by Carol Allan

Following events of The New Chalet School, Gillian of the Chalet School shows Gillian Linton's time as head girl as well as the whole school coping with the new arrangements of mixing seniors, middles and juniors together in the separate Houses.

Genres: School Stories, Childrens

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Shawne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carol Allan does a creditable job in filling in one of the missing terms in Elinor M Brent-Dyer's long-running Chalet School series - she allows the title character of Gillian Linton to come to the fore, so to speak, and creates a story and atmosphere that is at once respectful of and faithful to the rest of the series. Parts of Allan's narrative feel rather forced, as she attempts to tell the story in Brent-Dyer's style; this invariably comes off worse at the beginning than at the end (when characters and past history are introduced), but is less noticeable when the book settles comfortably into telling its own tale. Allan has clearly done plenty of research to ensure that her novel fills rather than creates gaps, and she does have a good ear for the dialogue and interaction between the characters. Particularly amusing for the longtime fan would be the chapter devoted to Jo's attempts to evade her suitor, while it's a hard heart that would remain unaffected by the Lintons' brush with death as their sickly mother moves ever closer to the grave. While Brent-Dyer's series has had its share of mysterious healings and graveside revivals, it has also always and very consistently depicted in an admirably realistic fashion the impact of death and sickness on the young girls who are the stars of many of her tales. In this respect, Allan does credit to Brent-Dyer in giving the Linton girls and their ailing mother more room for their story.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have great admiration for all the fill-in writers, and this fill-in has a lot going for it. It's set in Tirol, Joey (who is just starting to be irritating) zips off to India, Gillian and Hilary are top-notch characters, and the timeline used gives room for another three books to fill the gap before Exile. Good work.

The story is excellent, and includes incidents referenced later in the series (always a Good Thing for EBD's fans). But it doesn't quite capture the voices correctly. I've tried and tried to work out why, and all I can think is that the dialogue is a bit stilted. That's not a reason to avoid it - it still definitely earns its five stars - just be prepared for a slightly unEBDish tone.

[Carolynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gillian bravely carries on as head girl of the Chalet School even though her mother is dying. She is a splendid examplar of the Chalet School ethic. This is a better-than-average spin-off of the popular series (well, popular in England.)

[Emma Sadeghi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely plot but the writing is quite stilted, particularly the dialogue.

[Betsy A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fill-in Chalet School book comes chronologically between EBD’s “The New Chalet School” and “The Chalet School in Exile”. It tells the story of Gillian Linton, who is Head Girl for this school term. Gillian and her sister Joyce attend the Chalet School while their very ill mother is in the Sanatorium on the Sonnalpe. Carol does a good job of filling in some missing parts to the series, including EBD’s missing book about Jo and Robin visiting family in India. There are plenty of well-known characters, some troubles with Joyce, and the struggles the school has with the implementation of the new house system. It makes for an interesting tale, with plenty of shenanigans from the Middles (illicit communications and fireworks, need more be said?), and how Gillian navigates these situations, including bad news about her mother.

Overall, well done, though if there is one point to nitpick, it’s that Gillian is always proclaimed as being a wonderful Head Girl, but there is little evidence of her direct actions in this story to back that up. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but not one of my favorite fill-in stories. If you’re a so-so Chalet School fan, you can skip it. Diehards will want to read it for its excellent way of connecting storylines to the actual series.

[Katy Picken · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable fill in, which remains faithful to the original Chalet School, both in tone and content. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Gillian and Hilary, and how well they worked together; and Mrs Linton's approaching demise was sensitively handled. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable filler in the series. A tad unbelievable that Hilary's dad would agree to pay another year's fees just to be head girl! Glad there wasn't much Joey in it, as she's entering the being incredibly annoying phase that she never escapes!

[Katharine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed my first fill in!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real weepy

[Margaret Conmey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reasonably good ‘fill-in’ to the series
Gillian Linton is a good character
When I started current attempt to read/ re-read the Chalet series in order for the first time rather than random books as I managed to buy them , I was unsure whether to include the ‘fill- in’ books but I remembered enjoying this book and always liked Gillian Linton as a character
I enjoyed the book more on second reading