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Chalet School - Complete
Sisters at the Chalet School
As the Second World War draws to a close, two sets of sisters start at the Chalet School. The Herberts—Bess, Madge, Nan and Ruth—have never been to school before but are eager for the experience. The second group of sisters, Len, Con and Margot, have grown up in the shadow of the school and know exactly what to do, but still encounter some bumps along the way. The sisters make good friends at the school, but the Herberts gradually become aware of an undercurrent of ill-feeling, very unlike the usual Chalet school atmosphere. At the end of a long war, and with painful losses, some girls are not willing to accept the spirit of the Chalet School's Peace League and start committing petty acts of spite to make their feelings known. As the troubles deepen, the Herberts and their friends, the staff, prefects and of course Joey all contribute to help the school understand the real meaning of sisterhood.
- GenresSchool Stories
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2017
42 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 12, 2026
An okay entry in the series. Very choppy in places, as if there were ideas but no follow through on them.
March 27, 2020
The Herbert sisters - minor characters in a number of Chalet books - here take centre stage in their first term at the Chalet School, arriving in the late stages of the war.
Amy Fletcher writes a book that is very true to Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s originals in language, tone and rather episodic plot. There are twists on familiar situations - the prefects discuss problem pupils and come up with ingenious responses; the staff enjoy their pupils’ howlers in the staff room; a half-term trip and an expedition provide a mix of educational information and dramatic accidents, with a wholesome fear of Matron’s response to torn clothes after a successful rescue.
Joey quite naturally comes into the book through the focus on her triplet daughters’ first term at school, and we see the beginnings of Margot’s ‘devil’. It’s nice to see Joey here responding to school events as a writer rather than a champion butter-in, though I couldn’t really believe that even wartime shortages could have transformed her into such an interested needlewoman as she appears in the opening chapter. And her ‘Christmas Play’, of course written by Fletcher herself, is a great addition to the Chalet plays in the books.
The Herbert girls rather fade out after a strong start (somewhat like Polly and Lalla Winterton in Peggy), but the real theme of this book is about refugees and attitudes to them, told in a very EBD-ish way but resonating with the issue Europe still faces today. It’s very well done, as a few muttered words give rise to more and more incidents, until the prefects realise something has to be done - not just to squash hateful behaviour but to change attitudes. Here Amy Fletcher proves herself a worthy heir to the author who created the Chalet Peace League.
My one criticism of this book is that the problem pupils in it are all those who turn up as problem pupils in later books. It would have been interesting if it had been one of the other triplets than Margot who had such problems settling down, or if someone other than grumpy Phil Craven was the girl whose family losses led to anti-German attitudes. But this is a minor issue: this is a lovely book and a great addition to the ‘missing term’ fill-ins.
Amy Fletcher writes a book that is very true to Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s originals in language, tone and rather episodic plot. There are twists on familiar situations - the prefects discuss problem pupils and come up with ingenious responses; the staff enjoy their pupils’ howlers in the staff room; a half-term trip and an expedition provide a mix of educational information and dramatic accidents, with a wholesome fear of Matron’s response to torn clothes after a successful rescue.
Joey quite naturally comes into the book through the focus on her triplet daughters’ first term at school, and we see the beginnings of Margot’s ‘devil’. It’s nice to see Joey here responding to school events as a writer rather than a champion butter-in, though I couldn’t really believe that even wartime shortages could have transformed her into such an interested needlewoman as she appears in the opening chapter. And her ‘Christmas Play’, of course written by Fletcher herself, is a great addition to the Chalet plays in the books.
The Herbert girls rather fade out after a strong start (somewhat like Polly and Lalla Winterton in Peggy), but the real theme of this book is about refugees and attitudes to them, told in a very EBD-ish way but resonating with the issue Europe still faces today. It’s very well done, as a few muttered words give rise to more and more incidents, until the prefects realise something has to be done - not just to squash hateful behaviour but to change attitudes. Here Amy Fletcher proves herself a worthy heir to the author who created the Chalet Peace League.
My one criticism of this book is that the problem pupils in it are all those who turn up as problem pupils in later books. It would have been interesting if it had been one of the other triplets than Margot who had such problems settling down, or if someone other than grumpy Phil Craven was the girl whose family losses led to anti-German attitudes. But this is a minor issue: this is a lovely book and a great addition to the ‘missing term’ fill-ins.
January 25, 2026
This story is one of the many “fill-in” novels to EBD’s Chalet School series. This is Amy Fletcher’s first offering to the canon of stories. EBD did not write any stories specifically referencing the war while the school was at Plas Howell in the later war years. This gap means there are several school terms not covered by an EBD story. This story covers the Autumn Term of 1944, and it comes after “The Chalet School and Rosalie” and before “Three Go to the Chalet School”.
The book covers two sets of sisters who are coming to the Chalet School for the first time. The Herbert girls: Bess, Madge, Nan and Ruth are all daughters of a Rector. The other set is none other than Joey Maynard’s Triplets, Len, Con and Margot, who attend as day students and turn 5 years old during the story. Daisy Venables is Head Girl, and many other familiar CS figures populate the story. Of the Triplets, Margot in particular has trouble navigating school life due to her temper, and the Herbert girls settle in fairly easily. Both sets of sisters are affected by the undercurrent of anger infecting the school, as some girls are rude and hateful towards those girls that are German speakers. Many girls have suffered terrible losses as the war has continued, with the resulting expressions of bad feelings causing problems, despite the school’s commitment to the Chalet School Peace League. With the help of the prefects and staff, and a particularly poignant Christmas play, understanding grows in the hearts of the girls. The prefects are particularly good at coming up with solutions to squash the anti-German sentiment. The story has its usual component of expeditions and other school events, but less antics from the Middles, as the primary theme is that of dealing with the unwanted bigotry against the Germans.
For a first effort, the story is well-done. It is difficult to fully engage with a story when there are so many main characters, but there were many heartfelt moments. The afterword is extensive and almost a book in itself, chock full of interesting information and reasoning behind some of the plot points to make it jive with EBD’s series. Well worth reading.
The book covers two sets of sisters who are coming to the Chalet School for the first time. The Herbert girls: Bess, Madge, Nan and Ruth are all daughters of a Rector. The other set is none other than Joey Maynard’s Triplets, Len, Con and Margot, who attend as day students and turn 5 years old during the story. Daisy Venables is Head Girl, and many other familiar CS figures populate the story. Of the Triplets, Margot in particular has trouble navigating school life due to her temper, and the Herbert girls settle in fairly easily. Both sets of sisters are affected by the undercurrent of anger infecting the school, as some girls are rude and hateful towards those girls that are German speakers. Many girls have suffered terrible losses as the war has continued, with the resulting expressions of bad feelings causing problems, despite the school’s commitment to the Chalet School Peace League. With the help of the prefects and staff, and a particularly poignant Christmas play, understanding grows in the hearts of the girls. The prefects are particularly good at coming up with solutions to squash the anti-German sentiment. The story has its usual component of expeditions and other school events, but less antics from the Middles, as the primary theme is that of dealing with the unwanted bigotry against the Germans.
For a first effort, the story is well-done. It is difficult to fully engage with a story when there are so many main characters, but there were many heartfelt moments. The afterword is extensive and almost a book in itself, chock full of interesting information and reasoning behind some of the plot points to make it jive with EBD’s series. Well worth reading.
June 20, 2017
This is a fabulous addition to the series originally began by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer. Author Amy Fletcher takes Brent-Dyer's characters and weaves a believable story around them, while staying true to the original author's representations of them. The story begins the evening before D-Day on the south coast of England, where the Herbert family has recently relocated. Rector Herbert and his wife are looking for a boarding school for their three elder daughters beginning in September. After some discussion, they settle on the Chalet School, and decide to send the youngest, Ruth, as well, even though she is only seven.
At the same time, Jack and Joey Maynard's triplet daughters will be joining the Kindergarten, though they will not be five until early November. Both sets of sisters quickly settle into their forms, but the older girls are disturbed by the reactions of some of the girls to their schoolmates who are native German speakers. How can the school get to the heart of this problem? This topic — the plight of refugees — is unfortunately still very relevant in today's world. This book's solution is masterful, and deserves a bigger audience. Highly recommended.
At the same time, Jack and Joey Maynard's triplet daughters will be joining the Kindergarten, though they will not be five until early November. Both sets of sisters quickly settle into their forms, but the older girls are disturbed by the reactions of some of the girls to their schoolmates who are native German speakers. How can the school get to the heart of this problem? This topic — the plight of refugees — is unfortunately still very relevant in today's world. This book's solution is masterful, and deserves a bigger audience. Highly recommended.
October 17, 2017
I'm not a lover of Chalet School 'fillers' (or of any other fillers/prequels/sequels by any save the original authors for that matter), but this is one of the better Chalet School productions. It covers a period during WW2 when the school's at Armiford, and takes as its focus the four Herbert sisters - mostly well delineated, though occasionally blurring into each other (perhaps that was just my elderly brain refusing to focus). There isn't a sub-title, but if there had been, 'Racism at the Chalet School' would have done the job - anti-German sentiments on the part of some of the less sympathetic girls, and how the school deals with it, make up the main portion of the plot: it's treated pretty convincingly. Overall, though I had to read the book in order to review it for the NCC Journal, I did enjoy it.
August 16, 2020
An enjoyable Chalet School tale, with the central characters, the Herbert sisters well-drawn and likeable. The other sisters of the title, the Maynard triplets, seemed remarkably precocious, but then I suppose Joey's children would be! There's the usual CS mix of feuds, Guides, Christmas plays and minor adventures, set against the backdrop of the last months of 1944, with the War intruding into the school itself with some bad-feeling against German-speaking pupils. That was well handled, with the demoralising gently done. A lovely read.
October 1, 2023
A reasonable fill-in to the original series
I preferred the chapters concentrating on the various experiences of the Herbert sisters but the episodes concentrating on the Maynard triplets were rather dull and my interest flagged 2/3 of the way through the book
Interesting to have serious sub-plot about some of the pupils resenting the German speaking girls in the school ( more realistic than EBD’s version) and very topical as this was the week when the British Home Secretary spoke to the UN about changing the international convention on the rights of refugees
I preferred the chapters concentrating on the various experiences of the Herbert sisters but the episodes concentrating on the Maynard triplets were rather dull and my interest flagged 2/3 of the way through the book
Interesting to have serious sub-plot about some of the pupils resenting the German speaking girls in the school ( more realistic than EBD’s version) and very topical as this was the week when the British Home Secretary spoke to the UN about changing the international convention on the rights of refugees
December 7, 2020
It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Chalet School book although I’ve had several fill-ins for years. So I stepped back into the world of the Chalet School and it was delightful. I know this is a fill-in but I think it is one of the better ones.
June 19, 2017
A good fill-in story.
February 11, 2018
I did like the bit about forgiveness - that was really well done.
December 28, 2022
More EBD than an EBD book
December 31, 2022
A review to follow
February 25, 2018
Excellent fill in book for the chalet school series
April 17, 2018
I feel I've read more fill-in books in the Chalet School series than books actually written by Elinor M Brent-Dyer at this point in my read-through, which is kind of depressing to think about. This latest one starts out strongly - I very nuch loved the opening chapter introducing us to the Herbert sisters (one set who will be attending the School), and was hopeful that the rest of the book would be as good. Alas, once it fell into the rhythm of school life, it felt more rote and repetitive than genuinely engaging. Didn't help that the second set of sisters - future protagonists Len, Con and Margot Maynard - are, at this point, four going on five years old. The writing/editing can't ever quite make up its mind as to how grown-up these little girls should be, which means the way they speak (baby talk or no) changes from chapter to chapter. Such a shame. Serviceable, but not one I'll feel the urge to include in any future rereads. 2.5/5 stars
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews