Just Gerry

by Christine Chaundler

Geraldine Wilmott, a shy young fifteen-year-old, has a difficult first term at Wakehurst Priory, becoming the victim of a bullying campaign.

Genres: School Stories

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

A prolific British children's author, Christine Chaundler was born in 1887 in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, the daughter of solicitor Henry Chaundler, and his wife, Constance Julia Thompson. She was educated at Queen Anne's School, in Caversham, until the age of sixteen, whereupon she attended St. Winifred's School in Llanfairfechan, Wales. She served briefly in the Land Army, during WWI, but otherwise worked in an editorial capacity for a variety of publishers, until her writing career was capable of supporting her, financially.

Chaundler's first work was published in 1912, when she won a poetry contest, and she went on to write many children's novels, for both boys and girls, as well as numerous short stories for various magazines. Her girls' stories were published under her own name, and her boys' stories under the pen-name Peter Martin.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fifteen-year-old Geraldine Wilmott, nervous, shy, and much traumatized by a horrific experience during an air raid in the recent war (WWI), had been educated her entire life at home, and had only recently been cleared by her doctor to attend school. Unfortunately, her first term as a new girl, in the Lower Fifth at Wakehurst Priory, was a disaster from the very beginning. Inadvertently making enemies of the influential Phyllis Tressider and Dorothy Pemberton, when she was assigned to Dorothy's former cubicle in the Rose Dormitory, she soon found herself the target of a determined bullying campaign, made all the worse by her fear of everything from mice to hockey. Nicknamed "German Gerry" by her peers, because of her skill at speaking German, and relentlessly ridiculed, Gerry was the loneliest, most unhappy girl in the school. Even the kindness of head girl Muriel Paget, who took her under her wing, and coached her a bit with hockey, didn't seem to help...

Although I found Just Gerry to be an immensely engaging book, in many ways - it drew me right in, and kept me reading: so engrossed that I finished the book in one sitting - there is simply no denying that it is also a distasteful little period piece, full of nationalistic zeal (perhaps not surprising, given that this was published in 1920, between the two World Wars), and a particularly vicious kind of bullying and group culture. It was really very difficult to read of poor Gerry's travails, and not think of similar stories I have heard (or witnessed), that ended very sadly indeed. Of course there is a nominally 'happy' ending here (resting upon some supremely unlikely heroics), but it comes rather late in the story, and in no way compensates for all the ugliness that preceded it. It also rests on the conclusive demonstration of the fact that Gerry is not German, rather than on any recognition of the idea that persecuting someone for nationalistic reasons is both idiotic and ethically repugnant.**

I really struggled, when it came to rating this one, between two and three stars, only settling on three because the narrative did keep me so involved. I've read a number of school stories which, despite some dated elements, I would not hesitate to give to contemporary youngsters, but I don't think this would be amongst them. Unless as a history lesson, perhaps...

**I should note that, in addition to the almost ubiquitous anti-German sentiment throughout, which is used as an excuse to gang up on Gerry, there is also an anti-Semitic aside, in one of the scenes.

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fifteen-year-old Geraldine Wilmott starts at a new school, Wakehurst Priory, for the autumn term and is given Cubicle 13 in the Pink Dormitory as her sleeping compartment. This upsets two long-standing pupils, Dorothy Pemberton and Phillis Tressider, who had slept in adjacent dormitories all the time they had attended Wakehurst. Now Geraldine had taken number 13 and Phillis had been moved further away from her mate in number 29.

Consequently those two girls are not enamoured with Geraldine, who is rather shy and retiring because this is her first experience of school as she had previously been privately taught. She is, therefore, right for the ragging that she was to get from these two girls in particular.

When she attends classes it transpires that she has previously lived in Germany and speaks the language very well as she answered one of the teachers in German when questioned. This puts the backs up of Dorothy and Phillis who then antagonise her and set the other classmates up against her. They disparaging coin the name 'German Gerry' for Geraldine and this upsets her immensely.

Whatever she does the others take against her and she is most unhappy but is determined to try to stick it out, despite all the nasty things that are said of her and done to her. She even appeals to the form mistress who reports to the headmistress but nothing changes.

Even when she tries to befriend the others, only one of them Joy Pym, responds positively and before too long Phillis and Dorothy even turn Joy against her. Matters become worse when it is discovered that she cannot play hockey and is not very good in the gymnasium and she even gets the blame when one prank goes horribly wrong and causes the class to go on strike.

The head girl, Muriel Paget, tries to calm her down but initially without success that is until she persuades her to try playing hockey. And after a few tentative tries at the game German Gerry, as she is still unkindly known, finally wins the others over with some dramatic action on the hockey field.

This leads to friendship and word gets out that she has had a previous traumatic experience that had caused her to be reticent with others so a final meeting in the school hall ends up with three cheers for Gerry and her saying, 'I don't want to be Geraldine again at all. I'd ever so much rather go on being just Gerry.'

Although it initially has its sad moments, it is a lovely story in which everything, in the words of George Formby, 'turns out nice again' in the end. And as for being 'just Gerry', I know the feeling for when I was young people thought that my name was Gerald so I had to continually put them right as it is, and always has been, 'just Gerry'!

[hhertzof · Rating 3 out of 5]

By the numbers school story.