The Chalet School and Barbara (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

(Amazon UK link)

Elinor M Brent-Dyer wrote nearly sixty fictional books for teenage girls about the Chalet School. It started out in Austria in the 1930s, and moved to various other countries due to the war.

They're pleasant books, in my opinion, with good characterisation. I enjoy re-reading them when I want a break from more serious books - or on holiday.

'The Chalet School and Barbara' is about a girl called (not surprisingly) Barbara. She used to be an invalid - as was common in those days - but now the Chalet School has returned to Switzerland, not far from its original home. Barbara is fourteen, and is very excited to be allowed to go to boarding school at last.

There's not a lot of plot in this story. However there is a bit more human interest than in many of the later books of the series. It made pleasant light reading.

Recommended if you're dipping in and out of the books, or even as a starting point.

(I wrote a rather longer review of 'The Chalet School and Barbara' after I re-read it yet again fourteen years later.)