Carola Storms the Chalet School (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

(Amazon UK link)

In my gradual re-read of Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s ‘Chalet School’ series, I reached ‘Carola Storms the Chalet School’,  23rd in the original series. I have a hardback (full) edition which was once my mother’s, and I last read ‘Carola’ in 2011. As with many books that I read regularly in my teens and sporadically since, I recalled the basic outline of the story but had almost entirely forgotten the detail.

Carola is longs to go to school. She lives with her father’s cousin while her parents are working in Africa. Cousin Maud is not unkind or ungenerous, and she takes her responsibilities seriously. But she doesn’t take much notice of Carola’s wishes, and has been taking her along on many different voyages and journeys with a governess to educate her. 

Carola is now fourteen, and totally fed up with travelling. She wants a more stable life, and friends her own age. And when she happens to become friendly with Biddy O’Ryan, formerly a pupil at the Chalet School, she sets her heart on going to the school.  She makes her plans carefully… and armed with an approximation of the uniform and a few pounds in money, manages to get all the way to the school.  

Then her problems start since she’s obviously not on any register, and has no permission from her parents. But her aunt is on a steamer en route to Jamaica and her parents are in Western Africa. So she has to stay for at least a few days… 

While I’d forgotten entirely the altercations with Carola’s aunt and the adventures she had on her way to the school, I did recall (as is clear from the title, anyway) that Carola’s parents gave permission and she was enrolled, albeit unconventionally, in the school. 

I thought Carola was a well-rounded teenager, with a believable character. She’s generous and kind, but also impulsive and tends to leap into action with little thought of the consequences. This explains her lack of thought for her unfortunate cousin’s feelings on discovering Carola’s absence, and also several of the other incidents through the book where she shows herself a likeable person and a credit to the school. 

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, which ends with quite a moving chapter after Carola, once again, takes an impetuous action which certainly helps someone else, but leaves her in a great deal of pain. 

As with all this series, I feel that it’s best to have read at least a few of the earlier books; characters recur, and I find it satisfying knowing who they are, and a bit of their back history. But each book does stand alone. When, as with this one,  the perspective is that of a new girl at the school, we see people and places through her eyes so everything is described and it’s not absolutely necessary to have read any other Chalet School book.

Definitely recommended if you like this series, or girls’ school fiction in general from the middle of the 20th century.  Currently not in print. It's best if you can find a hardback or 'Girls Gone By' edition, but the Armada paperback, albeit with cuts, still gives most of the story, and is usually easier to find second-hand. 

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