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The book follows on directly from ‘Joey and co in Tirol’, which I reread - and very much enjoyed - last month. It follows Ruey, the Maynards’ new ward, in her first term at the Chalet School. She is looking forward to it, but she hasn’t been to a boarding school before. So she’s not entirely happy about the rules, and bedtimes in particular. However, she’s a likeable girl, and mostly happy to go with the flow.
Ruey is disliked on site by Francie, a girl in her form who had hoped to become Margot Maynard’s best friend. This thread runs through the book, mostly in a low-key way, and is eventually resolved rather unexpectedly.
Another, quite poignant thread, involves letters from Ruey’s father, who is determined to take part in space travel. This book was published in 1960 when space travel was in its infancy, and likely to prove very dangerous. Ruey feels devastated that her father has abandoned her, and her two brothers, and that he’s willing - even keen - to risk his life to leave them as orphans. It’s rather a bizarre storyline, but I thought it well-handled. Towards the end, Joey Maynard proves herself a truly caring maternal sort as she tries to help Ruey understand her father.
There’s a lot about lacrosse, too. Ruey asks why it’s not played at the Chalet School, and that gets everyone wondering the same thing. It was formerly played there, but dropped a few years earlier. There’s a lot of discussion about the pros and cons. And there’s rather a lot of (to me) tedious detail about how to hold one’s stick, and how the game is played. There’s also far too much information for my tastes about a lacrosse game that’s played, once it gets going. Perhaps this is part of what was abridged in the Armada paperback.
Another chapter involves the thorough cleaning and dedication of the new school chapels. This didn’t seem to add much to the story, but the idea of the school having chapels had been approved a couple of years earlier in the mis-named ‘Excitements for the Chalet School’ which I read about six months ago. There’s a new uniform discussed and approved, too - and my ‘Girls Gone By’ edition of the book has an introductory section about school uniforms of the era.
As well as these, there are everyday scenes set in classrooms, or during prep, or on walks. I quite like rereading these passages, for the sake of continuity, but they tend to be a bit repetitive. Ruey doesn’t struggle with French and German as much as some new girls do, as the Maynards worked with her in the summer. But she’s not academically inclined. She’s very self-sufficient, too, and finds it hard to accept practical or emotional help.
Since this is the autumn term, there’s a Christmas play at the end. We see one rehearsal in progress, but issues arising are part of another storyline. And the summary of the play - written by Joey - is given fairly briefly, rather than in a lot of detail.
At the end of my edition there’s a short story by Adrienne Fitzpatrick about a midnight feast that is referred to in the text, but never actually covered. I thought it was well done, and it feels authentic. There’s also the usual lists covering textual errors, the details of the series in both the original and the Armada versions, and a short bio of the author.
It’s still not one of my favourites of the books, and I wouldn’t recommend it as an introduction to the lengthy Chalet School series. But for fans of the books, reading through for the umpteenth time (as I am) it’s a good follow-up to the previous one. Intended for teenage girls, originally, but more likely to be read by nostalgic adults. Out of print currently, but sometimes available second-hand.
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