Deira Joins the Chalet School (by Caroline German)

I only discovered a couple of years ago that Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s lengthy Chalet School series has some ‘fill in’ books, covering gaps in the story: terms or even years when Brent-Dyer didn’t write anything. I was very dubious about the idea of what appeared to be fan fiction, but a year or so ago I acquired Caroline German’s ‘Deira Joins the Chalet School’, which is set in the term before the third in the original series, ‘Princess of the Chalet School.’

So, as I’m slowly re-reading the series, and finished ‘Jo of the Chalet School’ last month, I decided to read this book. I am so glad I did! It introduces Deira O’Hagan, a girl who appears quite suddenly in one of the later books as a well-established student, but with little in her background, and nothing to explain the quirks of her personality. Caroline German has done a great deal of research - documented in an appendix to the book - and has written the character of Deira to fit seamlessly with Brent-Dyer’s creation.

Deira is fifteen when we meet her, the rather spoilt younger daughter of a widowed Earl in Ireland. She has been going to a day school but all her friends have left. Now she’s the oldest, she’s mostly messing around and has little interest in education. Her older sister is about to get married, and finally persuades their father that Deira needs to go to a boarding school.

Much of Deira’s resentment at this idea, and her initial bad behaviour, are due to the way she is treated. Instead of discussing the options with her, she hears the news only when she has been enrolled in the Chalet School. Her sister calls her ‘baby’ and she’s never had to do anything much for herself. So she’s a classic reluctant new girl - the only new one in this particular term - but I felt the characterisation was actually rather better than that in most of Brent-Dyer’s similar characters.

The bulk of the story is classic EBD. There are some well-known Chalet School phrases and principles, and the style is very much that which I’m familiar with. Deira struggles to make friends, resents rules and hard work, and is gradually won over. There are episodes in classrooms, in dormitories, and outings. Well-loved people from other books have their parts to play, and the whole fits extremely well into the Chalet School chronology.

The only section which feels slightly out of place is a science lesson. It's well written, and interesting; but somehow it doesn't feel like something EBD would have included, even though the original Chalet School books contain similar styled lessons in history or other subjects, sometimes rather tediously long. I gather the author of 'Deira' has a PhD in chemistry, which is why the section is included, and seems authentic. But still it didn't quite fit with the rest of the book. It's my only slight gripe, however. Overall I thought this excellent.

I’m told that many of the other fill-ins are equally good, while others veer rather sharply away from Brent-Dyer’s ideas. I hope to acquire some of the ones that fill in gaps in the style I’m accustomed to, and look forward to reading others, particularly those by Caroline German.

Definitely recommended to anyone who enjoys the Chalet School books; there are two other fill-ins prior to this one, which I haven’t read, but that doesn’t matter. Indeed, this could be read as a stand-alone, but the style is so EBD that it might seem dated or moralistic to anyone not familiar with the Chalet School ethos.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews