In my slow re-reading of the lengthy ‘Chalet School’ series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer, I reached the seventh volume, ‘The Chalet School and Jo’. This is one that I have in the Armada paperback edition, as - according to the official site - it hasn’t been abridged, unlike many of the others. I didn’t remember it with any particular fondness, but it’s been over ten years since I last read it.
Jo is sixteen in this book, and has been appointed Head Girl. I didn’t quite understand why she takes up this post in the summer term, but it’s discussed at the beginning. She’s not keen: she doesn’t like the thought of the responsibility, but she accepts that she’s the only person capable of the role.
It’s not a long book, but rather a lot happens, and there are some important subplots which are relevant for later in the series. The Robin, Joey’s ten-year-old adopted sister, has not been well. The doctors begin to worry whether she may have inherited her mother’s tendency to the ‘dreaded disease’, tuberculosis. Meanwhile Stacie - Eustacia, of the sixth book in the series - is slowly recovering from an awful back injury.
Biddy O’Ryan is introduced in this book too, as a strongly Irish orphan who has run away from a children’s home. She is adopted by some of the Middles, who have been getting into all kinds of mischief - some of it quite amusing, in earlier chapters. Their hearts are in the right place as far as Biddy goes, but they haven’t begun to think of the implications.
For Joey’s sister Madge’s birthday, the school goes to Oberammergau for the famous Passion Play. When I first read this book, as a child, I didn’t realise that it was an actual event, nor that some real people were referred to. Anton Lang was someone who did indeed play Christ in this long and moving play three times, and presented the prologue in 1930. That means that this book is firmly established to be in that year. The chapter about the school’s visit to Oberammagau is quite moving.
This is also the book where the girls of St Scholastika’s - the ‘Rivals’ of the fifth book - take on the Chalet School in a Regatta. There’s a continuity error (known as an ‘EBD-ism’) in that earlier in the book Miss Browne, Head of St Scholastika’s, refuses to allow her girls a boat as she’s afraid of water. But by the time they come to the race, the girls are experts, as their school has apparently always taken part in water sports.
So there’s a lot going on in ‘The Chalet School and Jo’, and there’s still time for a romantic entanglement gone wrong. The only bits I didn’t like are references to some of the author’s rather strict principles of raising (‘training’ as she puts it) babies and young children. I never liked her emphasis on leaving them to cry in cots or prams, having a daily routine, and expecting instant obedience at all times. But this was written in1931, and in many respects she was ahead of her time.
What matters most, of course, is the characters, and the author had quite a gift for creating memorable people, both girls and staff. Miss Annersley starts to feel three dimensional in this book; she will eventually become co-head of the school, and we can see why. Joey grows up a bit, partly in her concern for Robin, partly in realising that she has matured beyond the level of the Middles and their pranks.
Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. Definitely recommended to anyone who likes the series, although it wouldn't be a good one to start with, as there are a lot of references to earlier books. An added bonus is that, although I didn't realise it until recently, there’s no need to look for a hardback or ‘Girls Gone By’ edition, as the Armada (often found inexpensively second-hand) has the full text.
Originally intended for older children and teenagers, these books are probably read more nowadays by adults like me who remember them with nostalgia from their own teenage years.
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