The Chalet School in Exile (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

(Amazon UK link)

I love reaching this point when I am rereading my way through Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s lengthy ‘Chalet School’ series. I last read ‘The Chalet School in Exile’ at the end of 2010, and recalled that it was moving and surprisingly powerful. But inevitably I had forgotten most of the details.

This book was published in 1940, set (I assume) a year earlier, as the thread of World War II is looming. The Chalet School owners and Head are very worried, particularly about their German and Austrian students. Numbers are down already as parents no longer want to risk sending their daughters to what is likely to become a Nazi hotspot - and the decision is made that the school must close, possibly re-opening somewhere safer.

It’s a dramatic start to the book, and the first half is not a school story at all - no classroom anecdotes, but an astonishingly authentic contemporary account of what it would have been like for teenagers of all nationalities at the start of the war. The author does not gloss over some of the horrors and atrocities; she doesn’t give any gratuitous details, but she doesn’t ensure everyone is rescued or safe either. There are people who die in this book; there’s a violent riot, and there’s a traumatic and thrilling escape when it’s realised that some girls are in extreme danger.

‘The Chalet School in Exile’ was divided into two books when it was published in Armada; I’ve had a hardback (full) edition for a long time, and I can see that there’s a natural dividing place about half way through. The first half describes what happens as the school and various of its members attempt to leave Austria and reach safer countries. The second half is set in Guernsey with the attempt to start a new, smaller Chalet School. But apparently even with two entire paperbacks, there were significant cuts, including one entire chapter being removed. So this book is well worth acquiring in an older hardback or more recent ‘Girls Gone By’ version rather than the Armadas.

There’s a lot more in the book, of course. Joey, in her early twenties, discovers what really matters to her, and matures in unexpected ways. She gives the school some surprises, too. Several of her friends mature also, some of them through loss of loved ones, or through the enormous stress of not knowing what happened to their husbands or fathers. It’s kept from being an ultra-heavy book by the second half - another reason for having the full edition - which does have some school events, including attempts by the Middles to stir things up.

I particularly liked the way that three families from the ‘La Rochelle’ series (which I read a couple of years ago) reappear in this book, and become friendly with Joey and Madge. Their offspring are not much older than they were in the last ‘La Rochelle’ book, ‘Janie Steps In’, so it was very good to read about them too, and how some of them adjust to the Chalet School. It’s not essential to have read that book or any of the others in the series before ‘The Chalet School in Exile’, but it adds to the story to have done so. Reading earlier books in the Chalet School series helps too, as there's quite a large cast, but is perhaps less significant in this important book which stands alone in many ways.

There were several sections of this book where my eyes misted over - the writing is powerful, inspiring, and educational too - I learned more about the realities of WWII from having read this book as a teenager than I ever did from history lessons at school.

Very highly recommended indeed if you like teenage fiction and school-related stories. This is, to my mind, the very best of the ‘Chalet School’ series. The full editions tend to be pricey, but can sometimes be found at reasonable prices on social media 'marketplaces', or at second-hand shops.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews