A Chalet School Headmistress (by Helen Barber)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve loved the lengthy Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer for about five decades now, re-reading them regularly and gradually acquiring more copies of my own. So I was a tad dubious at first when I learned that there were ‘fill-in’ Chalet School books written much more recently by a variety of different authors. I tentatively tried one of them - ‘Deira joins the Chalet School’ early in 2020, and was surprised at how much I liked it, and the way that some of the book truly did seem to fill in gaps in the school saga.

So I ordered a few more 'Girls Gone By' fill-ins that were reasonably inexpensive on Amazon; one of them, which came highly recommended by other fans, was ‘A Chalet School Headmistress’. I hadn’t read anything else by Helen Barber, so wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I sat down to read it a few days ago. I had made a note to read it after ‘Gay from China at the Chalet School’, which I re-read back in June; it didn’t take me long to realise that I should also have re-read ‘Jo to the Rescue’ before ‘Headmistress’. But I didn’t want to stop and go back to it later.

I wasn’t sure about the style in the first couple of chapters; it felt as if the author was trying rather too hard to emulate Brent-Dyer’s writing, with some of her typical words or phrases, yet it didn’t seem entirely authentic. However I kept going, and soon found myself caught up in the storyline; the author’s characterisation skills are good, and I could quite believe in everyone I recognised as an ‘old friend’ from the series.

The Headmistress of the title is Miss Wilson, usually known as ‘Bill’, who takes on the role of acting Head after a nasty accident that happens early in ‘Gay from China’. This particular term, the autumn one, sees Bill in her new role, with more of a focus on her than is found in any of the other books. And I thought it worked very well. There’s quite a bit of plot in this book, and since I hadn’t read it before the stories felt fresh, but could easily have been ideas that Elinor M Brent-Dyer might have come up with.

We see, for instance, the prefects in discussion, and coming up with a very novel idea for a staff ‘evening’, described in some detail just as similar ‘evenings’ are discussed in the original books. There’s an unpleasant incident involving one girl taking revenge on another… something nicely woven into the book, explaining something about a girl who, in a later book, is quite unpleasant to someone else.

Then there’s an incident with an escaped cow, a few night-time wanderings, and a lunch with Joey Maynard which helps one of her nieces. There’s also quite a poignant scene involving one of the staff who suffered a terrible tragedy; it’s referred to in one of the other books, but explored rather further in this one. I thought it sensitively done, and, again, it felt quite in keeping with the official series.

To be picky for a moment, I thought there were too many exclamation marks which should have been removed by the editor. And I felt that the author’s attempt at accents for one or two characters felt forced and unrealistic. But they’re minor issues - and overall I thought this a very enjoyable read, and a useful addition to the Chalet School canon.

As with most of the GGBP editions of these books, there's an introduction; this also has an epilogue by the author, explaining her reasoning behind the book, and a short story that expanded a little on an event in 'Headmistress'. I'm not sure why it wasn't an extra chapter in the book rather than at the end.

I wouldn’t recommend this book as a standalone, but if you are considering adding a few of the fill-ins to an existing Chalet School collection, this is a good one to try. Intended, as were the originals, for older children or teenagers, but currently most likely to be read by adults who appreciated the series in their own childhoods.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews