The Chalet School and Barbara (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

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‘The Chalet School and Barbara’ was written as the thirtieth book in the lengthy series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer, although the numbers changed somewhat when the abridged Armada versions were produced. I can recall reading the hardback as a young teenager, and am delighted to have one in my possession, although the abridged paperback covers the story well enough. I last read this in 2014 so had only remembered the basic outline of the plot.

This book is significant in the series as it covers the first term for the reduced size school re-starting in the Swiss Alps. They even have a new gentian blue uniform. This book also introduces Barbara Chester as an excited fourteen-year-old travelling to school for the first time. 

She is accompanied by her older sister Beth, who is going to work as nanny for the large Maynard family. They live next-door, and it’s planned that Barbara, like the Maynard triplets will be a day pupil rather than boarding, at least at first. However, it turns out that the Maynard family are down with infection, and Barbara has to board from the start. She is delighted about this. 

Barbara, we learn, was ‘delicate’ as a baby, and somewhat over-coddled. She is from one of the families who are the main feature of the later books in the author's 'La Rochelle' series. We learn about her as a sickly and over-pampered baby in 'Janie Steps In', the last of the seven books.

The young teenage Barbara doesn’t come across as spoiled at all, but a likeable person who cares about others. She doesn’t always think. There’s an incident when she sloshes water over the side of the bath and leaves things lying around, assuming someone else will clear up after her. But she’s quick to appreciate the problem when it's pointed out, and willing to learn.

Barbara’s cousin Vi, who is similar age, has agreed reluctantly to look after her for the first couple of weeks. Apparently Vi didn’t much like Barbara, seeing her as rather petted and useless, although that isn’t clear until part-way through the book. But Vi quickly discovers that Barbara is a very likeable person, always ready to help, but without any arrogance or pride in her abilities (such as fluency in French).

I wouldn’t say there’s anything special about this book. There’s some conflict, in that one girl is jealous of Barbara, as she had hoped to become friendly with Vi. But although her one attempt at breaking their friendship is thwarted, and she becomes grumpy, it’s never really resolved. Indeed, the book feels a bit lacking in editing in more than one place. I’d like to have seen Vi’s viewpoint earlier in the book, for instance.

Also, the author seems to have mixed feelings about Sue Meadows, another new day girl. Sue is very good at maths, but keeps to herself and nobody much likes her at first. Sue has been brought out as companion to a cousin who is very ill with tuberculosis; the cousin is apparently very spoilt, and Sue’s aunt feels that Sue shouldn’t have any privileges, or do anything much other than help to care for her cousin. 

Then, when Sue has to board at school temporarily, her classmates discover that she’s very bad at learning by heart. She hopes she won’t have a speaking part in the Christmas play… and this apparently, leads them to like her better and to think that she might be an asset to the form after all. I could not figure out why. 

Still, it’s a readable book with a good pace. There are some classroom incidents, some staff discussions, and a new maths teacher who is an old girl of the school. There are expeditions to local towns, with some lessons in Swiss history. There are also some lengthy walks, as well as a few days of being snowed in, followed by early attempts to ski. There’s a staff party for the girls described in one chapter; then the final chapter outlines the Christmas play, but without too much extraneous detail. 

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this as an introduction to the Chalet School series, despite it being one of new beginnings. There are a lot of people from earlier in the series who appear, sometimes just briefly, which could be confusing. We see the school through Barbara’s eyes as a newcomer, but she seems to learn everyone’s names and settle in remarkably quickly.  

I was also slightly shocked at a casual instance of what is now seen as a serious racial slur. I know Brent-Dyer wasn’t racist, indeed rather the reverse. Her books, published in the early or middle part of the 20th century, are very insistent that all nations are equal and that all people have value, despite her characters being almost all white. Yes, she caricatures the nimble fingers of the French, and the brashness of some Americans, but mostly in a low-key way, while expecting girls of all nations to work and play together well.

I’m glad I re-read ‘The Chalet School and Barbara’, and will no doubt read it again in another decade or so. But although it’s a good read, it isn’t one of my favourites. Intended for teenage girls, it's more likely to be read now by adults like me who remember the series fondly from our younger days. 

The full version, either in hardback or published by Girls Gone By can be hard to find and somewhat pricey, but the Armada abridged paperback can often be found inexpensively second-hand. 

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews