8. The Chalet Girls in Camp (1932)
9. The Exploits of the Chalet Girls (1933)
10. The Chalet School and the Lintons (1934)
11. The New House at the Chalet School (1935)
12. Jo Returns to the Chalet School (1936)
13. The New Chalet School (1938)
14. The Chalet School in Exile (1940)
15. The Chalet School Goes to It (1941)
16. The Highland Twins at the Chalet School (1942)
17. Lavender Laughs in the Chalet School (1943)
18. Gay From China at the Chalet School (1944)
19. Jo to the Rescue (1945)
The Chalet Book for Girls (1947)
The Second Chalet Book for Girls (1948)
The Third Chalet Book for Girls (1949)
31. Tom Tackles the Chalet School (1955) (first published in The Second Chalet Book for Girls and The Third Chalet Book for Girls)
The Chalet School and Rosalie (1951)
20. Three Go to the Chalet School (1949)
21. The Chalet School and the Island (1950)
22. Peggy of the Chalet School (1950)
23. Carola Storms the Chalet School (1951)
24. The Wrong Chalet School (1952)
25. Shocks for the Chalet School (1952)
26. The Chalet School in the Oberland (1952)
The Chalet Girls’ Cook Book (1953)
27. Bride Leads the Chalet School (1953)
28. Changes for the Chalet School (1953)
29. Joey Goes to the Oberland (1954)
30. The Chalet School and Barbara (1954)
32. The Chalet School Does It Again (1955)
33. A Chalet Girl from Kenya (1955)
34. Mary-Lou of the Chalet School (1956)
35. A Genius at the Chalet School (1956)
36. A Problem for the Chalet School (1956)
37. The New Mistress at the Chalet School (1957)
38. Excitements at the Chalet School (1957)
39. The Coming of Age of the Chalet School (1958)
40. The Chalet School and Richenda (1958)
41. Trials for the Chalet School (1959)
42. Theodora and the Chalet School (1959)
43. Joey and Co. in Tirol (1960)
44. Ruey Richardson — Chaletian (1960)
45. A Leader in the Chalet School (1961)
46. The Chalet School Wins the Trick (1961)
47. A Future Chalet School Girl (1962)
48. The Feud in the Chalet School (1962)
49. The Chalet School Triplets (1963)
50. The Chalet School Reunion (1963)
51. Jane and the Chalet School (1964)
52. Redheads at the Chalet School (1964)
53. Adrienne and the Chalet School (1965)
54. Summer Term at the Chalet School (1965)
55. Challenge for the Chalet School (1966)
56. Two Sams at the Chalet School (1967)
57. Althea Joins the Chalet School (1969)
58. Prefects of the Chalet School (1970)
Adventure books
Fardingales (Latimer House, 1950)
The “Susannah” Adventure (W. & R. Chambers, 1953)
Chudleigh Hold (W. & R. Chambers, 1954)
The Condor Crags Adventure (W. & R. Chambers, 1954)
Top Secret (W. & R. Chambers, 1955)
Schoolgirls Abroad
(A series of geography readers
published by W. & R. Chambers, 1951)
1. Verena Visits New Zealand
2. Bess on her Own in Canada
3. A Quintette in Queensland
4. Sharlie’s Kenya Diary
Lorna books
Lorna at Wynyards (Lutterworth Press, 1947)
Stepsisters for Lorna (C. & J. Temple, 1948)
Janeways books
A Thrilling Term at Janeways (Thomas Nelson, 1927)
Caroline the Second (Girls’ Own Paper, 1937)
Skelton Hall books
The School at Skelton Hall (Max Parrish, 1962)
Trouble at Skelton Hall (Max Parrish, 1963)
Others
Judy the Guide (Thomas Nelson, 1928)
The New House Mistress (Thomas Nelson, 1928)
The School by the River (Burns, Oates & Washbourne, 1930)
The Feud in the Fifth Remove (Girls’ Own Paper, 1931)
The Little Marie-José (Burns, Oates & Washbourne, 1932)
Carnation of the Upper Fourth (Girls’ Own Paper, 1934)
Elizabeth the Gallant (Thornton Butterworth, 1935)
Monica Turns Up Trumps (Girls’ Own Paper, 1936)
They Both Liked Dogs (Girls’ Own Paper, 1938)
The Little Missus (W. & R. Chambers, 1942)
The Lost Staircase (W. & R. Chambers, 1946)
Kennelmaid Nan (Lutterworth Press, 1954)
Nesta Steps Out (Oliphants, 1954)
Beechy of the Harbour School (Oliphants, 1955)
Leader in Spite of Herself (Oliphants, 1956)
APPENDIX II
THE ‘PROBLEM’ STORIES
THE Mystery at the Chalet School, Tom Tackles the Chalet School and The Chalet School and Rosalie provide between them an account of one complete Chalet School year. The Mystery at the Chalet School is set during the Christmas term which follows Gay from China at the Chalet School (no. 18, 1944) and the summer holiday described in Jo to the Rescue (no. 19, 1945); and the story thus immediately precedes Tom Tackles the Chalet School (no. 31, 1955), which takes place during the Easter term; the events of the summer term then being covered by The Chalet School and Rosalie (1951). The stories themselves make this sequence quite plain, but since the three titles all have different origins, while two of them were published out of chronological order, readers often find difficulty in seeing where these stories fit into the series.
To take the three in order: The Mystery at the Chalet School is a title that may well be unfamiliar to many Chalet fans, since until 1994, when it appeared in an Armada paperback edition along with The Chalet School and Rosalie, it had not been generally available. Originally Mystery was part of the first Chalet Book for Girls — a kind of annual, which included stories, articles, cookery hints and so on, some having direct Chalet links, others not — that was published in 1947 by W. & R. Chambers. This collection was followed by two more Chalet School annuals, published in 1948 and 1949 respectively, and Tom Tackles the Chalet School made its first appearance in these, one half in each volume.
Until this point Chalet School stories had followed one another in the correct chronological order, and they continued to do so until 1955. Problems only began that year, when Tom Tackles the Chalet School was republished in book form, being then designated no. 31 of the hardback series. This, although theoretically correct, was misleading because, during the six years since Tom originally appeared in the annuals, eleven more Chalet School stories had been published and readers, both at the time and since, were unable to understand how Tom could possibly be no. 31 when the events it related had clearly taken place long before those in The Chalet School and Barbara — the book published the previous year and officially no. 30! This confusion lasted for many years and was only finally resolved in 1987 when the Armada paperback version of Tom Tackles the Chalet School was published, containing an explanatory preface.
Chalet fans have also been puzzled in the past about The Chalet School and Rosalie, especially as it was described at one point by the publishers as ‘Not part of the series’. Probably the statement meant only that the book was not part of the hardback series, since, for some reason now unknown, The Chalet School and Rosalie was published only in a limited paperback edition, which appeared in 1951. And here again there were problems over Chalet School chronology. By 1951 the stories had moved from ‘Armishire’ to St Briavel’s Island, which meant that events in The Chalet School and Rosalie were considerably out of date. In any case, the story quickly went out of print, due to the small size of the original edition; and
until 1987, when it was first included in the Armada series, The Chalet School and Rosalie had been virtually unobtainable for more than thirty years.
Another minor problem concerns the numbering of these three stories. Chronologically they all take place (as explained above) in the school year immediately following Jo to the Rescue, which is no. 19 of the hardback series (Armada no. 21) and several years before the hardback no. 20 (Armada no. 24) — Three Go to the Chalet School. Obviously the hardback series cannot now be officially renumbered; but the correct chronological and reading order could be conveyed as: No. 19b The Mystery at the Chalet School; No. 19c Tom Tackles the Chalet School; No. 19d The Chalet School and Rosalie.
Founded in 1994, Bettany Press specialises in books about 20th-century girls’ popular fiction, together with reprints of rare titles. We publish a number of books of Chalet School interest.
Our non-fiction includes: Helen McClelland’s biography of Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Behind the Chalet School; and her Chalet School Companion; together with The Chalet School Revisited, a collection of essays edited by Rosemary Auchmuty and Ju Gosling and published to commemorate the author’s birth centenary.
Our fiction includes Jean of Storms, Brent-Dyer’s only adult novel; The School by the River, her rarest title; Helen McClelland's Visitors for the Chalet School, the only 'fill-in' novel to be taken into the Chalet School series by the original publisher Harper Collins; and Two Chalet Girls in India by Priyadarshini Narendra, a contemporary reworking of Brent-Dyer's famous missing manuscript.
We also publish Margaret Moncrieff (Helen McClelland's) time-slip story Time and Again, set in a Scottish music school; and her memoirs, Worlds Apart, which describe her life in the worlds of family, literature and music.
All of our titles will be available for the Kindle by the end of 2011.
For further details of about our books and how to order them, visit our website at www.bettanypress.co.uk
Behind the Chalet School: A biography of Elinor M. Brent-Dyer Page 28
