The Chalet School and the Island by Elinor M Brent-Dyer –
first published in 1950
This is the 21st book in the Chalet School
series, which has 58 volumes in total. I
own the whole set and have read them all, although not in the correct
order. This isn’t the best of the series
but it is set on the fictional island of St Briavel’s off the south west coast
of Wales.
The original Chalet School was set up in the Austrian Tirol
in the early 1930s (hence the name) as a multi-lingual girls’ boarding school. The school was forced to move in the late
1930s when it became obvious that war was approaching. It moved first to Guernsey and shortly after
to Armishire (Herefordshire).
The Chalet School is forced to relocate to a temporary
location because major work needs to be done to the drains at their school in
Armishire. Most of the girls are
delighted to be on an island, which has opportunities for swimming, rowing and
boat trips to the nearby island of Brandon Mawr to see the seabirds nesting on
the cliffs.
Annis Lovell, who is a pupil at the Chalet School has to
live with her aunt during the holidays because her father has died. Her aunt is cold and resents having to look
after her niece and makes this obvious to her.
Annis is determined to prove that she can support herself financially
and not be reliant on her aunt’s grudging charity. However her attempt to row to the mainland to
start her new independent life, nearly ends in tragedy when she loses her oars
and is shipwrecked on the nearby rocky island of Vendell. 5/10
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