The Chalet School Books and the Twentieth Century

The first full-length study of this beloved children’s series, The Chalet School in the Twentieth Century moves beyond the largely-generic analysis within which it has previously been discussed. Published between 1925 and 1970, the series moves from European reconciliation after the Great War, through a second global conflict to a post-war world increasingly defined by increased secularity and emerging consumerism. Reproducing cover illustrations, Miles Booy’s book examines both those issues which author Elinor M. Brent-Dyer consciously explored (such as the exceptional The Chalet School in Exile, which sought to explain the Nazi occupation of Austria to her young readers) and those aspects of the text which must be read symptomatically. This is a book which will engage students with historical and cultural interests beyond children’s literature. With barely a midnight feast in sight, but much anxiety about social change, it’s a familiar genre, but not as you think you know it. Hurry up, new girls, class is about to begin...