Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School
Synopsis:
Eustacia Benson is a 14 year old recently orphaned girl, who is now living with her aunt and family of boys in Taverton where the Bettany family lived before coming to Austria. She is described as "an objectionable child" and her aunt is despairing about what to do with her, as she is disrupting the family life. Grizel Cochrane's stepmother recommends the Chalet School but Eustacia is by no means reconciled to the thought of going to boarding school.
Eustacia is one of thirteen new girls. From the beginning she openly expresses her dissatisfaction with the school - including such things as feather beds (insanitary), shared dormitories, being in the same class as girls of her own age (she felt that she should be in the top form). She does not endear herself to the girls, as she quickly becomes a "tale teller" and she flagrantly disregards rules which she feels should not apply to her, thus incurring the wrath of the prefects.
Eustacia's first enjoyable moment at the school seems to be the snowfight with St Scholastika's. At Half Term, she joins the expedition to Fulpmes and the Stubai Glacier. Eustacia clashes with Joey over a number of issues during this trip - including Napoleon, and church attendance. During the climb of the Stubai Glacier, the group get caught in a blizzard on the glacier, and Miss Wilson sprains her ankle.
A spate of incidents in Chapter 21 culminate in Eustacia deciding to run away. Whilst Joey and a number of others visit the dentist in Innsbruck, Eustacia becomes stranded in a flood in the mountains.
When she is rescued, and on the road to recovery, her reformation begins, and Eustacia is no more. She becomes Stacie, and, in her own words.... "Eustacia wasn't nice, as you say. But I know Stacie will do her best to be a real Chalet School girl now and always".
Contributed by Gillian Hussain, Australia __ working
from a hardback edition.
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