Shocks for the Chalet School
Synopsis:
In the few days before the beginning of term, Miss Annersley, Rosalie Dene and Matey receive the first two shocks of the book.
The first shock is the announcement - by telegram - of the imminent arrival of fire-raiser Emerence Hope (aged thirteen and eleven months) from Australia, sent on recommendation of Con Mackenzie, formerly history teacher Miss Stewart. Emerence is a handful with no manners, who has never been told "no". The second is when, unexpectedly, Jack Maynard turns up from Canada with startling news about Joey.
The next shocks are for Bride Bettany, who returns to school to find that her best friend, Elfie Woodward, is leaving following the death of her stepmother. Then, since the previous term's Prefects and Head Girl have gone out to Switzerland for their final year in the new branch of the Chalet School in the Oberland, Bride and her circle find that they themselves are now the "grandees" of the school. Bride herself is in for a worrying term due to family illness, but Elfie does provide her with a more pleasant surprise after half term.
Emerence's first entrance on to the Chalet School stage is when she calmly gate crashes the first Prefects meeting. Although assigned to the care of Mary-Lou and Co it is not long before Emerence is in trouble for rudeness and disobedience. She shows a flair for originality, however, carrying out a bet to hide in the Prefects room during a second Prefects meeting, after which she gets mistakenly shut in.
Excitements follow thick and fast as, during a gardening session with the Middles, the new P.T mistress (herself an old girl) falls into a hidden well, and then later the Prefects stumble across a sunken path. These are both elements in a family mystery of the Christy's (owners of the house on the island in which the school presently resides). The area is promptly made out of bounds while Commander Christy investigates his family history and uncovers stories of an underground tunnel and possible buried treasure.
By the time of the Christmas Play Emerence has been more or less assimilated into the school and the last-minute arrival of another visitor from Canada provides the nicest shock of the term.
contributed by Jo Marshall-Collins, England __ working from a paperback edition
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