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The Chalet School #46
The Chalet School Wins the Trick
Audrey, Solange, Val, Celia and Winifred (usually called Win) are schoolgirls staying on the Platz to be near sick relatives. Bored, and trying to entertain themselves, they decide to build a Campfire. Unfortunately, they do it within the grounds of the Chalet School, and are scolded by Miss Dene.
After this, and an encounter with Len Maynard, the group declares war on the Chalet School. Their tricks try the patience of staff and students alike.
The girls play a variety of tricks on the Chalet School including blocking the path during a school walk, throwing stinkbombs at the prefects and spreading pepper on the food in the Speisesaal.
Over time, the girls come into contact with pupils, ex-pupils and school events. This helps change their attitude towards the Chalet School. And when Win goes missing, it's the Chalet School that saves the day.
Meanwhile, the Fifth Form sits GCE exams, and an ex-Chalet schoolgirl faces an uncertain future.
After this, and an encounter with Len Maynard, the group declares war on the Chalet School. Their tricks try the patience of staff and students alike.
The girls play a variety of tricks on the Chalet School including blocking the path during a school walk, throwing stinkbombs at the prefects and spreading pepper on the food in the Speisesaal.
Over time, the girls come into contact with pupils, ex-pupils and school events. This helps change their attitude towards the Chalet School. And when Win goes missing, it's the Chalet School that saves the day.
Meanwhile, the Fifth Form sits GCE exams, and an ex-Chalet schoolgirl faces an uncertain future.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
103 people want to read
About the author
Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
171 books113 followersElinor M. Brent-Dyer was born as Gladys Eleanor May Dyer on 6th April 1894, in South Shields in the industrial northeast of England, and grew up in a terraced house which had no garden or inside toilet. She was the only daughter of Eleanor Watson Rutherford and Charles Morris Brent Dyer. Her father, who had been married before, left home when she was three years old. In 1912, her brother Henzell died at age 17 of cerebro-spinal fever. After her father died, her mother remarried in 1913.
Elinor was educated at a small local private school in South Shields and returned there to teach when she was eighteen after spending two years at the City of Leeds Training College. Her teaching career spanned 36 years, during which she taught in a wide variety of state and private schools in the northeast, in Middlesex, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, and finally in Hereford.
In the early 1920s she adopted the name Elinor Mary Brent-Dyer. A holiday she spent in the Austrian Tyrol at Pertisau-am-Achensee gave her the inspiration for the first location in the Chalet School series. However, her first book, 'Gerry Goes to School', was published in 1922 and was written for the child actress Hazel Bainbridge. Her first 'Chalet' story, 'The School at the Chalet', was originally published in 1925.
In 1930, the same year that 'Jean of Storms' was serialised, she converted to Roman Catholicism.
In 1933 the Brent-Dyer household (she lived with her mother and stepfather until her mother's death in 1957) moved to Hereford. She travelled daily to Peterchurch as a governess.
When her stepfather died she started her own school in Hereford, The Margaret Roper School. It was non-denominational but with a strong religious tradition. Many Chalet School customs were followed, the girls even wore a similar uniform made in the Chalet School's colours of brown and flame. Elinor was rather untidy, erratic and flamboyant and not really suited to being a headmistress. After her school closed in 1948 she devoted most of her time to writing.
Elinor's mother died in 1957 and in 1964 she moved to Redhill, where she lived in a joint establishment with fellow school story author Phyllis Matthewman and her husband, until her death on 20th September 1969.
During her lifetime Elinor M. Brent-Dyer published 101 books but she is remembered mainly for her Chalet School series. The series numbers 58 books and is the longest-surviving series of girls' school-stories ever known, having been continuously in print for more than 70 years. One hundred thousand paperback copies are still being sold each year.
Among her published books are other school stories; family, historical, adventure and animal stories; a cookery book, and four educational geography-readers. She also wrote plays and numerous unpublished poems and was a keen musician.
In 1994, the year of the centenary of her Elinor Brent-Dyer's birth, Friends of the Chalet School put up plaques in Pertisau, South Shields and Hereford, and a headstone was erected on her grave in Redstone Cemetery, since there was not one previously. They also put flowers on her grave on the anniversaries of her birth and death and on other special occasions.
Elinor was educated at a small local private school in South Shields and returned there to teach when she was eighteen after spending two years at the City of Leeds Training College. Her teaching career spanned 36 years, during which she taught in a wide variety of state and private schools in the northeast, in Middlesex, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, and finally in Hereford.
In the early 1920s she adopted the name Elinor Mary Brent-Dyer. A holiday she spent in the Austrian Tyrol at Pertisau-am-Achensee gave her the inspiration for the first location in the Chalet School series. However, her first book, 'Gerry Goes to School', was published in 1922 and was written for the child actress Hazel Bainbridge. Her first 'Chalet' story, 'The School at the Chalet', was originally published in 1925.
In 1930, the same year that 'Jean of Storms' was serialised, she converted to Roman Catholicism.
In 1933 the Brent-Dyer household (she lived with her mother and stepfather until her mother's death in 1957) moved to Hereford. She travelled daily to Peterchurch as a governess.
When her stepfather died she started her own school in Hereford, The Margaret Roper School. It was non-denominational but with a strong religious tradition. Many Chalet School customs were followed, the girls even wore a similar uniform made in the Chalet School's colours of brown and flame. Elinor was rather untidy, erratic and flamboyant and not really suited to being a headmistress. After her school closed in 1948 she devoted most of her time to writing.
Elinor's mother died in 1957 and in 1964 she moved to Redhill, where she lived in a joint establishment with fellow school story author Phyllis Matthewman and her husband, until her death on 20th September 1969.
During her lifetime Elinor M. Brent-Dyer published 101 books but she is remembered mainly for her Chalet School series. The series numbers 58 books and is the longest-surviving series of girls' school-stories ever known, having been continuously in print for more than 70 years. One hundred thousand paperback copies are still being sold each year.
Among her published books are other school stories; family, historical, adventure and animal stories; a cookery book, and four educational geography-readers. She also wrote plays and numerous unpublished poems and was a keen musician.
In 1994, the year of the centenary of her Elinor Brent-Dyer's birth, Friends of the Chalet School put up plaques in Pertisau, South Shields and Hereford, and a headstone was erected on her grave in Redstone Cemetery, since there was not one previously. They also put flowers on her grave on the anniversaries of her birth and death and on other special occasions.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 11, 2019
Not my favourite out of the Chalet school series, simply as there wasn’t much story to it. But nevertheless, it was lovely to indulge back into the world of the Chalet school where I spend hours upon hours of my youth!
April 13, 2020
‘Trust the Chalet School to win the trick!’ says Joey Maynard at the end of the book, and if you’ve read the 45 preceding books in the series you will not be surprised that they do, in spite of the unpromising beginning of their relations with Audrey & co.
For once the problem isn’t a new girl, but that the school can’t take in the five girls who have come to the Platz because of sick relatives, and so they are more or less left to their own devices. When on top of that they have decided to view the school, its staff and pupils as enemies, it’s a recipe for trouble, and it takes interventions from Mary-Lou *and* Joey, as well as several other escapades, before things are put right.
The good: as this story is about the broader Platz community and she is a friendly adult not attached to the school, Joey’s interventions occur naturally as do the ways in which her family, and Len in particular, become involved. There is an incident where a school meal is disrupted during the kitchen staff afternoon off, and Len & Co don’t even think of asking them to help but fix everything themselves. Enfant terrible Jack Lambert behaves entirely like a normal ten year old, neither too pushy nor bullying.
The bad: EBD can’t help but describe the prefects as a bit of a weak lot after golden child Mary-Lou’s generation. Quite a lot of very un-Chalet gossip and judginess - Jo Scott for no reason at all deciding Joan Baker will never get a decent job because she’s still a bit vulgar, and everyone agreeing Verity Carey is a wet fish who can’t look after herself. Baby Win, surely one of the least attractive children EBD ever created.
The weird: Miss Annersley is offstage for most of the book, only making brief reported appearances to tell people off. The plot device of her decree that the school can’t take the girls in, even though they would be day girls in different forms - hardly a major disruption compared to others the school has faced. Miss Dene not showering herself with glory by her treatment of the girls in the first episode which kicks the feud off. This is also the first book where EBD can’t help herself and has to bring Mary-Lou back, literally to pop up mid-Platz to set things to rights. The parents - understandably caught up with sick relatives, but still surprisingly lax about their teenage daughters.
Audrey, the central character, is a pretty good portrait of a teenager, with all the irrational sulks and wishes to be treated a bit more as a grown-up. Perhaps a bit too well-drawn, because I found it hard to warm to her even after her change of heart. And EBD does deserve credit for trying to shake things up after a run of ‘problem new girl’ books. It’s not my favourite, but Chalet fans sometimes go to town criticising Joey’s butting in and so on - this book does remind me of why I disagree very strongly with that reading and always enjoy her appearances.
For once the problem isn’t a new girl, but that the school can’t take in the five girls who have come to the Platz because of sick relatives, and so they are more or less left to their own devices. When on top of that they have decided to view the school, its staff and pupils as enemies, it’s a recipe for trouble, and it takes interventions from Mary-Lou *and* Joey, as well as several other escapades, before things are put right.
The good: as this story is about the broader Platz community and she is a friendly adult not attached to the school, Joey’s interventions occur naturally as do the ways in which her family, and Len in particular, become involved. There is an incident where a school meal is disrupted during the kitchen staff afternoon off, and Len & Co don’t even think of asking them to help but fix everything themselves. Enfant terrible Jack Lambert behaves entirely like a normal ten year old, neither too pushy nor bullying.
The bad: EBD can’t help but describe the prefects as a bit of a weak lot after golden child Mary-Lou’s generation. Quite a lot of very un-Chalet gossip and judginess - Jo Scott for no reason at all deciding Joan Baker will never get a decent job because she’s still a bit vulgar, and everyone agreeing Verity Carey is a wet fish who can’t look after herself. Baby Win, surely one of the least attractive children EBD ever created.
The weird: Miss Annersley is offstage for most of the book, only making brief reported appearances to tell people off. The plot device of her decree that the school can’t take the girls in, even though they would be day girls in different forms - hardly a major disruption compared to others the school has faced. Miss Dene not showering herself with glory by her treatment of the girls in the first episode which kicks the feud off. This is also the first book where EBD can’t help herself and has to bring Mary-Lou back, literally to pop up mid-Platz to set things to rights. The parents - understandably caught up with sick relatives, but still surprisingly lax about their teenage daughters.
Audrey, the central character, is a pretty good portrait of a teenager, with all the irrational sulks and wishes to be treated a bit more as a grown-up. Perhaps a bit too well-drawn, because I found it hard to warm to her even after her change of heart. And EBD does deserve credit for trying to shake things up after a run of ‘problem new girl’ books. It’s not my favourite, but Chalet fans sometimes go to town criticising Joey’s butting in and so on - this book does remind me of why I disagree very strongly with that reading and always enjoy her appearances.
May 14, 2017
Five girls, whose various relatives are sick/dying at the San, spend a lot of time wandering around unsupervised by their (undoubtedly very busy and distracted) relatives, and start a feud with the Chalet School. So we have a mixture of stink bomb/pepper in the food plots with the more sombre plots relating to the San patients, and a couple of "small child is missing!" moments. This all ends with the children all going to attend the Chalet School next term, thank god, so maybe now their mother will have time to keep an eye on their small sister.
December 7, 2022
3.5 stars, rounded up. With the summer term about to begin, the Chalet School is full-up and cannot take any new students until the next term — unwelcome news to the mothers and aunt of five schoolgirls at the Görnitz Platz due to the illnesses of their relatives. These girls, unaware of the plans in store for them begin a feud with the school after being kicked out of the grounds by Miss Dene. Various alarms and excitements occur before the feud is ended.
I had never read this book before and found the plot rather slight; I don't think it is one of EBD's better books.
I had never read this book before and found the plot rather slight; I don't think it is one of EBD's better books.
February 28, 2023
This is a good example of a chalet school book. Where there is conflict and it's resolved by some polite words.
There are 5 new girls in the area who take a dislike to the chalet girls, and through the hard work and kindness of the chalet school girls they eventually change their mind and come to like to school.
The new girls attitudes mature and by the end they are looking forward to joining the school.
There are 5 new girls in the area who take a dislike to the chalet girls, and through the hard work and kindness of the chalet school girls they eventually change their mind and come to like to school.
The new girls attitudes mature and by the end they are looking forward to joining the school.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 3, 2025
I felt that using the group of "outsiders" was a new idea, and it continued as a focus throughout the book, which I liked.
A point that bothered me: this book was published in '61, yet EBD is still having people die of TB as a regular plot point. Drugs effective against TB were used through the 50s, and most sanatoriums were closed in the 60s--how did she not notice this? (I'm 69, and grew up in sight of a former sanitorium, so this probably is more obvious to me than most)
A point that bothered me: this book was published in '61, yet EBD is still having people die of TB as a regular plot point. Drugs effective against TB were used through the 50s, and most sanatoriums were closed in the 60s--how did she not notice this? (I'm 69, and grew up in sight of a former sanitorium, so this probably is more obvious to me than most)
August 4, 2025
OK book but little takes place actually in the school.
Reminiscent of the Mystic M in the New Chalet School , in this case a group of girls led by an older girl takes a dislike to the Chalet School and all those connected with the school.
Accidents and illnesses , plus the growing maturity of Len Maynard help to change the attitude of the girls.
Reminiscent of the Mystic M in the New Chalet School , in this case a group of girls led by an older girl takes a dislike to the Chalet School and all those connected with the school.
Accidents and illnesses , plus the growing maturity of Len Maynard help to change the attitude of the girls.
February 21, 2021
Another one where the focus is more in outsiders but the school is still an important character
January 21, 2025
Quite enjoyable from a different angle
January 5, 2026
This is an odd addition to the series, but enjoyable. Hardly a school story - most of the action takes place outside the school.
July 26, 2016
Again, my copy is one of the original paperbacks so same cover illustration, no green title box.
And all credit to EBD, here is a new twist on new girls not getting on with the Chalet School - these new girls aren't actually at the Chalet School. So the school action is interspersed with out of school action, as the prospective new girls hang about the Platz having an amazing lazy summer ... sorry, getting bored because they'd rather be at school ... and the school gets on with its usual summer activities of prefect meetings, tennis matches, exams and the end-of-term Sale - with stink bombs and pepper attacks to liven things up. It harks back a bit to the 'Mystic M' in 'New', back in Tirol days, although in Tirol there was a kidnapping and this time the small child simply wanders off (twice).
Anyway, as Chalets go it's not my favourite but it's not the worst either (the worst is, I suspect, hurtling rapidly towards me, as I near the end of the series). It also clears up the mystery of Mary-Lou's university admission: some of the girls at St Mildred's do do A levels. This doesn't clear up all the associated mysteries of how the staff deliver the exam curriculum but maybe that will be disclosed later.
The real mystery of this book is why Miss Annersley refused to admit Audrey, Val, Celia and Solange at the start of this term. A few years ago she let Joan Baker join two weeks into term rather than have her kicking her heels at home until September. This time we're told 'If it had been one or two, we could have stretched a point - but four!' but given the dire family circumstances involved, and the Chalet School's normal insistence on stepping in when family members are at the San, I really can't understand this. I'm sure if Joey had been consulted she would have instantly offered to have the triplets and Ruey sleeping at Freudesheim for the term - as she did in 'Coming of Age' - to make four beds available at the school; and it's not as if all four would have been crowding out the same form. So frankly Miss Annersley brought it all on herself. Not, it has to be said, that she seems to know a great deal about the trouble the four girls cause (although that doesn't prevent her from lecturing Audrey about it at the end) - perhaps she's going into decline ...
And all credit to EBD, here is a new twist on new girls not getting on with the Chalet School - these new girls aren't actually at the Chalet School. So the school action is interspersed with out of school action, as the prospective new girls hang about the Platz having an amazing lazy summer ... sorry, getting bored because they'd rather be at school ... and the school gets on with its usual summer activities of prefect meetings, tennis matches, exams and the end-of-term Sale - with stink bombs and pepper attacks to liven things up. It harks back a bit to the 'Mystic M' in 'New', back in Tirol days, although in Tirol there was a kidnapping and this time the small child simply wanders off (twice).
Anyway, as Chalets go it's not my favourite but it's not the worst either (the worst is, I suspect, hurtling rapidly towards me, as I near the end of the series). It also clears up the mystery of Mary-Lou's university admission: some of the girls at St Mildred's do do A levels. This doesn't clear up all the associated mysteries of how the staff deliver the exam curriculum but maybe that will be disclosed later.
The real mystery of this book is why Miss Annersley refused to admit Audrey, Val, Celia and Solange at the start of this term. A few years ago she let Joan Baker join two weeks into term rather than have her kicking her heels at home until September. This time we're told 'If it had been one or two, we could have stretched a point - but four!' but given the dire family circumstances involved, and the Chalet School's normal insistence on stepping in when family members are at the San, I really can't understand this. I'm sure if Joey had been consulted she would have instantly offered to have the triplets and Ruey sleeping at Freudesheim for the term - as she did in 'Coming of Age' - to make four beds available at the school; and it's not as if all four would have been crowding out the same form. So frankly Miss Annersley brought it all on herself. Not, it has to be said, that she seems to know a great deal about the trouble the four girls cause (although that doesn't prevent her from lecturing Audrey about it at the end) - perhaps she's going into decline ...
August 1, 2016
Number 46 in the original chronology, involving five girls who are not (yet) Chalet School pupils, and indeed have taken a strong dislike to the school. This is mainly because, in the first chapter, they are caught trying to do something dangerous…
Alongside life in the Chalet School, we read about these children who have relatives in the Sanatorium, and who spend a lot of the time roaming around the area, finding both good and not-so-good things to do.
There’s a fair amount of Joey Maynard in this book, which is always a plus point in my view. Her wisdom and parenting ideas come through quite strongly, as does her compassion. The triplets have positive parts to play too.
I had entirely forgotten the storyline of this, having not read it for probably twenty years or more. Some is predictable, but the vendetta against the school adds an interesting twist, and there’s a more sober subplot involving Mary-Lou and her family-by-marriage.
My edition is one of the original hardbacks, so it’s a full edition; the Armada paperbacks were somewhat abridged.
Alongside life in the Chalet School, we read about these children who have relatives in the Sanatorium, and who spend a lot of the time roaming around the area, finding both good and not-so-good things to do.
There’s a fair amount of Joey Maynard in this book, which is always a plus point in my view. Her wisdom and parenting ideas come through quite strongly, as does her compassion. The triplets have positive parts to play too.
I had entirely forgotten the storyline of this, having not read it for probably twenty years or more. Some is predictable, but the vendetta against the school adds an interesting twist, and there’s a more sober subplot involving Mary-Lou and her family-by-marriage.
My edition is one of the original hardbacks, so it’s a full edition; the Armada paperbacks were somewhat abridged.
November 2, 2012
There was something a bit off in this one, at least compared to the other two Chalet stories I've recently read. Twice my partner glanced over in surprise to ask that I was STILL reading that book. Well, it probably only took me an extra half an hour to read, but I did struggle badly at points and couldn't find myself immersed in the story. It was for this, and comparing how much I enjoyed the other two stories, that I decided to only award this one with three stars. It hasn't made my desire to find the other books in the series any less though, I'll just hope I enjoy them a little more than this one.
February 9, 2010
Audrey, her sisters Celia and Win, and two friends inadvertently stumble onto Chalet School property and light a bonfire there, when they are scolded, they decide they hate the school and all its pupils and contrive to play nasty tricks whenever they can--then discover they are to be enrolled! Do they remain disruptive and cranky, or does the Chalet School, with its atmosphere of cooperation and friendliness, win them over at last? One of the most entertaining of the Chalet School books.
March 14, 2012
New-to-me Chalet School! :D In which we learn why they didn't go back to Austria after the war, which seriously bugged me for my entire childhood. (Answer: Because Russians. Which doesn't tell me much, but it's a step up from WE JUST COULDN'T OK which is what you usually get when the subject comes up. Maybe someone told her after she wrote this that the Russians never actually occupied Tyrol and she couldn't think of a retcon.)
April 30, 2010
Before the term starts at the Chalet School, Miss Dene catches a group of girls planning to start a campfire on the school's cricket pitch. Furious, she turns them out at once.
Unfortunately, this has caused the group of girls to consider the Chalet School their enemy, and plot ways to take revenge on the school.
Unfortunately, this has caused the group of girls to consider the Chalet School their enemy, and plot ways to take revenge on the school.
May 20, 2009
One of my favourites from the later era. I think however some of my reasoning behind picking this one up so often at the library was that I loved the cover! Still, a very fun story - much as I love the Chalet girls, it was fun having tricks being played on them by some outsiders. ;)
December 7, 2014
A late Chalet book. This one stars many familiar faces and 5 new girls all in the mountains due to relatives at the Sanatorium.
The girls swear a vendetta against the school and play various tricks until they are rescued by the school and are converted.
The girls swear a vendetta against the school and play various tricks until they are rescued by the school and are converted.
August 9, 2016
Another lovely story. Focus is on a new family not at the school and their antics!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews