Deira Joins the Chalet School

Chalet School - Complete

by Caroline German

Motherless from birth, fifteen-year-old Deira O'Hagan is suddenly plucked from her tiny day-school in London and sent to Austria to become a boarder at the Chalet School. Accustomed to the adulation of the younger girls, who admire her vivid personality and Irish good looks, not to mention her reputation for outrageous pranks, she struggles to adjust to her new environment, not helped by some unexpected changes in her home circumstances.

Genres: School Stories, Childrens, Fiction, School

281 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2010

Reviews

[Emma]

A very good entry in the fill ins to the series. Very like EBD.

[Merry]

Definitely up there with the best of the series. Never crossed my mind to notice it wasn't a real ebd.

[Sue]

A Chalet School fill-in, not by the original author, set in the term before the events of the third book, 'A Princess at the Chalet School'. In this one, the aristocratic and rather arrogant Deira is sent to the Chalet School against her wishes. She struggles to fit in at first, but in classic EBD style gradually overcomes her objections, and begins to make friends.

The characterisation is good, the writing is very similar to that of Brent-Dyer, and the Chalet School ethos is clear. The author has done her research well, and I enjoyed the book much more than I had expected to.

Definitely recommended if you're a fan of the series. Four and a half stars, really.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...

[C J]

Ok

[Margaret Conmey]

This ‘fill-in’ is completely convincing; if you did not know you would believe EBD had written it
It fits in seamlessly with the other Tirol books in the series

[Shawne]

Fill-ins for a long-established series are always tough to write - indeed, Caroline German has taken two other decent enough stabs at filling in gaps in Elinor M. Brent-Dyer's Chalet School series: Juliet Of The Chalet School and The Chalet School And Robin. Set between these two books but published most recently, Deira Joins The Chalet School is easily her best effort yet - most likely because she's colouring in the history and inner life of a girl who never came to the forefront in the series.

That girl, of course, is the fiery Deira O'Hagan, whose tempestuous relationship with Grizel Cochrane marks her out in The Head Girl Of The Chalet School. German invents an entire life for the girl: spirited, proud and privileged, she arrives at the Tiern See furious at having been packed off to boarding school, very much against her long-deceased mother's express wishes. That's a premise packed with potential and drama, especially when Deira starts interacting with other schoolgirls - not least the equally prickly and difficult Grizel.

For the most part, Deira is an enjoyable read. Deira, as re-imagined by German, comes across as a very real, muddled school girl, which lends weight to the shenanigans she gets up to during term-time. German has a good grasp - some might say better, now - on the characters orbiting her too: Juliet Carrick comes wonderfully into her own as Head Girl (certainly more so than in her self-titled book, also written by German), and Grizel is every bit as impetuous and complicated as in the series. She drops in some lovely moments between Joey Bettany and her sister Madge, not to mention Dr. Jack, and fleshes out the relationship between Madge and Dr. Jem quite nicely. In essence, German masterfully weaves together whatever details have been left her by Brent-Dyer - all the more impressive because the latter was known to fluff up continuity on a fairly regular basis - to create something that stands well on its own while never disrupting what comes before or after.

In the interest of full disclosure, Deira isn't problem-free. Of course, it suffers from everything a fill-in book would: German cannot create anything too fanciful to avoid messing with Brent-Dyer's canon (although, as I've already mentioned, she gets freer rein here with Deira, a supporting player who allows for some imagination). As a result, the first half of the book, in particular, goes rather slowly - it's filled with pranks of all sorts and from all corners. German is also very good at reproducing Brent-Dyer's turn of phrase: almost too good, sometimes, one might think. She peppers her text with repeated phrases straight out of Brent-Dyer's lexicon ('bitterly cold') and echoes Brent-Dyer so deliberately that it actually comes across as odd at times.

Nevertheless, these minor sins are easily forgiven when Deira reads as well as it does. German has created a charming, sweet slice of Chalet School life in the Tyrol days - days which most long-time fans would still call their favourite of the entire long-running series - and made it most palatable and credible.

[Betsy A.]

Caroline German is an excellent “fill-in” author for Elinor Brent-Dyer’s Chalet School series. Reading her work is like reading an EBD original. One added benefit to this story is all the explanation Caroline provides, both before and after, of decisions she made in writing the story to make it fit with the EBD canon. Deira is mentioned in several EBD books but Caroline German gives her a story all her own. It is set during Year 3 of the Chalet School series in Austria, a period of time EBD did not cover. It occurs just prior to “Princess of the Chalet School”.

Storyline: Deira O’Hagan is forced to go to boarding school for the first time at age 15 due to changes in her family situation. She has always goofed off in school and is used to being the leader; the Chalet School is a big shock with its rules and emphasis on academics. Her struggles lead to trouble with Prefects and Juniors alike, but Juliet Carrick as Head Girl is a big help to her. There’s plenty of winter sports fun, and a wonderful section on chemistry lessons with ‘Bill’. All the usual food, school fun and antics are present. Deira gets some disturbing news, but it all works out for the best in the end. We meet plenty of the characters we know and love, with great backstory and introductions to characters EBD skimped on a little. All in all, an exceptional addition to the EBD canon. “Deira” is not to be missed.

[Deborah]

When we first meet Deira in the original EBD series, it's as though she's somebody we're supposed to know really well - almost as if EBD had already invented an entire book about her, but not got round to writing it. Well, here it is, in all its terrific EBD-ish glory. Deira's backstory is wholly believable and it's super to see more of the fairly small, fairly new Chalet School in its lovely Tyrolean setting.

It's also good to get more of some EBD's quieter characters - Mary Burnett in particular.

And if there's a bit of ideas recycling, with the fancy dress party, well frankly that just adds to the authentic tone. EBD was forever recycling her own (and other people's) ideas, and she didn't usually do it as well as it's done here.

So, yet more full marks. It is lovely to have that gap between Jo and Princess so wonderfully bridged by fill-ins: thanks to all involved.

[Heather]

Its difficult to write a "fill-in" book, with characters and plot already in place from someone else's imagination, but Caroline German does a good job. She weaves a good story without introducing any outlandish storylines that would clash with established"facts". I especially liked how she neatly weaves in Deira's after-story too, so that doesnt clash either. A very enjoyable light read.

[Verity W]

I liked this better than some of the other Chalet fill-ins I've read recently - it feels EBDish, the characters are doing what you expect them to be doing and there are all the hall marks of a term at the chalet in this period - infectious disease, Jo getting ill, references a plenty to tbh, loads of dead parents everywhere. And I liked the addition of some science lesson action.