A review by pennyriley
The School at the Chalet by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

3.0

Three stars for nostalgia! I loved these stories of a Englishschool in Austria when I was growing up in England in the 50s and 60s, and series like this made up much of my reading. I was not critical of them then in the same way that I am now. They rewrite history (the first world war was started by the Prussians), while not totally racist they certainly promulgate national stereotypes, such as the emotional French, the stiff Germans etc. And in the same vein, Madge is regretful that her Head Girl can't be an English girl as there isn't one available. It seems ironic that while teaching three languages (French, German and English) the main aim of the school seems to be to turn out young English ladies, with not a trace of slang about them! But I have found some for free on internetarchive.org so will probably read a couple more before giving up completely. They are not ebooks, but photos of original material, borrowable for two weeks.