Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 1:41 pm
Synopsis by Róisín
Exploits was published in 1933 and is the ninth book in the series. It is dedicated to 'Muriel and Beryl Harrison & Rosemary Jessup, with much love'. There is a very indepth chapter-by-chapter summary of what is cut from the PB here: http://www.rockterrace.demon.co.uk/FOCS/CS9.html. The HB is a lovely fat book with a nice picture of Thekla on the first page, as she refuses to keep going in the walk.
Thekla enters our world in this book as a new pupil. She is extremely snobbish, having been brought up by a Prussian society who instilled in here that aristocrats and the military were of a much higher social class than any others. This especially brings her into conflict with those pupils whose fathers work in shops and banks, not least the goodnatured Sophie Hamel and our own lovely Frieda Mensch. Thekla is cousin to Marie and Paula, and one of the best scenes from Exploits is the flowerpicking one, depicted on the DW, where Marie reveals she has a redhot temper buried under those Cinderella looks, and loses it with Thekla.
This is the book where Cornelia falls down the crack in the Alp while blaubereen picking and sees the stars clearer than she ever has before. We get wonderful insights into the workings of the Prefects Councils etc also, as EBD's favourite character is their leader. At least three chapters are given over to detailed meetings. The centre of the book is concerned with the quintette deciding to 'fix' the school clock - the disastrous consequences to this are among the truly funny scenes written by EBD. The end of this adventure sees Thekla in more trouble, as she unwittingly tells tales on Margia, Evvy, Lonny et al.
'Half Term at the Sonnalpe' is the title of Chapter 10, and describes the wonderful short holiday hosted by those living at the Sonnalpe, especially Madge and Gisela. All the girls get together to play with the cute toddler twins, to chat gently with the recovering Stacie, to tour the new Annexe and see for themselves how Juliet and Grizel are getting on as its mistresses. The halfterm is only slightly marred by their being confined indoors by a massive storm - instead of going out, they put on a comedic series of tableaux, using Madge's interior furnishings as props and costumes. The final day of the half term (which has taken EBD four chapters to describe!) is spent as a gentle Sunday morning, reading Christian books and saints' lives, before having a vigorous snowball battle in the garden.
Winter has come finally and the enforced confinement indoors inevitably makes the Middles play up. Evvy blows up the science lab during an experiment, Cornelia gets in trouble for slang and one entire French class are kept in by Mademoiselle Lachenais until they cooperate and give her some sentences on 'winter'. Once they've tired themselves out completely, the whole school turns to the Staff Evening, which this year will take the form of a Hallowe'en party. The Sixth and the Prefects put on many entertainments for the staff and the rest of the school, including bobbing for apples, jumping over candles and biting an apple with your head in a weird wooden contraption that blackens your face when you bite. Thekla reenters the story, wearing frilly underthings, as she jumps over the candles, and is promptly set on fire. Joey saves the day by chucking the entire barrel of water and apples over her!
As Exploits is the story of a Christmas term, the book inevitably ends with one of Madge's beautiful Christmas plays. This one takes the form of a Pageant, with lots of different manifestations of Christmas paraded on stage. Some prominent characters are the Robin who plays Love, Simone who is the Spirit of Christmas and Joey who is St. Joseph. The final scene incorporates Herr Braun's pet calf Taurus and a little local donkey that the girls christen Modestine, as part of the nativity. Herr Mensch has the last word, as he discusses the play with the Robin:
| Quote: |
Little Robin lifted her face. 'Now I know why we give gifts at Christmas,' she said. 'It is because God gave us the greatest Gift first.'
'That is true, mein Liebling,' said the gigantic Tirolean. 'And so we shall all remember for this Christmas at least. Our dear Madame has done well for all. The Chalet School shall live and prosper.' |
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