The CBB :: View topic - Books: Prefects of the Chalet School

I really don't like this book as it's the final one...having said that I loved it when read it as a child!

Can anyone explain what it is about Nancy that seems to make her positively spit with rage?

Ah, I reckon that, after Challenge, Hilda saw Nancy as the heir apparent, and that in true historical tradition - think George III with the future George IV, Queen Victoria with the future Edward VII, George V with the future Edward VIII, and so on and so forth - that's what caused the tension!

MJKB wrote:

Can anyone explain what it is about Nancy that seems to make her positively spit with rage?

That makes sense. She may remind her of her own mortality or, Ariel is right and it's another change for the CS.

. She went white but she kept her head. “Miggi,” she said severely, “don't repeat that sort of gossip. It is just gossip, and you could get into trouble for spreading it. Now remember what I say, or I must speak to Karen.”

Plus everyone keeps over-reacting massively to things all over the shop. Len and co crack down on the motor boat request unnecessarily hard and rudely (am I alone in thinking they're really unpleasant to the Middles here?) and then convert it into evidence that it's going to be a tough term.

...There was an urgency in his voice which set them running as fast as they could. Why they should run they had no idea. They only knew that they must. At the same moment they heard a distant rumble like thunder which yet was not thunder. Reg Entwistle came tearing up. Len was at the end of the crocodile an he flung an arm round her as he came up.
“Run!” he said tensely.
Len said nothing, but seeing that the last of the younger girls had reached the upper path she left the care of them to her three fellow prefects and devoted herself to scrambling as fast as she could up to the level of the Auberge...

...Len set her teeth and pulled herself together. “OK. I’ve got my breath now. We’re past the worst of the scramble, anyhow. The Auberge is safe too, that’s clear, so the kids must be safe. I’m sure they all got there in time.”
“Right! Let’s join them and make certain though.”
She was willing enough, but she was in very poor shape by this time and it took some minutes before they reached the gate and were instantly seized on by Primrose and Jack Lambert.

I too would like to know more about the 'evidence' for this book being partially ghost-written.

Well, it's dedicated to Phyl... so if she wrote it either she dedicated it to herself, or EBD did so out of gratitude.

Someone linked to an article on the thread about GGBP books and marketing which says EBD got a 200 GBP advance for each title, and a 5% royalty after 20,000 books sold. That doesn't sound like much to me - even in old money. Was it? OT, I know.... but I worry the series became a burden, but a necessary one because she need the money, and Prefects is the final example of that...

The Head’s words had settled for her a question which had been on the nebulous side with her till then. Now she knew where her future seemed likely to lie. “But, of course, I must do as she says – think long and think hard. But I somehow believe that all my thinking will end one way,”....

:...it was then that Len Maynard realized that her future was settled, once she had finished her formal education, though she said nothing about it to anyone for some months to come. She had burned two fingers in helping to tear down the scenery and had sustained a bad bruise on one arm as well. As the doctor finished bandaging the fingers, she looked up at him to say rather shakily, “Well, a thrilling time has been had by all, whether it’s good or not.” What she saw in his eyes as they met hers told her volumes. Joey Maynard always vowed that Len grew up completely in those moments.
“Just as I did that night years and years ago when we thought Hilary and Robin were lost in the bowels of the earth – remember?” she said to her husband. “And then we reached Die Rosen and heard that they were safe and sound and – ”
“And you fainted,” he finished for her. “I remember. Also the shock you gave Madge when you came round by clinging to me and telling me I was a solid lump of comfort. Ah, well, a good deal of water has gone under the bridge since then – and if Reg Entwistle finds all in Len that I’ve found in Len’s mother, he’ll be a lucky chap!”

It's way too late to argue that Len's a schoolgirl with no thought of marriage. (Of course, I also see Len as one of those young people who effectively skips from childhood to responsible adult.)

Obviously no-one just grows up overnight and never does anything childish once they've started "growing up", but the triplets don't half seem to go backwards and forwards

Look how EBD never has anyone say the word 'love' - their entire relationship is carefully NOT expressed in terms of romance or attraction, but of Len suddenly growing up (at a glance) and realising her future is 'settled'. It's rather as though like Margot, she has discovered her vocation, which is a bit depressing, come to think of it.

It's rather as though like Margot, she has discovered her vocation, which is a bit depressing, come to think of it.

I wonder if perhaps EBD meant us to see Len and Reg as a second Jack/Joey?

On the other hand, if Phyllis Matthewman wrote adult romances it doesn't say much for her input either! I'm becoming inclined towards the theory of EBD writing it in a rush to try and round things off - which is very sad, as many people have pointed out.

if Phyllis Matthewman wrote adult romances it doesn't say much for her input either! I'm becoming inclined towards the theory of EBD writing it in a rush to try and round things off - which is very sad, as many people have pointed out.

Presumably EBD considered it improper to depict a schoolgirl having any form of what could be seen as sexual contact.

Glad as I am that Mary-Lou ended the series still footloose and fancy-free and set to enjoy her career, by CS standards it would have made more sense if she'd been the one to get engaged to a suitable doctor (Rix or David?) and commit herself to life on the Platz

I like to think that Con forged an independent life for herself at Oxford and afterwards, and certainly didn't go rushing back to the Gornetz Platz to marry either a doctor or Roger Richardson

Would it be so bad if she married Roger R?

Quote:

Would it be so bad if she married Roger R?

In the long term, maybe not - although I don't really see anything about Roger that makes him an especially good match for Con. (And in Joey & Co, he seemed to get on best with Len, out of all the triplets).

But Con said more than once that she didn't want to marry early, so I'd like to think of her having some fun as a single girl, and seeing a bit of life away from the Platz and the family circle, before she opted to settle down with a man she'd known since she was fourteen, who was effectively an adopted brother.

Did anyone else think the idea - taken seriously - to use stilts to forge through the flood waters to search for Reg pretty mad?!!! But I love the idea that Gaudenz had some laying around in a shed - I presume it was stored next to his unicycle and sword swallowing equipment

And yes, Fiona Mc - that HUGE over-reaction to Len's accident with the oil painting is very weird, with Con behaving like some demonic detective who Needs to Track Down the Culprit Telling Untruths About Her Sister!

Re Hilda being snappy - was it partly because Nancy has a habit of making jokes and being light hearted at inappropriate times

I thought you meant Jack Maynard

Did anyone else think the idea - taken seriously - to use stilts to forge through the flood waters to search for Reg pretty mad?!!!

Its been a while since I read prefects and I'd forgotten that bit. Maybe because it is just too had to accept.

The girs are not allowed to walk downstairs for breakfast without lineing up and being escorted by a prefect but can drive a car around the grounds?

We're off to a wedding today at a hotel in the Lakes. I looked on their website for directions yesterday and found they offer a "lazy man's proposal package". For different fees you can choose a row on the lake, a picnic in the summer house or your bedroom filled with flowers -all organised by the hotel with other "treats" during a two-day stay.

My first thought was that this was incredibly umimaginative ("I think i'd like proposal A, please") but perhaps this was just what the Chalet men needed?

Author:	Róisín [ Mon Apr 13, 2009 1:43 pm ]
Post subject:	Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Synopsis here. This is the last term of the triplets; in the light of this, how do you think their overall school career has been? Was it how you expected it would be, when Joey had the first and we guessed that we would be following them through school? What do you think of their plans for the future, and the way that they discuss them? Would you have gone for the motorboats idea, or would you have supported Jocelyn?! What would the school have done without Joey's advice - do you think the role that Jo plays at this very late stage of the books (and the school's career) is realistic? Other events in this book are Len's blossoming relationship with Reg, the Seasons sale and the midnight picnic. Please join in the discussion with any point you like to raise below Next Sunday: Joey Goes on Television. There are three more books after that in the internal reading order: New Beginnings, Librarian and CCGU, fyi, in case you thought that we finished with Prefects!

Author:	Tor [ Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:37 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
What strikes me having just re-read this (for this discussion : I thought I'd better get the Len-Reg details right before having a rant!) is the re-hash of several plot-lines just used in Althea and Two Sams. Motorboats are still on the agenda (believable, as it's supposed to follow on from the incident in the last book), there's another broken door handle story-line, and another random night-time disturbance (here blamed on undergraduates or kidnappers). We get two midnights in this book - one mentioned, but not described in any detail and one that doesn't come off (because Jack gets shut in the bathroom after having a tussle with Jocelyn for the door handle). And is it just me, or have Erica and Althea had personality transplants? I don't recognize them at all. Also - when did Melanie Lucas' mother become a prima donna? Not impressed over-all! But..... thee is plenty of unfinished business in this book, or badly donr business, that leads to lots of possible discussion points. I am holding back ... for now

Author:	Alison H [ Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:49 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
The Len-Reg relationship's been discussed a lot lately, so I'll refrain from waffling on again about how badly I think it was handled! I've got a lot of mixed feelings about the end of the triplets' school career. For one thing, I think it's a shame that they end their days at the school minus Emerence, Ros, Jo, Ricki and some of their other closest friends, but that goes back to much earlier in the Swiss years when they ended up in forms with girls older than them. I think it's a great shame that Len's future is all mapped out for her before she even leaves school, but I'm glad that Con's future is left much more open. I don't think that either EBD or Joey ever really knew what to do with Con, and I really hope that she "did her own thing" once she got to Oxford, and didn't just end up back at the Platz married to a San doctor or Roger Richardson. I can see Margot as a doctor in the Third World and I'm sure that she'd have done a brilliant job, but personally I just can't see her as a nun, but that's just my opinion. I don't feel that I know a lot of the younger girls in it - who on earth are Maureen O'Toole, and Angelique St Barbe, and some of the others mentioned? - and, although Jack Lambert seems to be being turned into a possible future heroine in the way she deals with Jocelyn, there's definitely an "ending" feeling to this one. Maybe that's just because it's the triplets' last term, but also we get Madge, Jem, Mary-Lou and Vi all turn up at the Sale, as if they're taking a curtain call. I do wish we knew whether EBD really wrote this one or not!

Author:	blanchgirl [ Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:14 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I really don't like this book as it's the final one...having said that I loved it when read it as a child! I liked the romance between Len and Reg...now I hate it! I read Reunion recently for the first time and was disgusted the way Joey told Grizel and Mollie about Reg's feelings for Len. I hope Len threw off the trappings of the Oberland once she got to Oxford (even though I don't fancy her chances telling Joey that she doesn't want to marry Reg!) I also agree with the above...hated the way there seemed to be two halves to the book. Why harp on about the motorboat incident and call in Joey to help (once again Miss Annersley doesn't know how to handle the girls!!!) when they don't even do what she says. Also Althea and Erica were in two different forms to Jocelyn surely...how did they get to be bosom buddies so quickly?? PS speaking of jumping forms, I re-read the CS at War recently for the first time in years and Elizabeth Arnott was in the Fourth Form, then in Lavander Laughs she's in the Sixth with Robin (who was already in the 6th in At War) and she's Head Girl...!!!

Author:	MJKB [ Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:41 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
blanchgirl wrote: I really don't like this book as it's the final one...having said that I loved it when read it as a child! I was a young teenager when Prefects came out so I guess you couldn't call me a child exactly when I first read it. I remember not liking it as much as the others, but, like blanchgirl, actually being glad that Len was settled for the future. My views on that have changed somewhat! As an adult I find its pace, tone, plot(sssssss) etc verging on disturbing. Everything seems to happen at the speed of light, and it's packed to the gills with 'thrills'. Whoever wrote it - and I'm not convinced of the other author theory, certainly didn't like Hilda too much. She is morphed into this very disagreeable, irritable and nervy woman who may well end up doing time or worse for the murder of Nancy. Can anyone explain what it is about Nancy that seems to make her positively spit with rage? Interestingly, Nancy herself reverts back to her Tyrol personality.

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Books: Prefects of the Chalet School http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5936

Author:	Alison H [ Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:47 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
MJKB wrote: Can anyone explain what it is about Nancy that seems to make her positively spit with rage? Ah, I reckon that, after Challenge, Hilda saw Nancy as the heir apparent, and that in true historical tradition - think George III with the future George IV, Queen Victoria with the future Edward VII, George V with the future Edward VIII, and so on and so forth - that's what caused the tension!

Author:	Ariel [ Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:01 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Maybe Hilda is menopausal?

Author:	MJKB [ Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:15 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Alison H wrote: Ah, I reckon that, after Challenge, Hilda saw Nancy as the heir apparent, and that in true historical tradition - think George III with the future George IV, Queen Victoria with the future Edward VII, George V with the future Edward VIII, and so on and so forth - that's what caused the tension! MJKB wrote: Can anyone explain what it is about Nancy that seems to make her positively spit with rage? That makes sense. She may remind her of her own mortality or, Ariel is right and it's another change for the CS.

Author:	JS [ Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:55 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Quote: That makes sense. She may remind her of her own mortality or, Ariel is right and it's another change for the CS. Just think of all the hormones flying around as the girls start menstruating and the staff start stopping.

Author:	Sunglass [ Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:59 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I don't think I've read this one through in years because it's so ropy. I have a lot of affection for anything in the CS series, but I have difficulty believing this was even cursorily edited, whoever wrote it! (Also, where does the theory that EBD didn't write it comes from? I've heard it referred to here often, but never known its origin...) One really feels (and it's very sad!) that it's a matter of grinding out enough words to get the triplets to the end of their last term - there's no plot at all, really, and it just seems full of red herrings and loose ends. There's all that consultation of Joey about what to do about the motor-boat wanters (though I'm not sure why the fact that they were 'sulking' was seen as such a problem the staff couldn't cope and Kathy Ferrars wishes they hadn't decided to hold a regatta...?) and she and the staff come up with the idea of making them get up a subscription and do their own book-keeping, and Miss A and Len agree it's a good idea, but it's never mentioned again, and doesn't form part of Miss A's dressing down of Jocelyn and co. All that lead-up with no pay-off. Plus everyone keeps over-reacting massively to things all over the shop. Len and co crack down on the motor boat request unnecessarily hard and rudely (am I alone in thinking they're really unpleasant to the Middles here?) and then convert it into evidence that it's going to be a tough term. When Jocelyn asks Jack if she can ask her something, Jack, on no evidence at all, freaks out about the bother of becoming a mentor to younger girls - when Jocelyn might have only wanted to ask her the time, for heaven's sake! AND after all that hooha, the Regatta is cancelled due to a mystery illness anyway - one feels because EBD couldn't be bothered to write about it... That's what makes this one such a weird and dispiriting read for me - this pattern of massive fuss about something that then doesn't happen. The snake that doesn't bite anyone or act as the harbinger of a plague of snakes in the veg box! Len hoping out of the blue that the prefects are going to have a 'peaceful night' and encountering Matron on the corridor with the suggestion that there will be some kind of disturbance later - but nothing happens. The kidnap of the dying shipping heiress that never happens and has no repercussions - although I always wonder what on earth Mary-Lou was doing coming up to the Platz after midnight with a dozen policemen, and apparently planning to just show up at Freudesheim in the early hours looking for a bed!!! Or the midnight picnic that never happens, but gets fairly savagely punished nonetheless? (Is it even clear that anyone has actually done anything wrong apart from not declare some tuck and get a glass of water from the bathroom?) And, yes, absolutely, what on earth has happened to Hilda Annersley in this one? She seems to have turned from being calm and compassionate into being a bit of a cow - that bit where she slaps down the 'younger mistresses' (including Nancy Wilmot, who is hardly junior and an ex-acting head) for taking about five seconds to exclaim over Tom's inn, implicitly accusing them of slacking, is really uncalled-for! The Sale is much the best bit - old-fashioned, proper CS stuff. Though even as a Reg-hater, I can't help feeling Len is being unfair when she says he slides out of doing his duty - for god's sake, he's voluntarily helping out with a school event which, OK, raises funds for the San, but could by no means be seen as his 'duty'! Come to think of it, Len is a bit snappy throughout as well - the bit when Miggi the maid tells her Reg is missing in the flood: Quote: . She went white but she kept her head. “Miggi,” she said severely, “don't repeat that sort of gossip. It is just gossip, and you could get into trouble for spreading it. Now remember what I say, or I must speak to Karen.” In what way could a blameless maid 'get into trouble' for repeating a bit of serious information that there's no reason even at this point to think of as 'gossip', and which turns out to be true?

Author:	Alison H [ Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:59 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I think the way Len spoke to Miggi was completely inappropriate, but she must have been upset and worried at the time. I do feel really sorry for Len in this book. In Reunion, Reg agreed to keep his interest in Len to himself until she'd left school, but by Prefects not only Len but a lot of other people seem to know all about it. Len herself and Con and Margot, and even Hilda, may just have twigged from seeing how Reg behaved around Len - it's not always easy to hide the fact that you like someone - but it must have been Joey who told Madge and Mary-Lou, and then Mary-Lou decided to pass it on to Vi. There was a lot of speculation going on about what Len would do - and if you're a private person like Len is it's never nice to know that you're the subject of gossip - and she was coming under considerable pressure to make a decision about marriage before she was ready, all of which was exactly what Jack had tried to avoid.

Author:	Emma A [ Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:01 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Sunglass wrote: Plus everyone keeps over-reacting massively to things all over the shop. Len and co crack down on the motor boat request unnecessarily hard and rudely (am I alone in thinking they're really unpleasant to the Middles here?) and then convert it into evidence that it's going to be a tough term. You're not alone in this, Sunglass since I think so too: if the prefects hadn't been so unnecessarily rude about it, Jocelyn might not have been so obstinate about the idea. One gets the impression from reading the scene that they would have stamped down hard on any suggestion, no matter how well thought-out or sensible it was. It's been suggested that since EBD was very ill during the writing of this, that another hand, probably Phyllis Matthewman, helped to complete it. I think that in the GGBP edition, the introduction explains this theory and gives it some credence, since the out-of-character behaviour of a number of the characters is unusual for EBD, who usually is fairly consistent on that front. I don't understand the way that, during the scene where Reg rescues Len from the flood, they manage to get so far behind the other girls that they almost get caught by the waters. It's not suggested anywhere that the main party are seconds away from drowning, and Len was only at the back of the line, and running! Quote: ...There was an urgency in his voice which set them running as fast as they could. Why they should run they had no idea. They only knew that they must. At the same moment they heard a distant rumble like thunder which yet was not thunder. Reg Entwistle came tearing up. Len was at the end of the crocodile an he flung an arm round her as he came up. “Run!” he said tensely. Len said nothing, but seeing that the last of the younger girls had reached the upper path she left the care of them to her three fellow prefects and devoted herself to scrambling as fast as she could up to the level of the Auberge... and later: Quote: ...Len set her teeth and pulled herself together. “OK. I’ve got my breath now. We’re past the worst of the scramble, anyhow. The Auberge is safe too, that’s clear, so the kids must be safe. I’m sure they all got there in time.” “Right! Let’s join them and make certain though.” She was willing enough, but she was in very poor shape by this time and it took some minutes before they reached the gate and were instantly seized on by Primrose and Jack Lambert. How have the two of them managed to lag behind the rest so much? I realise it's for plot purposes, so Reg can rescue Len from watery oblivion, but this annoys me every time I read it!

Author:	JB [ Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:56 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
This was, fittingly, the last book in the series I read (I bought it and Future from a dealer in the early 90s). At the time, I was pleased to have finally read it. Now, I find it very difficult to read. The motorboat incident takes up so much time and it’s quite silly. I have no idea why the staff felt they needed to involve Joey. I am amused by the thought of Mary Lou strolling along the Platz with a crowd of police but there seems no point to this incident, apart from a disapproving swipe at society (like Joey and the Beatniks). Does anyone know more about the theory that Phyllis Masterman wrote this? Would anyone like to explain a bit more about the reference in the GGB edition?

Author:	Tor [ Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:34 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I completely agree that Len was uncharacteristically unpleasant to Jocelyn and co at the prefects meeting. If anything it had shades of Grizel/Joey-like rudeness. I'd have said, in earlier books, this would have been cause for a full-blown middles campaign against the prefects, which would have been far more diverting than the motor-boat hoo-hah! I too would like to know more about the 'evidence' for this book being partially ghost-written. Whatever the truth, as Sunglass says it is poorly, poorly edited. If there was a ghostwriter, they weren't very talented, and didn't care very much. Either way, it is sad. It is almost painful to read this book side-by-side with School at, and see the loss of vibrancy and quality, so I am glad we are going through the various fill-ins before returning to the start of the read-through once more. Len and Hilda both come across as snipey pieces of work.My feathers were also ruffled on Reg's behalf over the 'sliding out' comment. And I do not like Reg. If Len had been like this in all the other books, I doubt I'd feel half so protective of her. Hence, whilst the proposal was ick, it's only because of my built up fondness for Len, and my various misgivings about her real maturity etc laid out extensively in the Reunion thread, that i realy care. If I'd just read Prefects, I'd probably not give two hoots! Len gets an possessive husband, and Reg gets a snipey, nagging wife - match made in heaven....

Author:	ChubbyMonkey [ Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:50 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Quote: I too would like to know more about the 'evidence' for this book being partially ghost-written. I'm just skimming back through my GGBP edition, and the appendix at the end which examines this. The crux of their argument seems to be that the contract for this was signed just before EBD's death, so there may have been a "race against time". Also the fact that it falls into two halfs, the latter of which follows on from 'Althea', but the former motor boat incident doesn't seem to have any logical reason for being there. They also point out the poor characterisation of some characters - for example Miss Annersley, who asks for the "hanes", usually an expression used by Joey rather than the stately head down on all forms of bad English! The main part of the argument which helped to convince me, though, was the fact that 'rich, creamy milk' is not mentioned once in the entirety of 'Prefects'. Now, how could EBD write a book without milk? Er, anyway, after that blatant plagerism, I only hope I've got everything right and I haven't confused people more

Author:	Tor [ Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:04 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Well, it's dedicated to Phyl... so if she wrote it either she dedicated it to herself, or EBD did so out of gratitude. Poor EBD, fancy feeling she had to meet her obligations whilst being really ill (either by writing it herself, or asking for help). I hope she did it because she wanted the series rounded off, not because she was under pressure from other. Someone linked to an article on the thread about GGBP books and marketing which says EBD got a 200 GBP advance for each title, and a 5% royalty after 20,000 books sold. That doesn't sound like much to me - even in old money. Was it? OT, I know.... but I worry the series became a burden, but a necessary one because she need the money, and Prefects is the final example of that... I'm feeling maudlin today! Sorry!

Author:	MJKB [ Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:58 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Tor wrote: Well, it's dedicated to Phyl... so if she wrote it either she dedicated it to herself, or EBD did so out of gratitude. I doubt if Phyllis Matthewman had a part in the writing of Prefects. I believe that Elinor was very, very sick, and in pain, and that her publishers showed no understanding or sympathy. They just demanded that she fulfill her contract no matter how it impacted on her health. There's definitely an angry tone throughout the book, and, as I remarked before, the pace is frenetic and almost frenzied. What is worse than that, however, is the lack of consistency in her characters' behviour, language etc. Phyllis was obviously a very devoted friend and a writer herself. If help had been asked of her I'm sure she'd have shown the utmost respect for her friend's beloved creations.

Author:	LizzieC [ Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:08 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Tor wrote: Someone linked to an article on the thread about GGBP books and marketing which says EBD got a 200 GBP advance for each title, and a 5% royalty after 20,000 books sold. That doesn't sound like much to me - even in old money. Was it? OT, I know.... but I worry the series became a burden, but a necessary one because she need the money, and Prefects is the final example of that... Well according to this link in 1950, the average UK annual salary was £101, and in 1959 the average UK male annual salary was £190. I think that means that she was reasonably paid for the books she produced, and given the rate she produced them at, especially in the Swiss years, means that she probably was fairly comfortably off.

Author:	Sunglass [ Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:39 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Well, Prefects always makes me feel a bit maudlin - one would hate to think of an ill and exhausted EBD trying to get it written, and some bits do seem to me to suggest tiredness and loss of interest, like the preparations for various set-pieces (like the Regatta) or show-downs (some kind of big motor-boat related rebellion) or dangers (the kidnapping of the tubercular girl) that then never take place. They seem different to the kinds of EBDism you get used to in the rest of the series. If there are questions about someone else having written it, or co-written it, I'd wonder about the detailed and very traditional-CS account of the Sale, which gets as much if not more detail than it ever gets in previous books, compared to the sketchily written other episodes of high drama? Did someone other than EBD write the ending, I wonder, or perhaps a very traditional CS trope caught her interest when melodrama no longer did? Or maybe she wrote the end first, if it was her? One bit I do like (to be cheerier) is Mary-Lou and Vi admiring one another's clothes at the Sale and Mary-Lou (despite wearing the kind of EBD-approved 'dainty green frock and black hat' combo I'm certain we see Joey wearing on more than one occasion) claims that she's been bored by learning how to dress, whereas Vi has somehow always known! But weren't we told way back in OOAO's schooldays that she had those Frenchwoman's fingers that know how to settle her clothes? Or does that mean she chose terrible clothes but wore them well?

Author:	Kathy_S [ Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:48 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I have a hard time thinking of Len being pressured in Prefects because it seemed to me she'd made up her mind clear back in Adrienne. I got the impression that she was starry-eyed to the extent that you'd have to be pretty insensitive not to notice what was going on. Quote: The Head’s words had settled for her a question which had been on the nebulous side with her till then. Now she knew where her future seemed likely to lie. “But, of course, I must do as she says – think long and think hard. But I somehow believe that all my thinking will end one way,”.... plus this Quote: :...it was then that Len Maynard realized that her future was settled, once she had finished her formal education, though she said nothing about it to anyone for some months to come. She had burned two fingers in helping to tear down the scenery and had sustained a bad bruise on one arm as well. As the doctor finished bandaging the fingers, she looked up at him to say rather shakily, “Well, a thrilling time has been had by all, whether it’s good or not.” What she saw in his eyes as they met hers told her volumes. Joey Maynard always vowed that Len grew up completely in those moments. “Just as I did that night years and years ago when we thought Hilary and Robin were lost in the bowels of the earth – remember?” she said to her husband. “And then we reached Die Rosen and heard that they were safe and sound and – ” “And you fainted,” he finished for her. “I remember. Also the shock you gave Madge when you came round by clinging to me and telling me I was a solid lump of comfort. Ah, well, a good deal of water has gone under the bridge since then – and if Reg Entwistle finds all in Len that I’ve found in Len’s mother, he’ll be a lucky chap!” To me it's the Althea/Prefects duo that seem out of synch.* It's way too late to argue that Len's a schoolgirl with no thought of marriage. (Of course, I also see Len as one of those young people who effectively skips from childhood to responsible adult.) *And yes, I'm afraid this isn't the only way that I see Althea/Prefects as "out of synch," though I'm certainly not sorry they were written!

Author:	Tor [ Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:25 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Quote: It's way too late to argue that Len's a schoolgirl with no thought of marriage. (Of course, I also see Len as one of those young people who effectively skips from childhood to responsible adult.) I'd agree with this on one level - it always strikes me as silly that Len basically 'grows up in a few moments' in several books, at least it feels that way. It's almost as though EBD can't get beyond that scene, and has to return, groundhog day, to the start of it once more. Maybe if she had been up to developing the relationship from there, it would have seemed less icky to me. However, what happens to me, with the later books, is a strengthening feeling of uneasiness. Len isn't resolved, her return to being an schoolgirl, kept young by her parents, seemingly not 100% happy at the attentions of Reg (at least a bit uncertain/uncomfortable) coupled with all the various Reg comments (knowing what he wants, making sure no one takes his place) make for rather worrying reading. On another note, I liked the short scene about the subject of Con's first historical novel - very topical, with Young Victoria just out!

Author:	Alison H [ Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:08 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
In the scene in which Reg helps Len move stuff after the fire which damaged the costumes for the school plays, their eyes meet across a charred bit of fabric (or something like that!), and we're told that Joey (even though she wasn't even there) always vowed that that was when Len grew up. Then, by Prefects, apparently she still needs to grow up. The same thing happens with Con, who became increasingly mature and sensible, in a completely natural way, and then in Althea reverted right back to being the daydreamer that she'd been when she was about 12. And Margot is supposed to have been profoundly affected by events at the end of Trials, but we then see the incident with Betty and also some nasty behaviour when she's Games Prefect. Obviously no-one just grows up overnight and never does anything childish once they've started "growing up", but the triplets don't half seem to go backwards and forwards .

Author:	Nightwing [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:21 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Alison H wrote: Obviously no-one just grows up overnight and never does anything childish once they've started "growing up", but the triplets don't half seem to go backwards and forwards . EBD often seems unsure of her own characterisation of the triplets; she has to keep coming back to those same three traits which she has given them since birth - the responsible one, the dreamy one, the naughty one. Characters like Joey and Grizel were allowed to never be fully cured of their failings while they were at school, and their personalities are multi-faceted enough that they can be described in more terms than just "the thoughtless one" or "the sarcastic one", or whatever. I think EBD tries several times to break the triplets out of the mould that she created for each of them, but once she has she doesn't know what to do with them. Margot has always been the bad-tempered one, so what does she do with her once she's cured her temper? So she has to go back to being the bad-tempered one - but there must be more to her than that, so she tries to cure her of it again. It seems like Len especially is really being pushed by the narrative to grow up, almost against her own will - I find Con's and Margot's maturing a lot more believable than Len's, and I think in part it's because Len's growing up, every time it's mentioned, is linked to her realising she loves Reg. I don't necessarily have a problem with Len and Reg's relationship, but I don't think that her falling in love with him is the same thing as her growing up, not at all!

Author:	Sunglass [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 9:27 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Part of the problem is also that EBD seems to equate growing up (at least in this part of the series) as to do with leaving your childish flaws behind (as Middles stop behaving like hormonal nutcases when they become Seniors, apparently!). So that would mean that Con wakes up a bit and Margot stops blaming her devil and hitting people with bookends - but Len, who has been practically perfect all along, has no obvious immature flaw to lose as a signal of her growing up, so instead, I think, she gets Reg as a sort of rite of passage. Look how EBD never has anyone say the word 'love' - their entire relationship is carefully NOT expressed in terms of romance or attraction, but of Len suddenly growing up (at a glance) and realising her future is 'settled'. It's rather as though like Margot, she has discovered her vocation, which is a bit depressing, come to think of it.

Author:	Meg14 [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 10:32 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Quote: Look how EBD never has anyone say the word 'love' - their entire relationship is carefully NOT expressed in terms of romance or attraction, but of Len suddenly growing up (at a glance) and realising her future is 'settled'. It's rather as though like Margot, she has discovered her vocation, which is a bit depressing, come to think of it. Thats interesting it makes me feel that EBD may not have been very keen on writing about emotions in adults fullstop. Even with Jack and Joey their most affectionate moments (that are portrayed) are probably when Joey breaks down. The rest of the time I always feel its more like they are very good friends (although I find it interesting some of the descriptions in 'To the Rescue' when Phoebe seems to pick up on something deeper). I wonder if EBD felt that that was the ideal relationship you feel strongly about someone but its almost more of an undercurrent of affection (I was also thinking about how Bill feels when Miss Annerlsey is injured in the accident in Gay and it is clearly a big deal for her to talk about it). Are all these examples of the famous stiff upper lip and I wonder if EBD saw this as preferable to wearing your heart on your chest as we do more now? As for the way the characters are portrayed in Prefects I always feel this was a reflection of the fact that it was the end of the series and EBD (and whoever else may have helped her) must have known it was the last book as EBD was so ill. This meant it was written with more certainty and finality than seems natural because the writer(s) may have wanted to give the readers an end to the series and the relief of knowing that the characters were going to settled futures.

Author:	JayB [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:03 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I think I've seen it suggested somehwere that the Len-Reg engagement is another point in support of the idea that Phyllis Matthewman may have contributed to the writing of Prefects. PM wrote adult romances as well as schoolgirl books, and the suggestion is that the engagement was perhaps her input and that EBD on her own might have left it more open, with perhaps the prospect of an engagement in the future. If EBD didn't write those sections, it would also accout for the repetition of what already seemed to have been established in Adrienne.

Author:	Tor [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:05 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Quote: It's rather as though like Margot, she has discovered her vocation, which is a bit depressing, come to think of it. That sums up my feelings pretty well! Like Meg14, I don't think EBD was comfortable writing about the L-word. Emotions (as long as they are deep emotions) are very much approved of and portrayed in the books, but the characters are usually seen as unable to articulate them. However, EBD steps into the breach as authorial voice and does it for them. With love, though, she doesn't seem to be able to manage to do this. I'm not sure it's all stiff upper lip, though. I think EBD might have avoided mentioning love on purpose, from some personal opinion that marriage is a responsibility over and above emotions - a vocation like Sunglass points out. Margot makes reference to the fact that she will be getting married, in her own way. As for Joey and Jack, I think the scenes where there are just the two of them are some of EBDs most successful. I always like Jack in Joey's company - he loses his authoritarian aspects. There's that scene in one of the Swiss books, where the conversation is all about having her to himself, which I always read thinking 'Joey will be busy again soon, then!'.

Author:	Alison H [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:53 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I find the bit where we get Phoebe thnking that it's obvious that Joey and Jack are "still in love with one another" quite stilted and awkwardly written. Various moments which are similar but in which the actual "L-word" isn't mentioned come across much better - Joey getting upset when she thinks Jem is engaged to someone other than Madge, Marie smiling and saying "Don't you?" when Joey says that she doesn't know any potential husbands, Jack grinning and going on about how Eugen Courvoisier seems very interested in seeing the CS after meeting Biddy, and Len thinking "How absolutely gaudy!" when she twigs that there's something going on between Grizel and Neil. Funnily enough, the only time I can remember either Jem or Jack using the L-word is (and it's in a bit that Armada cut out of the pb) in Head Girl when Jem's saying how pleased he is that Marie and Andreas are getting married: he's quite sweet there . Reg doesn't even manage to use the word when he's making his crap proposal.

Author:	Sunglass [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 2:29 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I do hate Reg's proposal with a passion. Given that he's narrowly escaped death, you'd think he'd be less smug. I think I could even handle some boastful triumph 'Reg knew he finally had what he'd wanted for years') more than what he actually says... Of course, EBD can't do a Neil Sheppard thing and have Reg 'silence' Len with a kiss, as there's no evidence they touch at all - do they even hold hands? Presumably EBD considered it improper to depict a schoolgirl having any form of what could be seen as sexual contact. I think there's a complicating problem in that we're repeatedly told towards the end of the series that Joey and Jack have consciously 'kept the triplets young' as far as they could - which I think we're intended to approve of as not producing sexually-knowing Joan Bakers who gossip about boys and would prefer to gad around dance halls than win a tennis cup or whatever. But of course EBD can't have a child falling in love, so she needs to convey that the Len who becomes engaged to Reg is no longer a child - and she manages it by making falling in love (not that she ever says that) the thing that makes Len grow up instantly. But EBD seems so uneasy with the whole situation - she seems entirely unable to write about Len's feeling for Reg, only that her future was 'settled' - that I find myself wondering why she wrote about it at all, or why - if she felt she had to - she didn't write it all from the perspective of a third party, so she wouldn't have to deal with what Len is actually thinking and feeling.

Author:	ChubbyMonkey [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 4:40 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I wonder if perhaps EBD meant us to see Len and Reg as a second Jack/Joey? After all, Joey knew that Jack liked her before he proposed, she spent some time getting to know him (I know that we don't see that with L/R but I assume it must have happened) and only realised how badly she wanted to know him after the near death experience with the Nazis. I wonder if perhaps EBD assumed her readers would be familiar with this, and would see the similar setup to mean that the romance was to be treated in the same way.

Author:	Tor [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 4:49 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Quote: I wonder if perhaps EBD meant us to see Len and Reg as a second Jack/Joey? I'd say so, given the exchange between Joey and Jack in Althea(?) that Kathy_S quoted from earlier. You know, one of the most depressing bits about the engagement scene is that - to me - Len goes in asserting that she won't be engaged unless Reg insists on it (so slightly passive, but with a bit of spark in at least expressing a desire to not be engaged), and then immediately acquiesces to the very limp 'I take it we're engaged?'. I jst feel like she's sacrificed her wants way too easily...

Author:	Josette [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 6:33 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
The proposal is awful. On the one hand, it is much more badly handled than any of EBD's other rather stilted "romance" scenes, which seems to give some credence to the suggestion that someone else may have written it. On the other hand, if Phyllis Matthewman wrote adult romances it doesn't say much for her input either! I'm becoming inclined towards the theory of EBD writing it in a rush to try and round things off - which is very sad, as many people have pointed out.

Author:	JayB [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
I'm no fan of Reg and I'd much rather Len had been allowed to go off to Oxford unengaged. But I'm not sure that we're intended to see 'I take it we're engaged' as a proposal. I think that we're supposed to understand that Len had made her intentions clear by going to his room. A young unmarried girl going alone to room where a young unmarried man is in bed, and sitting down on the bed beside him, would I think be considered quite daring in CS-land. Reg is clearly surprised to see her. I think 'I take it we're engaged' is asking for confirmation, rather than popping the question.

Author:	Nightwing [ Sat Apr 18, 2009 8:41 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Books: Prefects of the Chalet School
Josette wrote: On the other hand, if Phyllis Matthewman wrote adult romances it doesn't say much for her input either! I'm becoming inclined towards the theory of EBD writing it in a rush to try and round things off - which is very sad, as many people have pointed out. To me there is a decidedly draft-y feel to Prefects,, emphasised by the odd way the characters behave and the feeling of un-connectedness between various events. In my mind, it's likely that EBD had written various sections of the book but had yet to tie it all together - although whoever was behind the tying-up, whether it was PM or someone else, clearly didn't do a very good job. I don't think that Reg's proposal is awful at all, although I am a highly unromantic person - but then, I'd say Len was, too, since clearly she didn't find the proposal any more offensive than I did!