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#1: Books: The Lost Staircase Author: jennifer, Location: Taiwan

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:42 am
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This is a single book that ties into the Chalet series when Jesanne and Lois join the Chalet School a year or two later.

Jesanne Gellibrand is the only heir of the Gellibrand estates, due to a long series of calamities, however, she was born and raised in New Zealand. An orphan, she has been raised by her aunt. Sir Ambrose Gellibrand sends for her, to train her up as heiress to the Dragon House.

Jesanne and Sir Ambrose strike it off surprisingly well; he is able to appreciate her strong willed approach, and she likes the mature way he treats her. She is not too thrilled with her governess, who likes old-fashioned methods of education and discipline, and disapproves of her Latin and cello studies, her habit of asking questions, her dog, her horseback riding, and her treatment by Sir Ambrose. Jesanne does reasonably well, but is subjected to petty restrictions from the woman.

Jesanne is instructed in the history and traditions of the Dragon House and the mystery of the Lost Staircase, which is referred to in documents, but has never been found. She and Lois Bennett, the niece of the estate manager, work to discover it. The girls eventually discover the staircase, partially by accident (Jesanne is injured), the governess gets married and Sir Ambrose has Jesanne's aunt come to stay with them, so everyone is happy.
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What do you think of this book and the relationship between Jesanne and Sir Ambrose? Is the mystery of the Lost Staircase a good plot element, or too contrived? What about the display of 'old fashioned' teaching methods, and the clashes between Jesanne and her governess?

#2: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:43 am
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There's an interesting section in Behind the CS about how Elinor disliked old-fashioned teaching methods at the schoolshe herself attended and that's why she criticises them - re Jesanne, Polly Heriot, Verity etc.

I've only read this book once, but I did really enjoy it Very Happy

#3: Author: Katherine, Location: London, UK

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:59 pm
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I really enjoyed this book. I loved the relationship between Jesanne and Sir Ambrose; the she stands up to him and he respects her for it. I felt a bit sorry for the governess and but she did sound a bit much and I liked the way the situation added to Jesanne and Sir Ambrose’s relationship.
The staircase was a little far fetched and I did thing they went on about being a Gellibrand a little too much. As for bringing he Aunt over from Australia, it made for nice ending and I could see it coming a mile off but that didn’t make it any more plausible!
Having read this, I must go back and read whichever book it that Jesanne and Lois crop up in – is it Lavender?.

#4: Author: miss_maeve, Location: Buckinghamshire, UK

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:54 pm
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I believe it is 'Lavender'.
TLS is my favourite non Chalet EBD title - although I get confused over how quickly Jesanne settles in, considering how totally different her life had been before she came to the Dragon House. And I love 'The Journall' too - and how totally secretive the people were who tried to cover up every last mention of the staircase!

#5: Author: Jools, Location: Sadly Broke

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:03 am
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I really enjoyed this book, even if I had to suspend belief a few times - but I was reading it for the first time as an adult, if I had read it as a child I think I would just have been swept away with the plot. I thought the characters in the book were nicely rounded and I loved the interplay between Jessane, her governess and Uncle Ambrose. I would have loved a 'play house' when I was growing up. I haven't read the book for a while and the Uncle did give Jessane an old cottage or gatehouse for her to 'play in' didn't he?

#6: Author: Lottie, Location: Humphrey's Corner

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:38 am
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Jools wrote:

I would have loved a 'play house' when I was growing up. I haven't read the book for a while and the Uncle did give Jessane an old cottage or gatehouse for her to 'play in' didn't he?

I've just realised that it sounds like a very similar idea to the Swiss Cottage Prince Albert had built at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight for his children. Do you think that's where EBD got the idea from?

#7: Author: Mrs Redboots, Location: London, UK

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:51 pm
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More likely one that the Queen had at Windsor when she was a little girl - a gift from the people of Wales, I believe.

#8: Author: miss_maeve, Location: Buckinghamshire, UK

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:27 pm
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Mrs Redboots wrote:

More likely one that the Queen had at Windsor when she was a little girl - a gift from the people of Wales, I believe.

I remember seeing pictures of that play house in a TV documentary about the Queen as a child.
And the Swiss Cottage at Osborne is just lovely! What would I have given to have a play house like that as a child.

#9: Author: andi, Location: London

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:25 pm
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I’ve just read this for the first time and really enjoyed it, but there were two throw-away comments in it that struck me as a little odd. One was Sir Ambrose warning Jesanne not to feed the dogs any potatoes “because potatoes are poison to Alsatians.” What on earth? Presumably just a really inspired EBDism?

The other is the advice given to Jesanne by her aunt to “always have your underthings good rather than your frocks and coats and hats if it comes to a choice.” Now I know that traditionally you were supposed to make sure your underwear was pristine before you went out in case you were in (gasp) an accident, but isn’t Aunt Anne taking things a bit too far? I mean, surely you’d want your outer i.e. visible clothes to be at least as good as your underwear? After all, they’re the things that are going to be seen by actual real people, not just hypothetical medical staff. On the other hand, perhaps this explains the high percentage of doctors who end up marrying CS girls/staff – they were just bowled over by the excellence of said CS girl/staff member’s undergarments.

#10: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:55 pm
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I think the idea works in reverse, in that you aren't supposed to be worried too much about what other people think of your clothes - it being the sin of vanity - but underwear goes next to the skin. Sounds rather daft all the same - I've always been used to the idea that you should make sure that your underwear's decent in case of getting run over by a bus or something, but not at the expense of your other clothes Rolling Eyes

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I never noticed the bit about potatoes and Alsatians. Although if anyone knows of anything that will stop Alsatians (next door's) from barking their heads off, especially at times when people are trying to sleep, please let me know!

#11: Author: jennifer, Location: Taiwan

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:50 am
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That seems a bit odd to me too. I can understand reasons for having clean, neat underwear, but if you're short on money and have a choice between wearing scruffy, cheap clothing on the outside and really nice underwear and vice versa, the second seems to make more sense if you want to make a good impression.

#12: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:27 am
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But remember that, at that time, it was not usual to wash your underclothes every day, but you were expected to wear your vests and things for longer periods. Your outer garments would therefore not be exposed to as much of the same wear and tear as a lot of our clothes are. It therefore becomes a matter of economy that your underclothes would last as long as possible and would be able to be repaired instead of simply falling to pieces.

#13: Author: Travellers Joy, Location: Middle of Nowhere

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:57 am
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It's a while since I read this book, but I really like it; far-fetched and improbable in so many ways, but the romance of it always gets to me: poor little orphan girl in reality an heiress and whisked off to the family estate and the beloved aunt/mother eventually joining her there and all live happily ever after. And wouldn't I have loved a play-cottage like Jesanne's!!

I thought the governess was overdrawn - to contrast with Sir Ambrose and to give him an excuse to back down and bring the aunt to live with them - and of course we as the readers weren't supposed to like her at all, but I thought she was unnecessarily horrid.

I really like the descriptions of the house as Jesanne explored and learned all about it, but at the same time I had great difficulty visualising where the actual staircase is located and why no one else ever saw it (if it was on the outside of the house).

But apart from those little niggles - and I've always been able to suspend disbelief while reading it - I think this is one of the best connectors.

#14: Author: jennifer, Location: Taiwan

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:29 am
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I can see it being quite a shock for the governess. She's obviously only dealt with fairly old fashioned families where the girls don't really need to be educated in the modern sense, and was probably educated in a similar way herself. She shows up prepared to teach French, German, piano, dictation, and some very old fashioned rote learned history, geography and mathematics, and to oversee her charge's morals and manners with backing from her guardian.

She gets a very forthcoming young lady whose favourite subjects are science, Latin and cello, who doesn't really study piano or German, and who has been educated on very modern, inquisitive lines for the other subjects. Her attempts to oversee the girl's morals and manners are shot down on every side by the guardian, who sides with the girls, over proper bedtimes, supervision, preparation hours, subjects of study, pets in the school room, etc.

That said, she is inflexible and petty in the way she takes it out on Jesanne.

#15: Author: Angela, Location: Huddersfield

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:28 pm
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I didn't like Sir Ambrose threatening legal action against the aunt unless Jesanne was sent over but knowing nothing about inheritance issues, perhaps he was entitled to press for this. After all if he'd been unsuccessful there would have been no story.

And at least his character did soften as the book progressed and when he had his accident I was sorry for him, if only on Jesanne's account.

I missed out the Dragon House ritual stuff as I get bored by this - just like I skim through the plays/pantomimes/half term visits in the CS books.

At least he did climb down & bring the aunt over. I must read Lavender again to see if the aunt was still around when Jesanne & Lois came to the CS and what had happened to them in the meantime.

I did like this book, and have read it several times since I got the GGB edition.

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