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#1: Books: Visitors for the Chalet School Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:24 pm
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There is a synopsis here. Written by Helen McClelland and published first by Bettany Press in 1995 and subsequently by Harpar Collins in 2000, this book was based on notes left by EBD. The central character is Patricia Davidson, a girl invented by McClelland, who is part of a school that travels to Briesau. Juliet meets her first, in London, and writes ahead to Madge to ask her to help her with her problems - mainly that Patricia is a serious girl who would like to be a doctor and her mother is a social butterfly who would prefer her to go into society. Patricia of course becomes very close friends with Joey. There is a lot of emphasis in this book on the normal daily life of the School itself - in the introduction, McClelland says that this is very intentional.

So, have many people read this filler? What do you think of how it fills the gap that it fills? Do you like seeing the scenes that EBD herself left out - such as Madge asking Grizel to be headgirl next term, or Juliet's experiences in London, or the descriptions of Veta leaving again for Belsornia? What about the further insights into Grizel's character as she becomes a bit games-mad? Most importantly maybe, do you think that the book reads as though it were written by EBD?

Please join in and bring up any other issue to do with Visitors that you like Very Happy

#2: Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:33 pm
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This was the first filler I ever read - I still have my 1995 copy (now sadly quite battered) and I can remember buying it in WH Smiths in Dewsbury while surrounded by 3 small children who had no interest in mummie's books and wanted books of their own and my mother who was frankly quite shocked that the CS books were still around, let alone that someone else writing one Laughing

I was actually quite shocked that someone would dare to write an EBD book and although I really enjoyed reading it, it did feel a bit of a guilty pleasure (this was long before the CBB and I'd never heard of The New Chalet Club or FOCS) - how times change!

I now wouldn't read it as a stand alone book, but am always happy to read it as part of the series (or more usually when doing an "early years" read through). The one thing that really really rankled, was in the introduction Helen says that she and her children

Quote:

agreed that there would be no happening in "our" story that might not readily have taken place in real life

Now it's probably my complete lack of imagination, but the episode with the sled and the pony refusing to go under the tree, does seem a little far fetched to me and winds me up every time I read it.

It being my very first filler read, probably colours my perception of it. At that point I still hadn't read a lot of the CS books and I felt that it didn't quite match up to the ones I had read - if I read it now for the first time, with the benefit of lots of filler and drabble reading, i'd probably find it much more of an EBD read.

#3: Author: Lexi, Location: Liverpool

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:49 pm
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Dawn wrote:

Now it's probably my complete lack of imagination, but the episode with the sled and the pony refusing to go under the tree, does seem a little far fetched to me and winds me up every time I read it.

I've known similar-ish things happen with horses so it doesn't strike me as far fetched. Some sort of weird sixth sense I suppose.

I remember getting very excited in WH Smiths when I found Visitors Embarassed

It doesn't fit in on my paperback shelf now though because it's in that horribly naff gold shiny cover. I'll have to try and track down another copy.

Overall, I think I liked the fact that it wasn't full of hair-raising adventures and it was nice to have the focus on the older girls. Joey doesn't annoy me as much as she does in the rest of the books (I only like her from Jo Returns to Three Go) so that's always a bonus.

I don't think it reads like EBD wrote it, but that's because of the style rather than the content. Doesn't the foreword say that she deliberately didn't try to copy EBD's style of writing?

#4: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:54 pm
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It's not my favourite of the fillers. I'm glad that someone tried to fill in the gap between Princess and Head Girl because it's a shame that there are so many gaps early on, and IIRC it was partly based on some notes that EBD'd written herself. However, I'd rather have seen more about the CS characters we know and love than about Patricia and her friends, whom we don't really know much about and know that (unless you count Joey and Patricia) we're never going to see again.

#5: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:32 pm
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Yes it's a horrible Collins cover, isn't it?! I must keep an eye out for the BP one myself Laughing

I think I remember reading once (no idea where... possibly here...) that when HMcC says she "based it on EBD's notes" there were actually very few notes. Something like the name "Patricia" scribbed somewhere in the vicinity of "medicine".

I've read this, and I've read Behind the Chalet School, and I must say I think HMcC writes much more fluidly in fact than she does in fiction.

#6: Author: Tara, Location: Malvern, Worcestershire

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:23 pm
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I'm in the middle of this, having only just bought it! I knew Helen well when she was writing the biography and I was beginning my research, and knew Visitors existed, but when it was published I felt, like Dawn, that it was a bit sacriligious and I didn't want to buy it. My views have changed somewhat since then ... Very Happy

I'll come back when I've finished it, but my initial impressions are that it's well-written, and it's a period I'd like to know more about, but it's a bit detached from the school (Jo's good, IMO) and, although I like Patricia a lot as a character, she's not really CS.
One thing I feel does come across very strongly is the sense of place. It gave me more of an idea of the geography and the 'feel' of the area than is often the case with EBD, and I was very grateful for the sketchmaps!

#7: Author: Caroline, Location: Manchester

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:20 am
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I have always quite enjoyed Visitors.

I think HMcC achieves what she set out to achieve very well - it's not written or plotted in the authentic EBD style, but HMcC specifically tells us she didn't set out to copy EBD. I would love to know how much of it was EBD's notes and how much she invented.

Some of the incidents are a bit weird - the thing where Evvy and Veta are crawling around the corridors barking like dogs always strikes me as particularly strange Rolling Eyes

I'm not terribly keen on the never ending silhouettes thing, either. But overall, I like it.

We do spend an awful lot of time away from the CS, though - as others have said. It's like really it's a story about Grange House School, and they just happen to meet the CS and interact. I kind of like seeing the CS from the view of outsiders for once, but it's not very EBD.

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

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:24 pm
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It would be interesting to see how someone could write that term from the CS point-of-view, taking several of the Visitors elements into account, but perhaps focusing on a completely different group. For instance, a New Mistress-type book, looking at either Miss Annersley or Matron Lloyd's first term would make for VERY interesting reading IMHO.

#9: Author: Fiona Mc, Location: Bendigo, Australia

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 2:02 am
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I remember refusing to buy it at first because it was a filler in and not by EBD but now am glad I did. I actually quite liked it and I like reading about the other school but that said Bette is one of my favourite characters and wish there had of been more about her in her term as head girl

#10: Author: Laura V, Location: Czech Republic

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:42 am
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I've only read this book once and enjoyed it, though like many of you I found the horses in the snow episode a little unbelievable Rolling Eyes

I did however, enjoy seeing Juliet after she leaves school and also the Patrica's desire not to enter society. I'm suprised EBD didn't write more on this topic as surely there would have been quite a few chalet girls who went into society.
Though it isn't written in EBD's style I still think its a successful publication Very Happy

#11: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:11 am
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Laura V wrote:

We're told that Deira O'Hagan was presented at Court, and later on there're references to Rosalie Way being expected to enter "Society" when she left school, but generally there isn't much about that topic, is there? I suppose that not many of the British (or on Deira's case Anglo-Irish) girls were upper-class rather than upper-middle-class. It'd be lovely actually to see one of the Old Girls as a debutante, though, especially in the 1920s/ early 1930s with the future Duke of Windsor and his crowd ... *shoos bunny away quickly*.

#12: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 12:27 pm
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Alison H wrote:

It'd be lovely actually to see one of the Old Girls as a debutante, though, especially in the 1920s/ early 1930s with the future Duke of Windsor and his crowd ... *shoos bunny away quickly*.

*catches bunny and sends back to Alison with a hamper of bunny food* Wink

In both Visitors and Joey and Patricia, I get the feeling that Helen McClelland was getting issues across that she wanted to see dealt with, that EBD wouldn't have written about - I guess if I were to class it, I'd call it a St Therese fill-in - or possibly St Scholastika's because it's a bit like a crossover between Grange House and the CS - rather than St Agnes.

#13: Author: Loryat,

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:21 pm
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I liked this filler. I thought she captured Joey very well - her charm and the way she appeals to people. (Did I just say the same thing there twice?). Anyway, as it is not written like an 'authentic' CS book I didn't mind that she didn't use EBD's style, it felt more appropriate for Patricia's character actually. The one thing I remember not liking is the swrod fight Evvy and Margia(?) have with their needles, which struck me as a bit silly.

I really felt for Patricia in this book - the way she was expected to go into society when she desperately wants to learn and become a doctor.

#14: Author: Caroline, Location: Manchester

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:19 am
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Loryat wrote:

The one thing I remember not liking is the swrod fight Evvy and Margia(?) have with their needles, which struck me as a bit silly.

I'd forgotten that was in this book - for some reason, I thought it was in Gillian...

Anyway, yes - I'd agree it's a bit daft. It's hard to come up with pranks etc. which are genuinely new - and personally, I find the "funny" bits much harder to write that the serious bits - but I did think the duelling sewing needles was a bit lame.

#15: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:46 pm
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For me, one of the strengths of this book was seeing the school from outside, though I also thought Joey & family were well done. The Grange scenes didn't seem particularly EBD, but that didn't matter -- it was almost as though we were all visitors bound for the Tiernsee. I also appreciated the way McClelland used small observations to make the book more of a whole than EBD sometimes does, e.g. St. Nothburga's sickle bracketing Elisaveta's major scenes, or the kilt donor coming up trumps about med school.

Actually, what struck me as perhaps the most EBD other than the entertainment and Christmas play was the bit with the horse (not pony, as they take pains to explain) and tree. The sleigh ride would have been exciting enough on its own, but this is the sequel to Princess, after all -- her exit is one of the gaps that Visitors does best at filling. (Too bad the Harper Collins cover illustrator didn't bother to read it.)

Least EBD award: Herr Mensch's insufficiently expandable car. The arguments for leaving Marie & Simone out of the puppet expedition seemed pretty lame.

In the pranks department, I'd agree that the dog races seemed rather bizarre -- I can't see anyone assuming barking down the corridors wouldn't be noticed immediately -- but thought the needle swords just the thing to enliven a mending session. Somebody else's needle swords, that is. I'd be sure to stab myself fatally.

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