Elinor M. Brent-Dyer Quotes

“The Chalet School is founded in 1925 by Madge Bettany when her brother has to return to his job in the Forestry Commission in India. ”

“She comes to the conclusion that starting a school would be a convenient way to generate some much-needed income, while also looking after her infirm younger sister Joey.”

“Finding that suitable locations in England would be too expensive for her plans, she decides to look abroad.”

“Madge decides to look abroad, and finally settles on a large chalet in the Austrian Tyrol, conveniently providing a helpful climate for Joey’s recuperation.”

“Within a few years a sanatorium is built not far from the school, where tuberculosis patients convalesce.”

“The founder, Dr Jem Russell, along with Dr Jack Maynard, provides assistance to members of the school and the two Doctors eventually marry Madge and Joey respectively.”

“Robin Humphries is also a main character, until she leaves the Chalet school to go to Oxford and later becomes a nun. ”

“Various girls arrive at the school with personal problems, bad attitudes or behavioral issues.”

“The fictional school was initially located in the Austrian Tyrol, before it was moved to Guernsey in 1939 following the rise to power of the Nazi Party.”

″... again to Herefordshire following the Nazi invasion of the Channel Islands. It later moved to a fictional island off the coast of Wales, and finally to Switzerland.”

“When Madge Bettany sets up a school in the Austrian Tyrol, her sister Joey is among the first pupils. From small beginnings, it grows rapidly, enjoying all sorts of exciting adventures and mishaps.”