Elinor M. Brent-Dyer - Chalet School, etc.

[Francis]

Thank you Daisy and Courtenay - the forum is such a good place for information! I wonder
if Elinor ever lived on Guernsey - she seems to know quite a lot about the island and has obviously
set quite a few of her books there.

[Francis]

Interestingly it appears that 'La Rochelle' books were written before the famous
'Chalet School' series.

[Courtenay]

I'm impressed to see that the head of the Friends of the Chalet School, Clarissa Cridland, is a female C of E priest! In fact, she also runs Girls Gone By Publishers, which many of you already know.

Reading the short biography of Elinor on the Friends' site, I can't see any mention of Guernsey as a place where she visited or lived, and Wikipedia is even less informative. Perhaps someone has written (or should write!) a more extensive biography of her?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Clarissa Cridland gave a talk at the 2002 Enid Blyton Day. She worked for Purnell in the 1980s and part of her job entailed dressing in a rather hot and cumbersome Noddy suit to promote the books.

[Courtenay]

Aha, we've been moved - thanks, Anita.

Clarissa Cridland gave a talk at the 2002 Enid Blyton Day. She worked for Purnell in the 1980s and part of her job entailed dressing in a rather hot and cumbersome Noddy suit to promote the books.

Oh dear. I hope she finds her pastoral role more comfortable, or at least less embarrassing! But you're again making me wish I could have been around to attend at least one Enid Blyton Day...

[Daisy]

This is a biography which I have had for many years. It contains most of the information we know about Elinor Brent-Dyer.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos ... let+School" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Francis]

My guess, and it's only a guess of course, is that Elinor must have gone to Guernsey on holiday
- she certainly shows a good knowledge of the island in her books. I must buy that biography, Daisy,
Elinor in many ways is quite remarkable in not avoiding the growing fascist menace.

[Courtenay]

Here's a page on the Friends' website about the locations used in the Chalet School series and the real-life places that inspired them: http://www.chaletschool.org.uk/chalet-school-locations" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It doesn't give much info as to whether Elinor personally visited any of them, but it's interesting, and there are some gorgeous photos!

[Francis]

Thank you Courtenay - maybe you should start reading the Chalet School series - mind you the
books can be quite pricey. One of the pictures of Guernsey on the website is taken from one of the postcard
series I collect - the photos were taken on Guernsey in 1907.

[Courtenay]

I know my mum picked up a lot of them from charity shops in the 1990s - she may still have them. I could always ask. But really, I'm not a huge fan of school stories - I haven't even read any of Enid Blyton's, despite us having nearly all the Malory Towers books and most of the St Clare's! And I do have a big enough backlog of other books I want to read as it is. Still, I'll keep the Chalet School in mind.

[Francis]

I'm sure Daisy would encourage you to read them - when you have the time!

[Daisy]

I do have the whole set in hardback and all 7 of the Guernsey set as well. I do a complete re-read of them about once every 5 years! ( I have the Abbey books too by EJ Oxenham which I read as well every few years. )

[Courtenay]

Being in full-time employment, I don't think I'd ever have the time to get through that many books!

[Francis]

Daisy wrote

I do have the whole set in hardback and all 7 of the Guernsey set as well.

I am very impressed - I only have three books altogether. Do you have some favourites or are they all good?

[Daisy]

Some are better than others and everyone has their own ideas but one of the best in many people's view is "The Chalet School in Exile" when a group have to escape from the Gestapo at the time of the Anschluss. The story starts in Austria and ends up in Guernsey.