CS 55 Challenge for the Chalet School by Elinor Brent-Dyer

CS No 55

GGBP first published Challenge for the Chalet School in 2007.

It is generally agreed that Challenge  is  the best of the later Chalet School books, featuring a term when Miss Annersley is away, and Nancy Wilmot is acting Head.

Two new girls cause problems. Evelyn Ross is sent to the Chalet School while her mother receives treatment for tuberculosis at the nearby Sanatorium. She resents being there, and trouble with her form causes her to be ostracised which leads to her sleeping badly and eating little. Another, younger, new girl, Jocelyn Marvell is described as a ‘demon’ and ‘brimful of mischief’; she has been sent to the Chalet School due to extreme misbehavior. She wastes no time in making her presence felt with a string of misdeeds.

Miss Ferrars collapses while teaching a class due to appendicitis and has to leave the school for treatment. This means that she will be unable to produce the Nativity play, which she customarily does at the end of the Christmas term. This problem is solved by the appointment of the prefects to the task, with Len Maynard as chief producer. Dr. Eustacia Benson, who arrives to take Miss Ferrars’ place, soon makes an impact by thoroughly punishing Jocelyn and her partners in crime for a prank designed to test the new mistress.

The term does not run entirely smoothly but Nancy proves her worth, and Mary-Lou has a strong role, even though she has left the school.

Lisa Townsend has written our short story for this title, ‘Meeting the Challenge’.

Challenge for the Chalet School was published on 18 April 2023.