Inspired by a vacation to the Austrian Alps, Elinor M. Brent-Dyer wrote The School at the Chalet, launching a series that would span more than 60 books. The series follows the adventures of a boarding school set in the picturesque Swiss Alps. The series begins with The School at the Chalet (1925), where readers are introduced to Miss Madge Bettany, a young woman who decides to start a school for girls in the Swiss mountains. The series then chronicles the growth and evolution of the school, as well as the trials and triumphs of its students.
The Chalet School now boasts over 30 pupils. The autumn term sees adventures of all kinds - a flood that threatens the school and the dramatic rescue of an unwanted St Bernard puppy. Finally Joey, Robin and Madge spend a delightful Christmas at Innsbruck.
It's the beginning of Jo's last year at the Chalet School. She is to be head girl, but it is not a responsibility she is looking forward to. The lively antics of the Middle School are enough to keep anyone busy but, on top of that, there is the terrible worry of the Robin's illness.
When they arrive at The Chalet School, the Lintons are as different as two sisters can be. Gentle and thoughtful Gillian soon settles down and makes friends, but wilful Joyce refuses to obey school rules or respect classroom honour. Problems come to a head when Joyce organizes a midnight feast.
"From its small beginnings, the Chalet School grows to be one of the most famous girl's schools in the world. There's no end of excitement and adventure, and its every girl's dream to be a pupil there. "I'll wind the rope round this stump', said Joey. 'You go down first and I'll follow.' The princess clambered down and called, 'It's all right, Joey! Come down!" Jo proceeded to knot the improvised rope round the rock, then taking a deep breath, let herself down. It was a risky undertaking, for the rope was wearing thin, but there was nothing else for it. she had got halfway when it suddenly gave, and she fell ..."--Back cover.
From the author of The Door, selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2015 An NYRB Classics Original Like Magda Szabó’s internationally acclaimed novel The Door, Iza’s Ballad is a striking story of the relationship between two women, in this case a mother and a daughter. Ettie, the mother, is old and from an older world than the rapidly modernizing Communist Hungary of the years after World War II. From a poor family and without formal education, Ettie has devoted her life to the cause of her husband, Vince, a courageous magistrate who had been blacklisted for political reasons before the war. Iza, their daughter, is as brave and conscientious as her father: Active in the resistance against the Nazis, she is now a doctor and a force for progress. Iza lives and works in Budapest, and when Vince dies, she is quick to bring Ettie to the city to make sure her mother is close and can be cared for. She means to do everything right, and Ettie is eager to do everything to the satisfaction of the daughter she is so proud of. But good intentions aside, mother and daughter come from two different worlds and have different ideas of what it means to lead a good life. Though they struggle to accommodate each other, increasingly they misunderstand and hurt each other, and the distance between them widens into an abyss. . . .
