The Chalet School in Exile

HB/PB comparisons      Publishing history  

Click to see a larger image of the dustwrapper. On the right is a paperback edition.

This article first appeared in FOCS 22, first published in November 1993.

More than twenty years after - A comparison of the hardback and paperback editions of The Chalet School in Exile

The Chalet School in Exile was first published in 1940; in 1967 it was one of the first batch revised by Armada for publication as a paperback; subsequent impressions have contained their own alterations. The first paperback edition had mostly sins of omission - later impressions felt the need actually to change some language and perpetrate further losses. To anyone who read the paperback first, the hardback comes as a revelation; quite apart from an entire extra chapter, you find incidents referred to in later books (Joey's nightmares), more background and explanation of how and why characters find themselves where they are and minor characters fade in from total oblivion via the odd mention to a slightly more prominent role.

It is interesting to see what paperback editors have considered irrelevant to the 1960s/70s and 80s schoolgirl. You can see why they threw out a lot of the political background of 1930s Austria - there was a tremendous amount of it to begin with. However, if you think about it, the later readers would have needed such information more than the 1940s reader, to whom it was all current events. References to the thousands of German 'tourists' sent in before the plebiscite, the horrors of concentration camps and the treatment of the Jews - all these are omitted or shortened.

Other deletions concern 'minor' characters who are minimalized or even totally obliterated from the face of the page. Simone no longer gains her Bachot 'at long last'; Marie von und zu Wertheimer no longer meets Louise Redfield in North America; Jeanne le Cadoulec's delicacy and her mother's precautionary stay at the Sonnalpe no longer rate a mention.

A lot of explanatory background detail disappears. We are all accustomed to EBD suddenly introducing a person or fact that conveniently fits the plot, but the paperbacks give the impression of completely arbitrary mistakes. Herr von Francius' removal from Innsbruck to the Sonnalpe is supposed to have happened two years previously. Marie, Madge's servant (a native Tyrolean) is said to speak French because her husband (Jem's servant) is French. None of these is explained in the paperbacks, nor is the finding of Joey and Robin's cave - Robin fell through some bushes into the entrance. Hints of future events also tend to be missed out, eg when Joey tells Marie Wertheimer that Con Stewart has asked if Joey had 'gone all domestic "I ask you! Can you imagine it? Me domestic What next?" "We shall learn that presently,"' said Marie, probably referring to Joey's pregnancy.

The omissions that actually change the emphasis of either a character or the plot are even less acceptable. Some could be deliberate: in the later paperback editions, any reference to Joey smoking has gone (she no longer carries a lighter, though Jack still does-hb p81, nor helps herself to a cigarette-hb p25); Herr Anserl's comment '"I have no real love of Jews"' is no longer acceptable in a sympathetic person in post-Holocaust Europe; Jem's knowledge of Afrikaans disappears (a useful plot device, but when did he learn it?) - by 1967 the anti-apartheid lobby was well under way. As to plot, events are much more condensed in the paperback, sometimes to the point of absurdity: people appear by name with no prior introduction (Otto the wild herdsman) and Lorenz is put down by Gottfried without having been lifted up. The classic instance has to be the 'cow' incident on the flight (hb p136): Joey and co fling themselves into the bushes at the sound of heavy steps, which turn out to be a cow who'd lost her bell. This is used as the back cover illustration on the first paperback edition, but the actual incident is missed out of the text!

The main decision was presumably to delete the entire chapter 'Hey for England' from the paperback, throwing the remaining chapter numbers out of kilter with the hardback. Now, all right, nothing much happens, but it doesn't half fill some gaps! I still remember my delight on being lent the full text for the first time. For those who haven't got access to it, here's a quick resume.

Jack, Joey, Bill and Robin are the only ones from the flight still in Switzerland, staying with Gottfried's aunt, Frau von Hessel. The rest had all been collected (mostly by Mr Flower) and redistributed to friends or relations. Gottfried had gone to London to study for English diplomas to allow him to work. Red tape in Switzerland (they are still different religions) means that Joey and Jack will get married in 'England' (which could mean Guernsey) . Another of Gottfried's useful relations is at the League of Nations and contacted Jem for news. Madge had left with Margot Venables and 'the babies' (why didn't she take Rufus or provide for him?). The Nazi government was taking over the San and Jem would follow Madge as soon as he got compensation (from the Nazis?).

The Chalet School was closed and staff and pupils sent home. Mlle Lepattre was travelling by ambulance with the Lecoutiers. Joey is worrying frantically about everyone '"And, Jack there's old Rufus. I know it's silly to worry about a dog at a time like this (!!!) - but Rufus isn't just a dog. Still, I couldn't have brought him, could I?"' WHY NOT? Her terrors persuade Jack it would be best to get to Guernsey by the quickest possible route - she's been having bad nightmares (mind you, he even thinks Bill was going to get 'fevered' in the exciting atmosphere!). They head off (Jack carrying Bill) by train via Lausanne and Paris to St Malo where they could catch a boat to Guernsey.

Now we come to the sins of commission - most of these seem to happen in later paperback imprints. The first, silly, detail is that there is far less use of capital letters: Royalty, Sanatorium, Crib all slip downwards. Then the slang gets up-dated, or left out - instead of Joey never being 'convenable', she was never 'proper'. Hilary's reference to Hitler as 'old Hitty' becomes 'old Hitler' in later editions and so on and so on. They even have the cheek to change the good Scots word 'deave' to 'bewilder' which is not an accurate translation (deafen with noise or talk is the dictionary definition). Incidentally, does anyone know how come EBD used Scots words? - trig is another one. Minor details all, but it all adds to the atmosphere of the original edition.

Conclusion - beg, steal or borrow a hardback edition (but not MINE! ) .

Kirstie Taylor

Publishing history