The Feud in the
Chalet School

HB/PB comparisons      Publishing history  

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

The Feud in the Chalet School - Hardback versus Paperback

I compared my 1962 1st Edition HB, illustrated by Dorothy Brook, with the PB edition "First published in Armada in 1986 . this impression 1988".  Unlike the PB cover, which shows Jack Lambert and Gillie Garstin on the roof rescuing Minette whilst wearing brown and flame uniforms, the HB dw shows the same scene with the girls wearing the correct gentian blue with crimson scarves and mittens.  Full marks to Dorothy Brook!  The PB has 158 pages and 17 Chapters, compared to 205 pages and 18 Chapters in the HB.  The missing Chapter is number XI in the HB entitled "Break in Hostilities"; otherwise the Chapters have the same titles.  (Page numbers refer to HB then PB).

Chapter I - The Beginning of It

The book starts the same in both editions with the "above all, if middles hadn't been like . middles" paragraph, followed by a description of Miss Holroyd's plans to start a school.  The first changes are apparent after half a page (p9/7), when we were originally told that before receiving her Great Uncle's legacy, she had "begun to save up towards a fund for such an object.  It was slow work, but she was a canny Yorkshirewoman who did nothing in a hurry.  She had reckoned that it would take her at least ten years . she had been at it not quite half that time when an unexpected legacy ." and the paragraph continues as in the PB.  We loose the information that Miss Holroyd had "loyally named" St Hilda's for the Saint of Whitby (p10/8).  A full description of the new St Hilda's in the Oberland is removed, as is the fact that the owner wanted to sell, but was persuaded to consent to three years lease with an option to buy (p11/9).  The next cut removes a description of the journey to the Hellerdorf, where the school was based (p12/9), and deletes Miss Holroyd's belief that, as the Chalet School is cosmopolitan and St Hilda's intends "to appeal to English girls only", there should be no clash.  As they part for the night, Miss Holroyd originally told Miss Ashley that any help that the Chalet School people offered would be welcomed, and Miss Ashley promised grudgingly to back up her Head (p14/11).  The description of the fire and its aftermath is largely unchanged.

Chapter II - Shock for St Hilda's

First change: Gillie Garstin no longer thinks "It really was a very rum go!" as she sits up in bed on her first morning at the Chalet School (p20/16).  Also removed from her memories of the journey to Switzerland is most of the description of the "Blue Girls" as St Hilda's called the Chalet Girls, whilst speculating on who they were (p20/16) at the Gare du Nord.  We also no longer learn from Kitty Anderson that Gillie's name is really Gilbertine, and that's why its not pronounced Jillie (p24/19).  Later, Gillie, Anne and Kitty's optimistic discussion about speaking French and German is shortened (p27/22).  Jack's comment that you picked up languages when they were spoken all around you unless you were "stupid" originally read "mental" in the HB (p28/23).  Finally, Miss Annersley's "big William-and-Mary chair" has become simply a "big chair" in the PB (p29/24).

Chapter III - New Arrangements

During Miss Annersley's beginning of term address to the girls, we are no longer told that she knew Miss Holroyd (p31/26), and that "without exception" the younger St Hilda's girls had hoped to be excused from speaking French and German.  Removed from the end of the exams list on p34/28, is the Head's announcement that "one Mary-Lou Trelawney" had taken prizes in "every class for which she entered" at a well-known regatta.  Consequently, the cheering of the girls is also deleted.  Towards the end of this Chapter (p35/29), before Miss Dene reads the form lists, Miss Annersley originally invited the girls to ask questions.  Enquiries are made and answered about Nina Rutherford's first tour, Naomi Elton's recovery from her latest operation, and Mary-Lou's plans for the future after her stepfather's death the previous term (The CS Wins the Trick).

Chapter IV - Minette Sets the Ball Rolling

There are various small changes at the beginning of this Chapter, but nothing of note is lost until p39/32.  There, Jack Lambert no longer tells us that Miss Charlesworth ("Charlie") had told the St Hilda's girls to "choose your seats and hurry up about it", so "Susan" wasn't entirely to blame for taking Renata's seat.  EBD's mistake in the number of people in a netball team is corrected (p39/32) when "two sets of twelve" become "two sets of fourteen" in the PB, and the editor has correctly counted that three sets have been sent to courts, and Monica Caird takes the fourth, whereas EBD originally made three and one equal five.  As Jack removes Minette from the netball pitch, Gillie's comment that "You've a good nerve to hoick off our cat like that" is cut (p42/34), as is Jack's response that she was only doing as Monica told her.  Ironically, "misspell" was misspelt as "mispell" in the original; this has been corrected (p43/35).  On p46/37, Helen Henderson's habit of taking everything literally is deleted from her comments that Minette was perfectly all right.

Chapter V - Unter den Kiefern

As Gillie contemplates talking to her sister Phyllis about St Hilda's using Unter den Kiefern, we are no longer told that Monica isn't the oldest Garstin sister: Gillie had forgotten her married sister Frances, as she was only thinking of "the school-age trio"(p50/42).  We also originally heard Gillie's perceptive thought that Miss Ashley "likes a lot too much to be head and chief to enjoy having all those (Mistresses) over her" (p50/42).  On the way back to school, a page is deleted as the St Hilda's girls discuss Unter den Kiefern.  Briefly, Kitty suggests that it's a shame that the Chalet School had to leave Welsen as it is a lovely place.  Mary wonders why it wasn't sold, and Kitty talks to Renata about why the Chalet School likes to help people - by using Welsen as a guesthouse, for instance (p52/43).  Also deleted is Mary's thought that Kitty was a lot too friendly and talkative, and EBD's comment that Mary was apt to hold a grudge and couldn't understand her friend.  As the St Hilda's girls learn which are to be their new forms (p55/45), we are no longer told that the only girl to be happy about her move was Susannah Leslie.  She moved up to Upper IVa, and was hoping not to be called "Swot" or "Mug" any more, just because she enjoyed her lessons.  Also deleted as the girls dance in the evening: Miss Holroyd and Miss Kent were keen members of the English Folk Dance Society, so their girls were well trained and had regular lessons in dancing (p56/46).  Miss Ashley was not particularly interested, but had never been able to do anything about it, and Jack and Kitty discuss dances and dancing at their schools. The Chapter end is unaltered.

Chapter VI - Minette Again!

Gillie and her sister Phyllis's discussion about St Hilda's moving to Welsen is unchanged until p61/50.  There, an exchange is deleted where Phyllis says that no changes could be made without Miss Holroyd's permission, and that she is still "much too ill to be bothered .".  Gillie queries this, and Phyllis says that that's what Matron at the San told the Prefects that morning.  Later, we no longer learn that it had taken Gillie a week to catch one of her sisters alone, that she had already discussed the idea with her form, and that she stood in awe of her sister Monica as they had seen little of each other for some years as Monica had been at school (p62/50).  Also, Monica was five years older than her, and though fond of the family baby, had been very busy with her Prefect-ship and school affairs since Gillie had joined St Hilda's the previous term.  Hence, she had approached Phyllis, only two-and-a-half years older, with her idea.  Gillie refers to "Ashley" throughout the HB; this is frequently printed as "Ashey" in the PB.  As the girls head off on a ramble, Len Maynard's comments about sledging are lost (p65/52), along with the information that none of the St Hilda's girls had tried winter sports before.  A full-page discussion about floods, where Len describes the walk in The CS and Richenda where the girls got caught out by a sudden storm, is deleted (p67/54).  EBD's confusion about who remained behind by the stream in the HB is corrected in the PB, where all mention of Meg is deleted, leaving only Jack, Wanda and Kitty to rescue the second Minette (p68/55).

Chapter VII - Enter Joey!

Again, mentions of Meg as one of Minette's rescuers are deleted in the PB.  Otherwise, only minor changes are made to the fight between the two cats, and its aftermath.

Chapter VIII - The Prefects Discuss It

At the start of this Chapter (p80/65) we are no longer told that Marion Hadaway was angry with Phyllis Garstin and her friends for laughing about the cat fight, and that they think she is being silly: "You do talk rot, Marion!".  A quarrel then develops between them.  A variety of small phrases are deleted from the Prefects' discussions, such as the fact that Monica Garstin doesn't like Miss Ashley and hopes that Miss Holroyd will be back before St Hilda's leave the Chalet School (p85/69).  In a larger cut, Maeve and the Prefects discuss Doris Bratsby and Pamela Oliver's reluctance to fulfil their Prefect duties (p86/70).  This leads on to a conversation about Doris's plans for a career.  She wants to be a mannequin, which all the girls find hysterically funny and Miss Derwent had found horrifying, when Doris announced it in class.  "Big" Monica Caird reveals, to laughter, that she has been to a "big dress show" in London, and was "never more bored in my life".  Also, we learn that Sixth formers and even Va were allowed a little discrete make-up out of school hours, but Monica wasn't interested and regarded make-up and fashion with scorn.

Chapter IX - Miss Ashley Drops a Brick

As Miss Ashley and Miss Burnett walk to the Sanatorium to visit Miss Holroyd and Naomi Elton, respectively, their conversation about the former St Nicholas is edited (p90/73).  Peggy Burnett gives a full history of the Kindergarten, telling us that it started with fewer than 20 pupils, consisting of "the small fry from round about", such as Felix and Felicity Maynard, "Mrs Peters elder pair" and the Morris trio.  (The reference to Mrs Peters' children, is of course an EBD-ism, as we have been told in an earlier book that Phoebe Peters, formally Phoebe Wychcote of Jo to the Rescue, can't have children of her own, and hence Lucy, their only child, is adopted.)  Peggy Burnett goes on to say that St Nicholas had grown enormously, so the Company decided to build onto the main School, and move the Kindergarten, First and Second forms into the new buildings, thus also giving more room for the older girls.  Later in the Chapter we no longer learn that Herr Laubach is dying of "a seizure - the second" (p92/74), and Jack Maynard's belief that no-one should feel sad for him, as those he loves are waiting for him, is also cut.  The rest of the Chapter is unaltered.

Chapter X - Margot Throws a Spanner in the Works

At the start of this Chapter, we loose the information that Miss Ashley's first impulse, after putting her foot in it, was to apologise promptly.  If she had done so, all might have been well, but apologies "were not much in her line and she . had . no idea how Herr Laubach was regarded by the School" (p101/82).  Various small phrases are deleted, for example Margot Maynard, who quickly overhauled Miss Dene, was nicknamed 'Fleet-footed Thetis' by her friends (p103/83), and on p105/86 Francie Wilford comments that it was an insult to decent animals to call Miss Ashley a beast.  The mistake in naming Gillie Garstin's friend Anne Crozier as a member of VIb (p87 PB) is not made in the HB, where the girl is only called "Anne" and is presumably a different character.  Finally, at the end of the Chapter, further details of the split in VIb created by Miss Ashley's hasty words are edited (p109/89).

Chapter XI - Break in Hostilities

This 11-page chapter has been deleted from the PB, and its contents have been removed, except for the first sentence, which constitutes the first sentence of Chapter XI in the PB.  Briefly, this Chapter starts with the comment that Herr Laubach's death had taken the School's mind off the feud, and continues with Miss Annersley telling the School of the arrangements for his funeral.  He was to lie in their own chapel of Our Lady of the Snows, before a Requiem Mass was said.  Later, the coffin was to be taken to Innsbruck so that he might be buried beside his wife.  Headgirl Maeve Bettany asks who is to represent the School, and is told that Joey Maynard, Frieda von Ahlen and Marie von und zu Wertheimer, along with Miss Wilson and Miss Dene, are to go to Innsbruck for the burial.  Con Maynard asks if any of the present day Chalet girls could go, but Miss Annersley refuses, and then changes the subject.  The School has had no proper half-term, due to the late start of term, and some expeditions have been planned.  The first is to take place on Monday.  Due to Herr Laubach's death, Miss Annersley knows that the girls won't want any "party jollity" so they will be given longer for the trips, and go straight to bed afterwards.  Kitty Anderson and friends ask if they might go to the Requiem, and sent a deputation to Mary Murrell, who sends them to see Miss Annersley.  She was startled by their approach and referred their request to Miss Holroyd, who was glad to give her permission.  She was worried about the enmity between the schools, and was glad of anything that brought them together.  A friendly atmosphere was created by the "stately service", which persisted for the next few days.  The destinations of the trips for the various forms are given, and then a full description of Jack and friends trip to Neuchâtel is given - very much in EBD's normal Expedition style.  Miss Ferrars, Miss Wilmot and Miss Ashley accompany them, and after the friendliness of the day, "even Miss Ashley thawed considerably and was unusually sociable".

Chapter XII - The Hobbies Club

After the first sentences, this Chapter carries on the same in both editions.  The first alterations occur on p123/91, where a discussion of the origins of the Hobbies Club and the fate of its originator Grizel Cochrane has been cut.  This is mostly old news, with the exception of the fact that Grizel had still not made her promised visit to the School from New Zealand after 8 years, but that Jo Maynard had been looking suspicious and "hinting darkly" for the past week.  Obviously EBD already had thoughts about the plot of CS Reunion, her next-but-one book.  Various small changes are made during this Chapter, but nothing of significance is deleted.

Chapter XIII - Joey Creates a Furore

The first changes in this Chapter occur on p135/102 where Margot and Betty's speculation about what the Head has planned for the girls is shortened.  Originally, this also involved Ted Grantley and Phyllis Garstin.  We also loose the information that the Staff were keen to know what was planned, as the Head had refused to tell them.  As the girls cheer the announcement that Mrs Maynard had sent round the book of the Nativity Play, Miss Annersley's second piece of news, that Jo had also sent some of Anna's special greengage jam for their tea, is deleted, along with Jack Lambert's call for "three cheers" for Mrs Maynard (p137/103).  Also, Gillie Garstin refused to join in the cheers, mainly because Jack had proposed them.  Consequently, the conversation of the girls during Kaffee und Kunchen is deleted (p138/104).  This concentrates on the goodness of the jam, Anna's prowess at cooking and her refusal to divulge her recipes to anyone.  The rest of the Chapter, some 5 pages, is cut to a page and a half in the PB.  Briefly, Miss Annersley describes the play in some detail, telling the girls that it is a Pageant with a difference, that Miss Ferrars is to produce with an assistant for each Episode, and which of the staff are to be responsible for singing, dancing, costumes and scenery.  The reading of the Play is mainly as in the PB, but instead of ending with Phyllis's cheers, the Chapter carries on.  The Producer, Miss Ferrars, speaks to the girls, telling them that a Tableau of the First Christmas will end the play, and that the girls have only a short time to learn their lines.  Anyone who doesn't learn them in the time will have to step down in favour of someone else.  The girls then have Prayers, followed by Abendessen and during the meal Gillie Garstin, reformed by the influence of the Play, stands up and asks Miss Annersley if the girls might give three cheers for the greengage jam.  After a minutes dead silence, the Head laughs and agrees.  Gillie's chums question her closely, and Jack Lambert tells her it is a "jolly nifty idea".  Gillie is pleased, and smiles shyly.  We are told that "in her heart of hearts she liked Jack . immensely".  It had only been the silly idea of having a school of their own which had come between the girls, and EBD tells us that Miss Ashley was much more to blame for that than Gillie was.  And so the sudden end to the Feud among the girls is explained in the HB edition.  Finally, after the cheers have been given, the Staff make some of the traditional "Bless the girl" comments about Joey, and Hilda Annersley says that anyone who wants to know how Jo reacts to furore she has created should come to the study as she (Hilda) is about to phone her.

Chapter XIV - Helping Gaudenz

Only moderate changes in this Chapter.  On p151/111 Miss Wilmot's intentions to find out which Prefect was on duty with Lower VIb and warn her to be on her guard as the girls are ripe for mischief, have been deleted.  Also at the end of the Chapter, as the naughty girls have Abendessen, we loose EBD's comment that "for once Fate was with the wicked" as they avoid detection, and Miss Annersley's announcement about the planned "read-through" of the Play is shortened (p156/116).

Chapter XV - Consequences

The first cut in this Chapter appears on p157/117 where an explanation as to why the passage with the golden-syrupped doors had not been used since the night before is deleted.  Both the maids and the girls use the buttery hatch to pass plates and dishes from kitchen to dining room, and the domestic staff have their own private stairs up their bedrooms.  Later, Karen's comments, as Gaudenz tries to lay the blame for the sticky cans left in the corridor on the maids, are shortened (p160/120).  Nette, a new maid, starts to cry and Karen tells her "cease thy crying, silly child" before saying that Nette was with her, Karen, all the previous evening, learning a new knitting stitch and washing china, and so no one suspects her.  She then sends Miggi and Berta to make the coffee for Früstück, and postpones the interrogation of the maids until later.  Another cut: as Gaudenz demands to see Miss Annersley (p161/120), Rosalie Dene hopes that he is not going to give notice as "it would mean losing his Lisa as well!".

Chapter XVI - Minette Again!

A paragraph at the start of this Chapter is deleted (p169/128), which tells us in detail that health was always the first consideration at the School.  As many of the girls were there for health reasons, long periods indoors due to poor weather were always compensated for when the sun shone.  Hence, after the stormy weather had abated in favour of a week of "pale November sunlight and fresh breezes", "walks and rambles were the order every afternoon" with sewing, art and music lessons being cancelled or postponed.  On p173/132, the Prefects discussion about the snow and winter sports has been cut, and details of Jack Lambert's horrific dream have also be deleted (p178/136).

Chapter XVII - The Rescue

This Chapter, detailing Jack and Gillie's rescue of Minette from the School roof, is largely unaltered.

Chapter XVIII - The End of it All

Miss Annersley's explanation of how Minette managed to climb up to the roof has been cut slightly (p193/149).  We were originally told that "the flues are wide . and the bricks are rough" and that it would be an easy matter for an agile cat to scramble up the chimney.  A full description of St Luke's Hall and its facilities is cut (p195/150), along with details of how it was funded (by endowment and modest charges).  Miss Ferrars final instructions to the cast of the Christmas Play, about using the prompter if necessary, not making a noise and keeping their heads, are deleted (p196/151).  We loose the information (p198/152) that Pére Franz, from the big Benedictine Monastery round the shoulder of the mountain, went on stage before the Play.  He addressed the audience about the work of the Sanatorium, the fact that this was a religious Play and so there could be no applause, and to request the audience to join in with "Adeste Fideles" at the end.  Throughout the Play, the descriptions of the Episodes have been shortened, including the cutting of a Tableau between the Charles I and Puritan Episodes, and the full words to the accompanying carol, sung by Margot Maynard (p201/155).  The book ends the same in both editions, with Miriam Ashley's tribute to the teaching of the Chalet School and Jo Maynard's response.

Throughout the book numerous words and small phrases have been altered into more modern English, speech written in italics in the HB to signify emphasis is given in normal type in the PB, and the capitalisation of words is removed (Games Prefect becomes games prefect, Nativity Play becomes nativity play, etc.).  Also, the majority of the footnotes in the HB, referring the reader to incidents in previous books, have been deleted from the PB.  This is strange, as in many of the modern PB's these have been added, where they were not present in the original HB's.  Modern Editors have not changed the story greatly, and nothing of crucial importance to the plot has been deleted, but this is actually a much better book than the PB edition demonstrates, and also much better than many of the other late Chalet School books.  It was originally written in the traditional and distinctive EBD style, instead of the rather bland "modern children's book" style of the PB.

Caroline German

Publishing history