Books 2014 - The Chalet Girls in Camp by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
I didn't mean to buy this book (or, you know, any books) but I was in the shop to buy a textbook for my magic class, and there it was - in fact there was a whole small stand of Girls Gone By books, which I don't think I'd ever seen before in an actual shop. So I couldn't very well not buy it, as you've got to support the independent publishers, right? Especially the ones that publish some of your favourite childhood books... *g*
I don't think I've read The Chalet Girls in Camp before, though I did discover that I owned far more Chalet School books than I thought I did, when I was going through my storage pre-Australia. And this was everything that nostalgia could want - all whacky but strangely gentle adventures, invalided girls and rebellious girls, and girls-that-were-once-prigs-but-are-now-nice. Even Jo Bettany was still Jo Bettany, though I was fascinated to see Jack Maynard making an early appearance. It all belongs to a gentler time and society, in the pages of the books, at any rate, where friends are friends forever, summer lasts until beautiful winter appears, and farmers are willing to sell milk and cheese and eggs to passers-by (and girls on a Guiding camp).
Makes me want to have Kaffee und Kuchen surrounded by mountains and edelweiss, wishing Gruss Gott to sparkly-eyed passers by... *g*