A lovely fill in for the Chalet School series, expanding on the short prefects' report Rosalie gives near the beginning of Head Girl and, apparently, some very brief notes left by EBD herself.
The familiar cast of Chalet characters is there, with Joey her usual ebullient self and the Middles making mischief (though not very exciting mischief, to be honest). Plus a Christmas pageant that would do professional companies proud in true EBD tradition. I would have liked to see more of Bette in her only term as Head Girl, but did enjoy the brief visit to the staff room with Maynie and Bill.
The new characters - visitors from a London school - were well done. I felt sympathy for Patricia, the heroine, from the first and liked how her story developed throughout the book. Her friend Joan was a hoot. I could have read a book centred on her quite happily.
The author says she made no attempt to imitate EBD's style, but it was sufficiently like to forget a lot of the time that this is not a "real" Chalet School book.
Enjoyable, great comfort reading, a worthy addition to the lore of the Chalet School.

A thoroughly enjoyable fill-in for the Chalet School series, covering the missing months in The Chalet School in Exile,including Joey's wedding, the death of Margot Venables, and the finding and fitting out of various houses and the school itself. The style was very well matched to EBD's own (including the of-it's-time coyness about pregnancy, which made me smile), and as well as the events we knew about, there were some suitably CS adventures, like being cut off by the tide and Joey (literally) painting herself into a corner. At times, I did feel there was almost too much going on for one book. (Maybe that's why EBD left it out of Exile!) I especially enjoyed the inclusion of Gisela and Gottfried (favourites of mine) and the idea of the little school at Bonne Maison before the School proper was restarted.

An excellent fill-in with some well-crafted storylines, some of them referring to things mentioned elsewhere in he series. "Bill" herself shone, and I loved Hilary and Gillian's midnight escapade. A couple of tear-jerking scenes too, and a good dose of Junior naughtiness, a concert, an adventure or two out of school and a jealous senior. Typical CS ingredients, very well done.

Another good fill-in for the Chalet School series, with a couple of believable original characters at the heart of the plot. While telling their story, the author also manages to keep to the familiar Chalet universe, with some cameos by Jo, an eventful sale, naughty Middles and unpredictable weather. I particularly enjoyed the glimpses of Miss Annersley in her first term as acting Headmistress.

An enjoyable Chalet School tale, with the central characters, the Herbert sisters well-drawn and likeable. The other sisters of the title, the Maynard triplets, seemed remarkably precocious, but then I suppose Joey's children would be! There's the usual CS mix of feuds, Guides, Christmas plays and minor adventures, set against the backdrop of the last months of 1944, with the War intruding into the school itself with some bad-feeling against German-speaking pupils. That was well handled, with the demoralising gently done. A lovely read.