Lavender Laughs in Libya by Sylvia Leigh
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| Thanks to Blivingstons, found on Etsy.com |
Author: Sylvia Leigh
Publisher: Not known
Source book: Lavender Laughs in the Chalet School by Elinor M Brent-Dyer (Chalet School #17)
Lavender Leigh arrives at the Chalet School very full of herself because she is the chief character in a series of travel books for children written by her Auntie Sylvia and has travelled to a great many far flung countries. But by the time Lavender joins the school she has had to travel around Scotland because WWII prohibits foreign travel. And Auntie Sylvia has been called up as her niece is now 14, so Lavender has no home. On top of this Lavender is stressed and fretful after so much travel. Her doctor prescribes school, but his patient is none too keen.
In addition to Lavender Laughs in Libya (a nice alliterative title, says Auntie Sylvia), she has also written the following:
Lavender Laughs in Brazil
Lavender Laughs in Cyprus
Lavender Laughs in New Guinea
Lavender Laughs in the West Indies
Lavender Laughs in Turkey
Lavender Laughs in Kashmir
and Lavender Laughs in Scotland.
We learn that Lavender has spent three months in Canada, in winter, so perhaps there is also a Lavender Laughs in Canada?
The Lavender books are very popular at the Chalet School, particularly with the Juniors. Lavender herself, not so much. Lavender has to learn some hard lessons before she can fit in at the school and become a proper Chalet girl (the Chalet School books are nothing if not moral).
While she is at the Chalet School Lavender becomes a nicer person, and she does her best to help a girl from Kashmir who she had met on her travels. And she starts to write her own book, which she sets in the Seychelles. Her heroine Susan has a bungalow in Mahé, not far from the Trois Frères mountain, and has adventures of which we sadly learn nothing. There probably ought to be a Lavender Laughs in the Seychelles because it’s obviously Lavender has been there.
Unfortunately we never find out if Lavender’s book gets finished (very likely not), and in subsequent Chalet School books she fades into the background and is hardly mentioned again. This is a pity because Lavender is an interesting character, rather different from most other Chalet girls.
When Lavender Laughs was reprinted in Armada paperback the name was changed to Lavender Leigh at the Chalet School which I think was a pity. It’s quite clear from the text why EBD chose the title that she did. Obviously it’s what Auntie Sylvia chose to call her travel book series. And seriously, why the change?What is wrong with Lavender Laughs? It’s a nice alliterative title.
Are we expected to believe that Auntie Sylvia’s books will be renamed Lavender Leigh in Libya etc?
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| Arch of Marcus Aurelius by alecse. Found on Etsy.com |
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