Patrol-Leader Nancy by Josephine M Bettany

Title: Patrol-Leader Nancy

Author: Josephine M Bettany 

Publisher: not known 

Source book: The Chalet School Goes to It by Elinor M Brent Dyer (Chalet School #15)

At the very start of The Chalet School Goes to It, later known as The Chalet School at War, we discover that Gwensi Howell has a bookcase in her bedroom stuffed with school stories for girls. Jo is excited to see four books by Josephine M Bettany, (that’s Jo herself ). She has dedicated her books to ‘my Robin’, her young adopted sister; and then there’s Tessa in Tyrol, which is dedicated to Jo’s best friends at school, Frieda, Marie and Simone; and Jo’s latest book, only published a month before we see it on Gwensi’s shelf, Gipsy Jocelyn, about a girl and a caravan holiday, which is dedicated to her husband Jack.

We are never given any idea how come Nancy’s Guide patrol seems to be based in the alps. There is of course the famous guide centre near Adelboden. Which is in Canton Bern, Switzerland.

Have I just assumed that Nancy’s Guide based holiday is in the Alps? Maybe Nancy is a pupil at a British boarding school in Austria or Switzerland. If her Patrol was visiting the Guiding Centre at Adelboden, that’s a long way from the Austrian alps. I don’t think we even know.

Jo is about to embark on a new book. Despite the fact that she has yet to write a single word, Robin tells us that it’s another Guide story, a sort of sequel to Patrol-Leader Nancy: Nancy Meets a Nazi. Perhaps Jo has discussed her plot with Robin, because otherwise how would she know?

According to Robin, the four books that Gwensi owns are all that Jo has written. So, once again, what about The Rose Patrol in the Alps?

Both photographs of the Swiss Alps taken by me