Elsie’s Boys by Josephine M Bettany

Ice Carnival by Ernst Heilemann: thanks to Meisterdrucker

Title: Elsie’s Boys

Author: Josephine M Bettany 

Publisher: not known, probably none 

Source book: Jo of the Chalet School by Elinor M Brent Dyer (Chalet School #2)

Have you ever heard of the Elsie books? Elsie Dinsmore, Elsie’s Holidays at Roselands, Elsie’s Girlhood, Elsie’s Womanhood, Elsie’s Motherhood and Elsie’s Children and a further 22 (!) books about Elsie were written by Martha Finley between 1867 and 1905. I have to tell you that I think these books sound absolutely dire. But I suppose they are very much of their time. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say.

Meanwhile, back in Chalet School land, Joey Bettany has defied her headmistress/older sister’s wishes and run off with a bunch of friends to experience an Ice Carnival. At night! Oh dear. Naturally this exploit results in a nasty accident and Jo is confined to bed while her badly sprained ankle recovers. She tells the doctor (our second encounter with Doctor James Russell) that she has run out of fresh books to read, and somewhat improbably, he produces the first 6 Elsie books which Jo reads voraciously (and very quickly).

She asks for history books and an atlas to try and get a grip on the happenings behind Elsie’s life, and begins to write her own Elsie book: Elsie’s Boys.

See what I mean about dire? And this is only Jo’s pastiche.

I am not certain that Jo ever finishes this book. Very likely she stops writing as soon as her ankle gets better and the manuscript is confined to a drawer along with her previous efforts Pierre, the Smuggler: a Romance of Napoleon and various fairy tales and school stories. Pierre, the Smuggler sounds a lot like some of Dorothea Callum’s efforts.

Now, admit it, even if you are a massive Chalet School fan, you weren’t expecting this, were you?

And sorry about the furry screen grab.

A Winter Carnival with Figures from the Workshop of Sebastian Vrancx: thanks to Mutual Art