Two Chalet School Girls in India

Priyadarshini Narendra has provided a thoroughly jolly "fill in" for the Chale School series which answers a lot of questions regarding Joey's developing maturity, her feelings towards Jack Maynard (which seemed instantly switched on in 'Exile'), and her emerging interest in Catholicism. It also paints fabulous portraits of Indian life and culture, colonial and native, the British class system and stirrings of discontent among Indian nationals. It was good to see the characters of Elisaveta and Mollie Bettany becoming more rounded.If the story has a weak point, it was the Robin's outburst. I just couldn't really see it happening.I liked the idea that Joey was totally immersed in Indian culture and language, which was quite a contrast with her brother Dick's retort in 'The School at the Chalet' about the natives at Port Said, which always struck me as rather racist (although probably typical of his class and time).Thank you so much Priyadarshini, Ju, Helen and everyone else associated with this book.

This book just did not gel with me. Both Joey and Robin seem so out of character, and the storylines were boring. I found myself flipping pages looking for something of interest. This is not a book EBD would have written.

Extremely well written, very like the voice of Elinor Brent-Dyer herself. I loved the descriptions of India and learned a lot that surprised me. I would like to read more by this author.

This book certainly fills in on the trip that Joey and Robin make to India and the beautiful details about life towards the end of the British Raj were fascinating.

An excellent fill-in. It had all the right elements - educational bits, meal descriptions, interior descriptions, cookery mishaps, long lost cousins. Perhaps two lost in bad weather bits was one too many. Some of the more obvious EBD phrases were used but the author had kept the EBD tone well throughout, even in minor things - I like the use of the word "perforce" for example in the earlier chapters. I had the feeling the author could perhaps have produced and even better book about Joey and Robin visiting India but refrained from making it less Chalet -like and this restraint does her credit.

Really enjoyed this, a great addition to the fill in books. The characters were true to the originals and the Indian background very interesting. Also answered some questions about Robin’s background and Joey’s interest in the Catholic Church.

I loved the books as a child, but it could be frustrating where other happenings were alluded to, but were not found in any of the books. I scoured bookshops voraciously, and found various volumes all over the country over the years, so pleased to read one that filled in some gaps. It is always difficult to write in the style of such an established author, and work with characters that are well developed, where there are expectations of certain behaviour based on the readers perceptions, but this author has made a jolly good attempt

I simply loved this book and it was in true Elinor style that I felt she had actually written this. I have read these books since I was a child and you get so engrossed in them that you actually feel as though you are there with them Congrats to writer great story