Christmas at the Keep: A moving and uplifting festive novella to escape with at Christmas

Product Information

There are quite a few different characters but I quickly worked out - and remembered - the ones that mattered, seeing them all through Caroline’s eyes as the weekend progresses. We have switched to de-caf coffee and tea now, the caffeine – which it didn’t appear to have any adverse effect on me – was upsetting my husband’s BP). But I’m glad I re-read these first two, which reminded me just why I liked them so much as a teenager, and I’d recommend them to anyone aged about eight or nine and up who likes this kind of book. When I first came across the Chalet School series (on my grandmother’s shelves) as a young teenager, I thought ‘Jo to the Rescue’, 19th in the original series, was the last.

It’s not clear why she’s also there, but she’s a likeable, intelligent girl although considered plain. Some did not like that the deaths of the three Chadwicks, the event that puts everything in motion, is only mentioned briefly and not seen. As with so many of this author’s novels, there are some familiar characters as well as some new ones.And Leo, out of the blue, hears from his cousin Alice who disappeared from his life forty years earlier, taking with her a secret that only the two of them knew about. So I looked at the shelf where we keep books and booklets with short devotional passages or comments, intended to be read over the course of a month or a year. Sally is made head of the second form, due to her wisdom, kindness and common sense, but others in the form are not happy about this. There’s a tad too much author commentary in this book, describing the girls and their characteristics rather than always showing them.

The second new girl is Ellen, who has won a scholarship to the school so she’s evidently bright - but she seems to be constantly stressed, and doesn’t respond to anyone’s friendship. It’s a good story, one I liked reading; I wonder if I’ll remember the plot better when I re-read it in another decade or so. But I was evidently impressed enough by what I saw or read (or perhaps by someone’s recommendation) that I put three of her books on my wishlist nearly a year ago, and was given them for my birthday, back in the spring.I started reading ‘Souvenirs of Solitude’ while I was away in the Summer, and then forgot I was reading it until I had another week away early in December.