This is 55 in the original series, 59 in the Armada version, which I have - and which, along with a few others, has not been cut in any way. It starts with Miss Annersley explaining that she's going to be away for a term... but that thread isn't really explored. Instead the book focuses on two rather different new girls, neither of whom want to be at the school.

I loved 'Summer Term' which immediately precedes this, but thought this one was rather run-of-the-mill, with far too much detail about day-to-day Chalet School life. It's not a book I'd recommend as a starting point to the series; in fact I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone other than fans who are reading through all the books.

Nevertheless, it's a chapter in the lives of people I find myself caring about; Elinor M Brent-Dyer had a tremendous gift of characterisation. The Maynard/Bettany/Russell families and the Chalet School staff and older pupils have felt like friends for most of my life, and the books, even the less interesting ones, make great comfort reading.

Appropriate for anyone over the age of about nine or ten, although it's likely to appeal more to girls than to boys. ( )