I have just read, and thoroughly enjoyed, Chudleigh Hold. However, it appears to be set past WW2, and Gil Culver is 12 years old. Given that she was around during Gay from China, wouldnt it be set during WW2?

confused and in need of enlightenment please.

I think EBD must have written the story much earlier than its publication, Gay was published in 1944, this was 10 years later in 1954. Possibly as there would have been limited paper, Chambers only wanted to publish Chalet books then, so she rehashed the story with different names for publication in 1954, ( there is one instance in the book of the name Culver not being changed to Chudleigh) Similarly, Lost Staircase wasn't published till 1946, but Jesanne and Lois appear in CS goes to it published in 1941. Yet another example is Janie steps in published 1953, which must have existed in at least draft form before CS in exile published in 1940.

Thanks. How old was Gil Culver when she started the chalet school? That might help me work out the timeline a bit better.

(or write it off as an EBD-ism)

Gill is a new girl in Lavender I think she's about the same age, or maybe a few months older, than Gay,who is already at the school, that was published 1943. So about 14-ish.

Jesanne and Lois are new then too, not CS goes to it as I said in my last post, but still 3 years before Lost Staircase

Seems EBD was enjoying writing back stories around then - there's Monica turns up trumps too , though that was published 1936, before she appeared at the CS. We also know she planned a back story for Gay, there's a list of chapters in one of her notebooks, though no trace of an actual story.

I could be wrong, but I think The Lost Staircase was written well before Jesanne and Lois reached the CS - the references to WW1 make it sound as though it was set in the 1920s, and EBD did tend to set her books in whatever year she was writing them. Possibly it was one of her earliest efforts that she shelved, then revisited years later and was able to get published as a 'link' title to the CS series.

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so Chudleigh Hold was set around 1940-ish then. The war should have been going on, but, in EBD land, anything can happen : )

Think we have to ignore the fact that the war should have been going on sometimes in EBD-land! There's a reference in Lorna at Wynyards (1947) to Lorna having met Jo in holiday in France at a time when (from memory) Jo only had the triplets and Stephen, so about 1944 so no way would either Lorna or Jo be on holiday there then!

I find it helps to think of the books having an internal timeline (when things happen relative to other events in the books) and an external timeline (when things happen relative to real events).

So in relative time, Chudleigh Hold takes place three years before Lavender, when Gillian is a new girl (she's twelve in Chudleigh Hold, and fifteen in Lavender).

In external time, you can't make the two books fit, because the war would have to be in progress in Chudleigh Hold. In general, EBD wrote the books in the time period of the time, with WWII forcing explicit references to external events. Jo to the Rescue was published in 1945, for example, and was the last book that was set during the war - Mystery, Tom and Rosalie take place when the war should have still been in full force, but there's no mention of it.

EJO's books are even more striking for this. The internal chronology (unlike EBD's) is very consistent, but two books set only a few years apart in story-time have one with telegrams and horse drawn buggies, and the next with telephones and
cars, as one was written in 1909 and the other in 1957.

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Thank you. That makes sens (????) in EBD-land.

I know this is an old thread, but I was rereading Lavender, and Jesanne and Lois's adventures are quite dateable (although this doesn't help with the question of when EBD actually wrote their story).

Early in the chapter of Lavender in which Jesanne and Lois are introduced, Jesanne talks about her experience with games at her school in New Zealand, explaining that that took place before the war, so she must have come to the Dragon House prior to September 1939.

However it's also possible to date it even earlier than that as, later in the same chapter, Jesanne says that Mr and Mrs Jennings (Mr Jennings is agent to Sir Ambrose) had twins in the June before the war broke out. The arrival of the twins is mentioned at the very end of The Lost Staircase, and Jesanne's arrival is in the November prior, meaning November 1938. From that it's also possible to go back and work out the births and deaths of many of the family mentioned.

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The writer's credo: 'Sometimes you've got to sacrifice the things you like' (Delta Goodrem - Born To Try)