Elinor Brent-Dyer Explained

Elinor Brent-Dyer
Birth Name:Gladys Eleanor May Dyer
Birth Date:1894 4, df=yes England
Occupation:Novelist
Genre:Adventure, School stories
Period:1922–1969

Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (6 April 1894 – 20 September 1969) was an English writer of children's literature who wrote more than one hundred books during her lifetime, the most famous being the Chalet School series.[1]

Early life and education

Brent-Dyer was born Gladys Eleanor May Dyer on 6 April 1894 in South Shields.[2] She was the only daughter of Charles Morris Brent Dyer, a surveyor, and Eleanor Watson Rutherford. Her father left the family when she was three years old and her mother remarried in 1913. In 1912, her younger brother Henzell died of meningitis.

Brent-Dyer was educated privately at a small school in South Shields until 1912 and shortly afterward trained to teach at City of Leeds Training College. She taught a variety of subjects at both state and private schools and ran a Girl Guide group. In the 1920s, she briefly studied music under Edgar Bainton at the Newcastle Conservatoire.

Career

Brent-Dyer's first book, Gerry Goes to School, was published in 1922 and became the first of the La Rochelle series.

She was inspired to start the Chalet School series after holidaying in the Austrian Tyrol at Pertisau-am-Achensee. The first book in the series, The School at the Chalet, was published in 1925.

Although she was raised as an Anglican, she converted to Roman Catholicism in 1930.

In 1933, Brent-Dyer and her mother moved to Hereford, where Brent-Dyer was employed as a governess in Peterchurch. In 1938, she opened her own school, the Margaret Roper School, which closed in 1948. She then dedicated all of her time to writing.

Brent-Dyer's mother died in 1957. In 1964, her long-time friend Phyllis Matthewman persuaded her to leave the unmanageably large Victorian villa at which she had previously run her school to live with Phyllis and her literary agent husband, Sydney. After first living together as tenants in half of a house called Albury Edge, at Redhill, Surrey, they bought a house together, Gryphons, also at Redhill, in 1965.[3] Phyllis's aunt, who knew the Dyer family, had introduced them to one another in childhood. Sydney Matthewman served as Brent-Dyer's agent.[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Brent-Dyer died at Redhill in 1969 and her final book was published posthumously the following year.

Bibliography

Chalet School series

See main article: Chalet School. (in reading order)

  1. The School at the Chalet
  2. Jo of the Chalet School
  3. The Princess of the Chalet School
  4. The Head-Girl of the Chalet School
  5. The Rivals of the Chalet School
  6. Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School
  7. The Chalet School and Jo
  8. The Chalet Girls in Camp
  9. The Exploits of the Chalet Girls
  10. The Chalet School and the Lintons
  11. The New House at the Chalet School
  12. Jo Returns to the Chalet School
  13. The New Chalet School
  14. The Chalet School in Exile
  15. The Chalet School Goes to It
  16. Highland Twins at the Chalet School
  17. Lavender Laughs in the Chalet School
  18. Gay From China at the Chalet School
  19. Jo to the Rescue

a Mystery at the Chalet School

b Tom Tackles the Chalet School

c The Chalet School and Rosalie

  1. Three Go to the Chalet School
  2. The Chalet School and the Island
  3. Peggy of the Chalet School
  4. Carola Storms the Chalet School
  5. The Wrong Chalet School
  6. Shocks for the Chalet School
  7. The Chalet School in the Oberland
  8. Bride Leads the Chalet School
  9. Changes for the Chalet School
  10. Joey Goes to the Oberland
  11. The Chalet School and Barbara
  12. The Chalet School Does it Again
  13. A Chalet Girl from Kenya
  14. Mary-Lou of the Chalet School
  15. A Genius at the Chalet School
  16. A Problem for the Chalet School
  17. The New Mistress at the Chalet School
  18. Excitements at the Chalet School
  19. The Coming of Age of the Chalet School
  20. The Chalet School and Richenda
  21. Trials for the Chalet School
  22. Theodora and the Chalet School
  23. Joey and Co. in Tirol
  24. Ruey Richardson – Chaletian
  25. A Leader in the Chalet School
  26. The Chalet School Wins the Trick
  27. A Future Chalet School Girl
  28. The Feud in the Chalet School
  29. The Chalet School Triplets
  30. The Chalet School Reunion
  31. Jane and the Chalet School
  32. Redheads at the Chalet School
  33. Adrienne and the Chalet School
  34. Summer Term at the Chalet School
  35. Challenge for the Chalet School
  36. Two Sams at the Chalet School
  37. Althea Joins the Chalet School
  38. Prefects of the Chalet School

La Rochelle series

Chudleigh Hold series

A loosely connected series of adventure books

Other works

Notes and References

  1. Web site: McClelland. Helen. Dyer, Elinor Mary Brent- (1894–1969), children's writer.. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. 31 January 2018. odnb. 6 January 2011.
  2. Web site: Elinor Brent-Dyer (1894-1969). Literary Heritage West Midlands. Shropshire County Council. 31 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20051124012502/http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/brentdye.htm. 24 November 2005. 28 October 2002.
  3. Web site: House histories.
  4. The Encyclopaedia of School Stories: The encyclopaedia of girls' school stories, Rosemary Auchmuty, Joy Wotton, Ashgate, 2000, p. 223-4
  5. Web site: Phyllis Matthewman.
  6. Web site: New Chalet Club - the Author.
  7. Web site: 7: I. Reviews & Criticism 1906-1945.
  8. Web site: The children's collections at the University of Reading. University of Reading.

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