Inspired by a vacation to the Austrian Alps, Elinor M. Brent-Dyer wrote The School at the Chalet, launching a series that would span more than 60 books. The series follows the adventures of a boarding school set in the picturesque Swiss Alps. The series begins with The School at the Chalet (1925), where readers are introduced to Miss Madge Bettany, a young woman who decides to start a school for girls in the Swiss mountains. The series then chronicles the growth and evolution of the school, as well as the trials and triumphs of its students.

From its small beginnings, the Chalet School grows to be one of the most famous girls' schools in the world. There's no end of excitement and adventure and it's every girl's dream to be a pupil there. The winter term is a week old when Inter V propose a scheme for the school's anniversary.

Elinor M. Brent-Dyer was born Gladys Eleanor May Dyer on April 6, 1894 in South Shields, in the northeast of England. She wrote over a hundred books of children’s literature during her life. From lower middle-class roots, she went to a small private school and became a teacher after attending the City of Leeds Training College. As a teacher, she worked at both public and private schools, and even as a governess. She had an interest in the theater, and her first book Gerry Goes to School (the first in her La Rochelle series) was written in 1922 --for the child actress Hazel Bainbridge. About this time, inspired by a vacation to the Austrian Alps, she wrote The School at the Chalet in 1923 (the first in her Chalet School series). Brent-Dyer continued to teach and tried rather unsuccessfully to run her own school from 1938 to 1948. After this, she quit teaching but continued writing until her death on September 20, 1969 in Redhill, Surrey.

Kate Elliot isn't trying to fit in that's the whole point of being a goth, isn't it? Everything about her from her hair to her clothes screams different and the girls at her school give her a wide berth. How can Kate be herself, really herself, when she's hiding her big secret? The one that landed her in boarding school in the first place. She's buried it down deep but it always seems to surface. But then sometimes your soul mates sneak up on you in the most unlikely of places. Like Norris Grammar Boarding School for Girls, where's she's serving a life sentence, no parole, because her parents kicked her out. So, how do you take that first step and reveal your secrets when you're not sure that people want to see the real you?"

When 15-year-old Flip is sent to boarding school in Switzerland, she struggles to fit in and make friends. But a chance encounter with a mysterious boy named Paul gives her hope. As their secret friendship grows, Paul confides in Flip about his fragmented memories of his childhood during WWII. When a sinister man appears claiming to be Paul's father, Flip bravely takes matters into her own hands to protect her friend. Her act of courage will change her life forever in this poignant coming-of-age story set amidst the majestic Swiss Alps.