Charlotte Fairlie by D.E. Stevenson

Charlotte is the relatively new headmistress at St. Elizabeth’s, a well-regarded girls’ boarding school she attended before Oxford - she wore a dowdy hat at her interview so her male interviewers wouldn’t think she was too young. She takes pride in her work and in knowing the girls but she is lonely because befriending the staff would create jealousy. New girl Tessa MacRynne breaks through Charlotte's reserve when her parents get divorced and she tries to run away back to Scotland.  Charlotte identifies with Tessa, having gone through a

painful experience at the same age when her father remarried. She persuades Tessa to return to school, and her practical advice and kindness help Tessa settles down and make friends. Tessa then invites Charlotte to visit her home during the summer holidays, an island in the Western Isles, where her father is the laird. Tessa is match-making, although Charlotte does not realize this until she has lost her heart but sees obstacles!

My Impression: This is one of my favorite books by Stevenson and was the perfect comfort read on a chilly night, as it offers a school story, which you know I love – told from the perspective of the headmistress – and a picturesque Scottish setting, the MacRynnes’ beloved island home, Targ. Both venues are full of quirky, memorable characters.  Charlotte is accomplished and admired but she is in the wrong job – although St. Elizabeth’s is a highly regarded school (attended by several people from other DES books), it is isolated and after a bleak adolescence she would have been better off as an academic at Oxford or Cambridge, where there would have been plenty of companionship.

One of Charlotte's few social events is when she is invited to join a coronation party hosted by the head of St. Elizabeth’s Board of Governors who booked a London hotel room on the course of the festivities. I thought this was particularly interesting because most of Stevenson’s books do not have so specific a timeframe and, of course, because the next coronation did not take place until 2023! However, the spiteful teacher not chosen to be headmistress tricked Charlotte into missing the train, so both Charlotte and I were disappointed not to see Queen Elizabeth’s procession!

Fortunately, an encounter with Tessa MacRynne, whose American (yes, blame us) mother was not happy living on an isolated island and has left her handsome laird husband, gets Charlotte involved with the girl and her father. Then Tessa coaxes Charlotte to visit Scotland during the summer holidays:

“It was just that I did want you to see Targ,” added Tessa. “It is so beautiful; I know you’d love it.”

“Yes, I’m sure I should,” said Charlotte. She hesitated. She had heard so much about Targ. Why shouldn’t I go? she thought.

“Oh, Miss Fairlie, you’re thinking about it!” cried Tessa. “Oh, Miss Fairlie, please come – even just for a fortnight.”

“But are you sure you want me? And what about your father?”

“You’ll come!” cried her prospective hostess joyously. “Oh, Miss Fairlie, how absolutely gorgeous!”

“But your father may not want me –”

“Of course he will. He said I could ask a friend.”

“I expect he meant a girl,” said Charlotte, alarmed at the idea of being foisted upon the Lord of the Isles against his wishes.

The book consists of two sections – St. Elizabeth’s and Blow the Wind Southerly, which Tessa sings to Charlotte as they sail to Targ from the mainland. It is inevitable that Charlotte and Rory MacRynne will fall in love (that divorce came through very quickly!) but Stevenson comes up with a few wrinkles to keep the reader guessing. The book is full of the quiet charm for which Stevenson was known.

If you have read this one, is it also a favorite?  If not, do you have a favorite DES book?  I am rereading them all, one by one.

Title: Charlotte Fairlie

Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Collins, hardcover, 1954
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal copy. My book is a hardcover second printing that came from Melbourne but Charlotte Fairlie is now back in print from Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press.  

Other D.E. Stevenson reviews