Must be young, strong, healthy, optimistic. Must have sense of humor. Knowledge of French and music desirable. Complete surrender to circumstances necessary and even disposition. Athletic training, love of sports essential. Excellent salary, beautiful surrounding, permanent position. Apply in person. Lorrimer, Westmill, Conn. Mary Lou Thurston, who had no remarkable talents and was down to almost her last dollar, answered this advertisement in the paper. And thereupon suddenly found herself precipitated into one of the most startling situation a girl ever faced. But Mary Lou had a genius for dramatizing herself. How she played an amazing and difficult part, how make-believe became a reality and how she helped a man to find his identity by losing her own....is the story.

    Brent-Dyer's most sought-after book. Set in a ‘Ruritanian’ kingdom and loosely connected to the Chalet School series, this full-length novel concerns the fortunes of a gifted young English girl, Jennifer Craddock, and her friends, students at the music college in the Balkan kingdom of Mirania. First published in 1930, when Elinor M. Brent-Dyer was at the height of her creative powers, and imbued with her characteristic spirit of place and lively characters, The School by the River is far more than just another boarding school story. Bettany Press is delighted to publish this new edition, with an Introduction by Helen McClelland.