*Sigh* I loved this book. The writing, the characters, the setting, the plot.. all amazing. I loved how it began with Ellen, her background and her upbringing, and how that lead her to the school (and Marek). And I loved the children! And Austria! It all just makes me want to bake a pie or mop a floor or in general just be Ellen.Ibbotson uses a great technique of presenting a pivotal scene from a minor characters viewpoint - something he is only observing and usually not understanding. It never failed to make me keep reading so I would find out what really happened and why. My only struggle with this book was with Marek. Sometimes I just wanted to knock him upside the head for the things he did/didn't do to Ellen! All in all, I loved it and want to read it again to simply absorb all the details I missed the first go round just trying to find out what would happen. ( )

I really liked this book, It is about Ellen who becomes a teacher at an 'alternative' school where all the teachers are strange and the pupils come from every background possible. ellen sets about improving everything and solving everyones problems, but then Hitler invades Austria and everything changes.
It's not as good as other Eva Ibbotson's books like Journey to the riversea but it is still very enjoyable. ( )

I promptly went out and bought this book after reading the previous one. This book has equally good writing, but I found the plot to be just a tiny bit less satisfying. Ellen leaves her family in England in order to teach at a progressive school in Austria. There she encounters lovably zany teachers, confused young students with hidden depths and talents, and the mysterious gardener Marek. Ellen soon finds her niche at the school, but matters are complicated by the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. Again, the romantic angle of the story was sweet and satisfying, but a little more tragic given the shadow of World War II. For this reason I didn't enjoy the plot quite as much as that of A Countess Below Stairs: I felt like this book couldn't decide whether it wanted to be about Ellen and Marek or about the Nazi persecution of Jews. I did really enjoy the music angle, though; Ibbotson clearly has some knowledge and love of it, and as a musician myself I was able to relate to those parts of the book. If you read/have read Countess and like it, you'll probably like this one as well.

Set during the beginning of WWII, thsi book tells the tale of Ellen, a girl who dreams of being a housekeeper and taking care of people. She gets her chance at the eccentric Austrian boarding school. This is not a novel of great intrigue, but rather a quiet story of everyday people.

Another more serious Ibbotson set in Austria right before WWII. Our hero, a sensible, serious young woman goes to Austria to take up the position of "matron" to a rather different kind of boarding school. I enjoyed this although the parts of the book which occured during the war disappointed me a little however the ending redeemed itself.