''Swiss Sonata'' is the first novel by Gwethalyn Graham, written when she was just 25. The novel is set in a girls’ boarding school in Switzerland in 1936. What makes this novel extraordinary is not just the penetrating insights into the behaviour of the girls — but for her timely insights into the dark clouds of war and hatred gathering over all of Europe at the time. Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award, and set in an international school for girls located in Switzerland, and fully reflecting the different nationalities of the students and the dark events of the years preceding the Second World War. Graham had herself been a student there: rarely has a privileged upbringing been put to better use than in the writing of this novel. "Miss Graham's picture of the school, her statement of each girl's character and her demonstration of how it is influenced by what has been done to her, are deft and delightful.''--Saturday Review, 1938