I have just blued £30 on Nicola bloody Marlow

[Failedspinster]

Help me. I'm addicted. By hook or by crook I obtained two Antonia Forest paperbacks at low prices. It was not enough. Now I've just bought another for thirty sodding quid I can ill afford, comforting myself with the knowledge that I can always economise on clothes.

I know I am not alone. Please tell me your stories of absurd expenditure of money and effort to secure a favourite.

[HumphreyCobbler]

which ones?

I am missing many of them

[HumphreyCobbler]

It really really annoys me they are not in print. Why are they not in print?

[MirandaWest]

Girls gone by are reprinting all the non school ones again

[IrenetheQuaint]

It was the right decision! Marlows = joy.

No idea why Girls Gone By don't reprint some of them... seems like a no-brainer.

[RoosterCogburnIsInTheJakes]

According to their website GGBP are planning on republishing them again - you can preorder Marlows and the Traitor

Which ones? Think of the pleasure they will give you, long after new clothes have lost their allure.

Years ago DH sourced me a complete set for Christmas, some were actual books, others were complete photocopies - a lady called Sue Sim's had permission from AF to sell them as bound photocopies.

In our house they are referred to as 'the precious books' said in a Gollum voice'


I could do with new copies of End of term and Cricket Term because mine are very fragile.

[Failedspinster]

I got Autumn Term and Attic Term originally, I've just bought Cricket Term and....in the last five minutes....got my husband to agree to buy me End of Term for my birthday next month.

I am so rushing to GGB with fistfuls of tenners shouting "MORE MARLOW" as soon as the opportunity arises #morelow

[IrenetheQuaint]

Ha, x-post! Not that it makes any difference to me as I own them all

[HumphreyCobbler]

That is truly excellent news, thank you Miranda. I have just had a look and will keep a close eye out. I need Falcolner's Lure, Ready Made Family, Peter's Room and Run Away Home.

[RustyBear]

Which one?

I was lucky, I worked in a library and managed to get most of mine when they were withdrawn from circulation. A couple of reprints I got from Badger books and GirlsGoneBy - they have now got The Marlows and the Traitor and the 'new' book Spring Term written by a new author.

www.ggbp.co.uk/the-marlows-and-the-traitor-by-antonia-forest/

[RoosterCogburnIsInTheJakes]

I contacted GGBP to ask if they would consider publishing them as e-books but they said it wasn't going to happen.

The thought of being able to carry a complete set with me would make me so happy.
In my less sane moments Ive even considered paying someone to type them out so I can covert them to pdf files and upload them to my kindle!

[ASuitableGirl]

I have one of them on my kindle - can't remember which one or quite how I got it.

[RustyBear]

X-post with lots of Forest fans!

[RoosterCogburnIsInTheJakes]

ASuitableGirl How? Please wrack your brains!

[DeeWe]

MirandaWest I'm waiting for those too.

You haven't wasted that money OP. What's a couple of meals when you can read about the Marlows again and again. may just have forgotten to eat meals while reading them

[Bloodybridget]

A very sensible purchase OP. I completed my Forest collection last year and had to spend a lot for the last two. Totally worth it.

[Icimoi]

Worth every penny, OP. Choice between a Marlow book and new clothes = no brainer.

[Failedspinster]

Haha my wardrobe is a bit crappy because I generally overspend on books instead. This isn't even the first time. Down with Lois Sanger!

[mudkicker]

Congrats, OP! Always nice to see another AF fan here - hope you manage to get the other books you want.

To OP and everyone else who are AF fans , have you seen trennels.livejournal.com? A discussion site for all things Marlow, by a fabulously erudite and smart lot who have just finished a readthrough of all the Marlow books. A few members have pdf copies of Peter's Room and The Marlows and the Traitor which they can send.

(Also, I know it sounds obvious, but ask at your local library if they have any AF. My local borough didn't, but their service allows me to check other libraries in surrounding counties under the SELMS search - and thus it was that I finally got my mitts on a copy of Run Away Home two weeks ago. It was the only AF I hadn't read, and for a few mad minutes after wine I did consider spending my entire £250 Amazon birthday voucher on a copy.)

Also - AF fanfiction is first-class. I like fanfic generally as A Thing even if badly written, but seriously, there are many talented writers who write just like AF and who have published drabbles, short stories, novellas and full-length novels, including Ginty running away to Ireland and the Marlows at Hogwarts - wondrous for AF fans craving more. It's all collated here: lauracanning.net/antonia-forest-fanfiction-a-readers-guide.html

[mudkicker]

'In my less sane moments Ive even considered paying someone to type them out so I can covert them to pdf files and upload them to my kindle!'

In those moments on a rainy Monday when I fantasise about winning the lottery/getting a massive book deal, I've thought about paying the best of the AF fanfic writers massive grants so they can churn out updates, daily...

[balletnotlacrosse]

It's money well spent OP. I love the Marlowe books. I only discovered them last year but have bought the four school stories since then, the Sally Haywood fan fic one and my sister got me Falcon's Lure for Christmas.

[ancientbuchanan]

I stupidly gave all mine away when depressed one year. DH has bought almost all of them for me. But I haven't read the Elizabethan one.

My faves are Peter ' s room and the one about the Christmas Carol service. Though cricket term's cricket match us almost on a par with the Wimsey equivalent and, as I gave said on MN before, I adore the sanctimonious booting of Patrick by his school.

[tribpot]

The Marlows at Hogwarts. What a fantastic idea.

[ancientbuchanan]

But which house would they be in ? Would you separate the twins?


I can't bear Karen. Not after what she did in The Ready Made Family. Self deluding bitch.

[tribpot]

I love the fact that Forest was so unflinching in the way she portrayed the main characters. Karen truly was a monstrously selfish bitch.

Normally families stay in the same house (altho not the Patil twins). The family was iconoclastic enough for Gryffindor, altho that's the easy choice. Ann is total Hufflepuff and possibly Nicola Ravenclaw. Ginty and Lawrie I'd stuff in Slytherin as they're such arses. Rowan is the true Gryffindor of the family (and maybe Giles).

[RoosterCogburnIsInTheJakes]

Where would you put Peter?