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Original poster

Antonia Forest fans: your favourite parts or lines?

113 replies

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 21/01/2013 09:54

Inspired by posting near MirandaWest....

I often think of Nick's pondering in End of Term that 'it was queer and difficult being friends with someone who disliked one so much; at least, she supposed they were friends, and she supposed it was dislike, though neither seemed quite the right word.'

And for some reason, the description of Edwin Dodd in The Ready Made Family as 'an old, old man with three tiny, tiny tots'.

Yours?

OP posts:
womblingalong · 29/01/2013 11:09

Thanks sugar, will try that, anyone have a recommendation for the best one to get next?

Spero · 29/01/2013 11:09

Rowan's line "my grief will be controllable" that has been my catch phrase now for 30 years.

Original poster
TheOriginalSteamingNit · 29/01/2013 11:09

I bet it would be Esther - character building and all that!

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SugarInThePetrol · 29/01/2013 11:07

Wombling - girls gone by has reprinted several of them in the past and they have a list of dealers who might still carry their reprints - google girls gone by publishing (I'm on a phone and I'm not the best at manipulating it so can't give a link, sorry)

SugarInThePetrol · 29/01/2013 11:05

Tim would never be head girl though. It would obviously be Nick. Or, if Keith had removed the broom from her arse, Miranda. Keith wouldn't have made her niece head girl it would have looked dreadful.

There are aspects of Tim that I like but I don't like the way she is with Lawrie. And the fact that Miranda (and Esther too) doesn't like her speaks volumes.

womblingalong · 29/01/2013 10:21

I have only read Autumn term, as the books are impossible to get hold of for a reasonable price, loved it and would love to read more, but how to access them!?

Sorry for the tangent there!

seeker · 29/01/2013 10:11

Oh, Tim! She is pretty ghastly- but so real! Do you remember when Rowan was speculating about what it would be like when she was Head Girl? After they didn't have enough money to buy Miss Cromwell a bunch of flowers, so got her a buttonhole instead?

SugarInThePetrol · 29/01/2013 08:38

I've name changed, not because of this thread, but I've swapped authorial horses for a while. ;) I found Tim to be a very annoying character. Serious Issues, that one, I think.

Original poster
TheOriginalSteamingNit · 28/01/2013 19:03

Spring Term? But natch! Grin

And yes, Marie - 'not enough of a person to die'. Sad

And I can believe Tim and Miranda could invent a very creditable tune and lyrics, but the way the creative process is described, with the very fortuitous line at the end, never quite convinces.

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MordionAgenos · 28/01/2013 18:58

Actually, that completely convinces me, but that's probably cos I do music. Grin

The whole Malise thing is very sad. Poor Peter - it's Lt Foley all over again.

Something else that always makes me sad - Marie Dodd. That poor poor girl. :(

Have you read the GGB publishing authorised continuation novel (the name of which escapes me right now)? I enjoyed it.

Original poster
TheOriginalSteamingNit · 28/01/2013 18:51

Hurrah! Grin

Nicola is not used to discussing other people's feelings, Lawrie remains unconvinced that anyone but herself really has any - genius.

I first read Peter's Room at about 14, and I'm afraid I skipped all the gondalling until a lot later. But I did like it when Peter said 'how much' on being told of the name 'Malise'. I love the Bronte chat in that book: 'everyone went around calling her 'dear gentle Anne' in rather a despising sort of way'.

Least convincing, I always found, was Tim and Miranda composing the song in TAT, and realising that the line 'to celebrate your birth' would scan and rhyme exactly with
Blessed child of holy mother
Israel's come newly born to earth
Hear us sing, oh infant like none other...

('what it wants is 'happy birthday to you, only put rather differently'; 'put very differently, with Me Auntie sat there doing her devotional bit')

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MordionAgenos · 28/01/2013 18:24

I think - from memory - that Lawrie was remembering someone (Rowan?) saying (in FL) 'Ann has feelings, same as you' and just completely discounting it. But then she ponders it again in End of Term when her leg gets hurt before the Very Important netball match and wonders if not being in the team really had mattered to Nick.....I think.

I love the bit in TAT when most of the girls drift away because Nick and Miranda would still be there to tell it in an hour but Star Trek, once gone, would be Lost Forever.

I love all the Gondaling. And I must admit, I adore the Colebridge Festival mainly because it sort of matches elements of my own childhood and, now, continuing life - the music competitions anyway. I still know all the words of 'Fear no more'.

Linked to Seeker's one - Peter having a blue funk with the diving, and then realising that even if he does do dead man's drop it won't make it any easier the next time. That resonates quite strongly with me, too.....

seeker · 28/01/2013 18:18

I like the line about Lawrie not really believing that anyone except her actually had feelings. But I can't remember the exact words.

And the description about people going hunting- some being aware of a nervous system and some being in a blue funk.