to think that Amy March is one of the most irritating literary characters ever.

That's right Seeker - runaway home. Wish they would reprint them all!!

The picnic in the cave! I so wanted to do that. We have a tradition of winter picnics in our family because of that book. Was it Run Away Home?

Red, which one is that in?

I didn't find any of AF characters annoying because they weren't 2 dimensional. Would have loved to be part of the Marlow family when I was a kid!! Loved their alternative Christmas when their parents were away!

While I agree about Laurie and Tim and of course Ginty, I don't think she intended Patrick to be so annoying.
He was the romantic intellectual moral catholic who stuck to his guns even if unwillingly.

I always thought it was a bit like Jo and Laurie, Nick and Patrick were destined for each other.

I've sent you a pm, Sorrell.

"Anyway, though, all the annoying characters in Antonia Forest are very thoughtfully and deliberately depicted... whereas Amy March, Dora in David Copperfield etc are not supposed to be annoying. There is a gulf between the author's intentions and the actual result which doesn't exist in AF."

This is very true MooncupGoddess

The Whicharts isn't quite as painful as Saplings but thbe story and characters are painted as quite tawdry and grubby. GUM is a Colonel and is actually the biological father of all three girls.

Curtain Up is my favourite (after Ballet Shoes). I love the section where Sorrell understudies her cousin as Ariel in The Tempest.

Oh yes, the annoyingly similar nannies! Peaseblossom is very odd, forceful but a bit pathetic too (the seasickness). All the genteel poverty is quite amusing today.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius It's on Amazon for £10.20 (inc P&P) so £6? Agggh, I'm rubbish at selling things!

Saplings is terribly upsetting, is Whicharts as painful? Lovely to see you, Sorrel - Curtain's Up is my favourite Streatfeild, I always feel it's unfairly neglected.

Though on the subject of annoying characters, I can't bear the housekeeper/nanny types in NS's books, like Hannah in Curtain's Up. They're always irritatingly cheery and utterly lacking depth. I guess they date back to Noel's childhood before WW1, and they're increasingly unconvincing by the 1940s/50s. Most baffling of all is Peaseblossom in The Painted Garden - a childhood friend of the mother's who realises when the oldest child is born that the mother is too useless to cope, so moves in to help, and is still there 13 years later, by which time the children are aged 9-13 and all at school. Neither the mother or Peaseblossom has done a day's paid work in that time and presumably Peaseblossom is supported entirely by the father. What on earth?

Sorrel - what sort of a contribution would you be thinking of? I have a limited budget, but might be interested in buying your copy of The Wicharts. I hope you don't mind me asking.

I was a dreadful intellectual snob when I was a teenager, possibly that is why I like Patrick

Anyway, though, all the annoying characters in Antonia Forest are very thoughtfully and deliberately depicted... whereas Amy March, Dora in David Copperfield etc are not supposed to be annoying. There is a gulf between the author's intentions and the actual result which doesn't exist in AF.

Anne from FF is the anti-feminist. The Comic Strip took her and George off perfectly.

Lawrie, Tim and Patrick are all fantastic characters

All of the Famous Five in different ways.

And Patrick is insufferable! Such an intellectual snob.

I'll grant you Laurie and Tim, and indeed Ginty - though they're all very convincingly portrayed - but Patrick is fab!

Not read the short stories nor later ones.
Ok, irritating children's people, Gemma. Clara in Heidi, Tom Brown, Diana in Anne of Green Gables, Susan in Swallows and Amazon, Susan in Narnia ( but she was deliberately irritating) and Lucy in the film version, Awful Laurie and Tim and Patrick in The Marlows.

Saplings is dark indeed. I have a brand new spare copy of The Whicharts which is be happy to part with for a reasonable contribution to my book fund!

thank you Sorrel - I never realised Noel Streatfeild wrote any adult novels. I've bought Saplings for my Kindle. Looks dark - I loved her treatment of the effects of war towards the end of A Vicarage Family, and look forward to reading this very much!

Red, I loved that, and feeding the pig the candy.

I loved the fossils in California. Not read the

For Noel Streatfeildfans

As my user name would suggest, I am a huge fan of Noel Streatfeild. I think I have pretty much all her childrens books and a few of her adult ones (sadly, most are out of print). The Whicharts is worth reading. It's an adult version of Ballet Shoes and is very dark. I have a short story (found somewhere on-line a couple of years ago) about what happened next for the Fossil girls.

If I have a daughter her name will be Posy

Mrs Fred - Farmboy was my fav - loved the bit where he ruined the parlour paper & Eliza covering up for him & when they make the ice cream.

Just wanted to add that reading the Little House books has vastly improved my 9 yo DD's attitude to household chores!

I have just read the plot summary of Chalet Girls Grow Up.

Oh my god. Chalet school meets Eastenders. It is HILARIOUS.

Someone offered this as a serious sequel? Really? How did they ever have the nerve?

I've read that, squoosh - I wasn't at all happy with it either. It was just disaster after disaster, each more unbelievable an the last. I think what upset me the most was the way that so many of the characters acted totally out of character. Tbh, I am not even sure if I still have it - I might have thrown it away in disgust.