Antonia Forest

[Fallingovercliffs]

For some reason the Marlowe series passed me by as a child. However, in recent months I have managed to buy all four of the Kingscote books (with only Cricket Term costing a slightly eye watering amount) and I cannot believe what I was missing.

They are so realistic you can almost smell the chalkdust and feel the tedium of a long afternoon in a stuffy classroom. The girls, with their shifting friendships and changing group dynamics, are totally believeable and Miss Cromwell has to be the most authentic sounding teacher in any school fiction. I also love the way AF shows teachers and prefects as flawed, human and sometimes prone to favouritism or poor judgment, not the all seeing, all knowing fonts of wisdom they usually are in other fictional schools such as Malory Towers or the Chalet School.

Any other Kingscote fans out there? I've just ordered Sally Hayward's Spring Term and hope it lives up to the work of the original author.

Ginty is such a good character, isn't she... so convincing both from inside and out, and so different from anyone else one comes across in girls' fiction.

I do like the Ginty/Monica fallout in Spring Term which feels believable and agonising in a v. classic Forest way. Agree the letter-writing episode is overplayed, though what I really dislike in Spring Term is the welly-icky Nicola and Patrick stuff. Nicola is FOURTEEN FFS, there is no way Forest would have written her like that. It smacks of the fanbase's desperation to get Nicola and Patrick happily married off as soon as possible, an attitude which is as far from Forest's painful human realism as one can possibly get.

Yes, I absolutely don't see Nicola and Patrick ending up as husband and wife or anything like that. In fact, I could picture Patrick becoming a monk and Ginny, years later, enjoying telling people how her first boyfriend joined a monasatery (obviously I ruined him for other women ha ha ha).

Just because it looks like they are becoming closer now does not mean they actually have to though......Rowan and Ann seemed to think maybe it was not a good plan...

I loved this article about Ann.
When I first read the books I really didn't warm to her character, now I feel extremely sympathetic towards her.

I'm completely with Hakluyt about clothes. Ok, I didn't have brothers but DSis was 6 years older than me. And it was completely understandable to spend money or overdraft on horse or education, but eg holidays would have been a complete no no. Not merely inessential and a waste of money but lower class.

The dress is early 70s late 60s. V Twiggy as worn by Greek shipping heiresses.

I love the service in the Minster too. Fantastic piece of set piece writing, equalled only by the cricket match, Imv. Much better than the play or, imv, Buster jumping the cut. . The only other truly wonderful bit on the same kevel is the letter sacking Patrick. But perhaps you need to have gone through Vatican ll to appreciate it fully.

The cricket match is almost on a par with the one in Murder Must Advertise with Nicky's hero, Peter Wimsey, at Brotherhood's. Mr Talbot indeed. Two best descriptions of matches I've read. And that includes Cardus et al.

Should I read Spring Term?

What I like is that there is noone truly admirable. Nicky is near but avoids the Darrell Rivers perfection by her anarchy. Laurie is so convincing, as are Ginty and Ann. And the awful Karen, whom one eventually feels sorry for.

I didn't like the Nicola and Patrick romance blooming. They were simply good friends because they got on well together with similar interests. No romance at all. My dd1, who is also 14yo, has a lad she's got on very well with now for 7 years. there is no romance, and I can't see romance blossoming together, they are simply good friends with similar interests, I don't think either would find it hard if the other did get a boy/girl friend either just because there is no interest in each other that way at all.

I love that description buchanan of what was appropriate to spend money on. A nice change from today where some people feel a foreign holiday is an absolute necessity and where everyone seems to be judged by their clothes.

I think the basic premise of Spring Term is good: Ginty does something dishonest, refuses to own up, Ann clumsily tries to sort things out but just makes them worse, Miss Keith seizes opportunity to come down hard on Ginty but goes too far and alienates her from her rather shallow clique.
All very in character. It's just the initial incident which prompted the chain of events that doesn't sit right with me. It just doesn't seem serious enough.

I agree with ancientbuchanan about the cricket match. I never understood what on earth was going on in cricket matches till I read Murder Must Advertise and Cricket Term.

That reminds me - I was wondering idly where you might take the next book after Spring Term. With another cricket competition coming up you'd have a moderately interesting situation with Nicky and Lawrie in different forms, a dilemma in the 5th form as to whether to put Ginty into their team, and probably some interesting needle between Ginty and Nicky.

I believe Sally Haywood(?) is writing another one...

OOh I am so very excited that sally hancock is writing another one. I liked spring term although I did think it was not quite as witty and dry as AF would have made it.

I discovered Autumn term in a book shop on my 9th birthday and never looked back. Gradually built up my collection as an adult to fill in the gaps. I am surprised others didn't love peter's room, that is one of my favourites.

MIght pop off to trennels now for a bit of a wallow.

Is she really writing another one? I've just done a quick online search and I can't see any traces. Do you know when it's due to be published? I'm very curious to see whether she's kept it in the 1980s o brought it into the present day. Or, hey, this is only fiction, she could even take it back a bit!