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Original poster

Antonia Forest fans please come and talk to me so I can tell you my superb AF related thing

98 replies

FrannyandZooey · 29/12/2007 20:39

I got this for Christmas and am having such a good time reading it.

It contains loads of trivia which I didn't know, including the fact that Wade Minster (where Nicola sung her solo in End of Term) was based on Chichester Cathedral. Where I also sang a solo as a child.

I am unwarrantedly happy to discover this and know absolutely no-one in RL who would know wtf I am talking about, so am sending this out into cyberspace instead in the hope that someone will say

ooooOOOOOOOooooh

OP posts:
pooka · 29/12/2007 22:07

See I liked Nicola for the way she dealt with the whole Patrick-suddenly-getting-embroiled-with-airhead-Ginny thing. She was so dignified and hurt.
Lawrie... well I could empathise with Nicola and so felt sad for her having to be the sensible one, having to pander to Lawrie's self-centredness. Case in point, in the falconer's lure I think where Nicky refuses to give up her share of the horse to Lawrie despite everyone expecting her to, and I was inwardly cheering her on for doing it.

youcheaplousyharpsichord · 29/12/2007 22:07

ooooh that's exciting franny
I sort of know what you are talking about
would you like to join my family?
honestly, there's room

FiveRustyRings · 29/12/2007 22:10

OK, I just checked...
Nicola sang 'Lift up your gates ye Princes' (don't know if that's what it's actually called) as they came in, the first verse of 'O little town of Bethlehem' first verse of 'Three Kings from Persian lands afar' and Once in Royal David's City' as they went out.

So you sang the same song as Nicola Marlow in Wade Minster [impressed emoticon]

constancereader · 29/12/2007 22:10

I used to spend ages trying to decide if I would rather be good at singing or acting. It was a real dilema . Occasionally I was shallow and wished I could be beautiful like Ginty.

I have spent way too much time thinking about these books.

youcheaplousyharpsichord · 29/12/2007 22:10

btw your thread title does look like you are talking about periods

Original poster
FrannyandZooey · 29/12/2007 22:11

you know you know HC

WADE MINSTER

you know

(ooh got your card today, was lovely)

no I don't actually want to BE in a big family, I just like to THINK about it

Pooka I can't relate to people being dignified and hurt. Just doesn't work for me

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Original poster
FrannyandZooey · 29/12/2007 22:12

fkn HELL

did she really sing Once in Royal David's City?

[shivers going up and down spine]

ooooOOOOoooh

it was meant to be Esther Frewen, wasn't it? I couldn't shiver for Esther Frewen

OP posts:
pooka · 29/12/2007 22:13

Nor me, but I aspire to it - the dignified bit I mean. Rather than needy clinginess.

constancereader · 29/12/2007 22:13

or even dilemma

youcheaplousyharpsichord · 29/12/2007 22:14

I did read the books but it was a fair while ago. you know, the early 80s
good good, because I suspect you would deeply loathe being in my family.I am suitably impressed by you singing OIRDC

Original poster
FrannyandZooey · 29/12/2007 22:16

I would rather be Rowan, definitely, or Miranda

I would like to be Rowan when she turns up in the car to collect them, wearing lipstick

pooka I prefer my literary heroine's to have a more dramatic emotional range than dignified and hurt. But I do see what you mean

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pooka · 29/12/2007 22:18

Ah see, I don't think Lawrie has much of a range really. Just petulant and self-absorbed.

Original poster
FrannyandZooey · 29/12/2007 22:21

yy

limited but so much less dull

(worries now in case actual spat breaks out over favourite Marlow twin)

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arionater · 29/12/2007 23:26

I'm a Miranda fan myself, despite the dodgy dealing about 'kitchen and jumble' in Autumn Term!

And then of course there's the eternal 'do Nicola and Patrick end up together?' debate . . .

InnAFull · 29/12/2007 23:44

Ohhh big AF fan here - I absolutely adore her Marlow books. I reread them every few years. DD1 also a fan but DD2 (18) not interested, despite my best efforts, and despite being a Lawrie of the highest order.. sigh.

Recently found some Marlows fanfic on the net - I was expecting the worst, but the author has captured the characters and style brilliantly, IMO. No sex - it's not that kind of fanfic and thank goodness for that.

Peter's Room has a whole different feel to it, doesn't it? I admired AF for going in that direction - so realistic that even noble Patrick might fall for pretty, flirty, flighty Ginty - because she must have known all of us would go 'Noooooo....' - I think that's why I love the books so much - no easy answers, few moments of shallow predictability.

As for 'did Nicola end up with Patrick' I've always hoped she might have done, but had AF written that far, I somehow doubt she would have given us that - she'd have delighted in giving Patrick to Miranda or something.

Congrats on singing in Wade Minster, F&Z! Did you have to step in for a friend who chickened out at the last minute?

seeker · 29/12/2007 23:52

I had to forcibly remove Autumn Term from dd's clutching fingers tonight - she SOOOO wants to be Nicola!

I have been in love with Patrick for years - even if he is a bit poncy. Dp thinks that our small Patrick is named after his father, and he is - well, most of him is!

arionater · 29/12/2007 23:55

Mmm, I've always thought Patrick and Miranda might be interesting too. And maybe Nicola would get it together with the aged sailor guy, bit of a glint there as I remember!

I work on Shakespeare/Jonson et al (I'm an academic) and I think AF's Elizabethan stories are really convincing actually, very well done. I avoided reading them for ages because I thought if they weren't very professional historically I'd be sort of embarrassed for her, but I shouldn't have worried!

seeker · 30/12/2007 00:03

Which aged sailor guy - what have I missed?

arionater · 30/12/2007 00:24

Not sure which one it's in - The Marlows and the Traitor I think. Robert Alonquil? some funny last name like that. I do think she might grow out of Patrick's self importance though, much as I love Patrick myself.

seeker · 30/12/2007 00:27

Oh yes, I remember! But he must be MUCH too old, mustn't he? At least 35 to her 14?

Maye Giles would have brought an attractive shipmate home?

arionater · 30/12/2007 00:36

Hmm, well my last partner was 20 years older than me so perhaps I am a bit biased! And there's always Kay and Edwin offering a disturbing family precedent! - anyone remember what the age-gap is there? must be around the 20 year mark.

seeker · 30/12/2007 00:41

well, Kay was in her first year at Oxford - 18-19. Edwin was the same age as Geoffrey Marlow -so 46ish, I think. Come and shoot me down, experts!

Isn't Falconer's Lure a perfect book?!

wessexgirl · 30/12/2007 00:47

Oh oh oh oh OH! WOW! I wanted to go to Kingscote more than anything! And when the twins rejected the Guides, that was possibly the most satisfying thing I'd ever read in the whole of literature (I left the Guides after being frowned upon for being RC).

You sang in Wade Minster, F&Z? Maybe the character of Nicola was based on YOU!

Sorry, I sound starstruck, but this is one series of books I would really love to read again.

Original poster
FrannyandZooey · 30/12/2007 09:41

Oh you all came out of the woodwork after I went to bed didn't you?

we must have a secret enclave of AF fans on MN and go around winking at each other and saying "blood for breakfast"

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seeker · 30/12/2007 10:02

I use "blood for breakfast" with my children - they love it!

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