Any Antonia Forest fans out there?

[seeker]

My dd likes Lawrie better than Nicky! Where did I go wrong?

Actually, if you're looking for hidden depths, how about Peter?

Marlows and their Maker

yes Miranda super but obviously rather superior
not exactly the loyalest friend either (you forgive her because she is so funny about it)

I thought everyone was MEANT to prefer Lawrie - after all, Tim does, much to Nicola's chagrin (that makes me like her even less - I mean! The Idea! Someone actually Preferring Lawrie! )
it was only as an adult rereading I realised we were meant to think Plank Nicola was the nicest

Peter is depthish but gawd, would you want to GO in those depths?
I am still puzzling about something K M Peyton said about HER Peter - Peter McNair - she said he wasn't just based on Peter Marlow, he WAS Peter Marlow
now quite a few things would have to happen to Peter Marlow to make him into Peter Mc Nair IMO
the latter is much more likeable - a decent amount of introspection without all this tormented soul searching and so on

but if we are moving on to K M peyton then may I bring in the delicious Jonathan Meredith and the swoonworthy Patrick Pennington

There is a line somewhere about Nicola making the "shattering discovery" that once again somebody who had liked her best now liked someone else. I really felt for her at that moment.

I had a history teacher JUST like Crommie - she reminds me of her so much

I love Miranda. She is the coolest girl in the whole school

I need to read some more KM Peyton - have only read a few things
what do you recommend Franny? which ones have those characters you mentioned in them?

I like Nicola best when I was a child, as an adult Lawrie wins hands down. But I would NEVER describe Nicola as a plank

I didn't read them as a child - and as an adult I preferred Nicola. Maybe I'm a repressed product of an upper middle class family too!. I was interested that dd instantly preferred lawrie - she (my dd, I mean) is a pretty pragmatic, out doorsy sort of girl so i assumes she would find lawrie as irritating as I do!

I do agree that Miranda's cool, though. I also have a soft spot for Tim, although she can be poisonous - all that lighting the blue touchpaper in relationships and standing back to see what will happen.

excellent thread title for a sunday morning. anyone remember the argument between tim and miranda in art class in end of term abotu the twins?? miranda lays into lawrie .. "the trouble with you is you're spoilt, if things dont go your way you cry the house down (or words to that effect)..." etc etc. nicky is FAB, lay off her guys. miranda too damn smart for own good... but then i just named my first daughter esther ....

oh, and i got marlows and their maker for xmas from my mum. its ok - written by a fan, i disagreed with a reasonable amount of what she said. BUT it included lots of v sweet things like sketches of kingscote grounds based on the books ... also good for boxing day quizzes with my sis "what type of dog was daks?" etc etc

oh and # 2

Tallis - the thirds would NEVER have beaten the sixth form were it not for all that fielding practice nicky foreced on them

ok - going to stop typing now

I used to spend ages trying to decide which one I would most like to be - Nicola (good at music), Lawrie (good at acting), Ginty (really beautiful), Tim (really cool).

I have spent way too much time thinking about this.

Oh I love all her books so much. I now own nearly all (just waiting for GGBP to publish Thursday Kidnapping which I have never read). Also will have to buy their End of, Cricket and Attic terms as my copies have completely fallen apart, and I want DDs to read them.

Nicola and Rowan are my faves, I'm afraid. I like Lawrie's characterisation, but I would just have to scream at her in frustration sometimes.

On the Patrick/Nicola/Ginty question - AF says something like "perhaps he didn't marry either of them" - and something along the lines of him entering the priesthood possibly. Can't remember exactly.

Great thread btw!

LOL @ irate Nicola fans
the shattering discovery that someone likes someone else better than you
hmm
Lawrie not the only spoilt one really, is she? and as for Tim fab character, wouldn't want to know her

MrsJC, re: Peyton books - there are several fabulous books which are sort of in 2 series, but they overlap wonderfully with characters from each popping up

the Pennington books are absolutely divine and form a discrete series (Beethoven Medal, Pennington's 17th summer, Pennington's Heir)
but you also have the other books in which his gf Ruth and her horsey set feature - Fly By Night, The Team, The Last Ditch, Midsummer Night's Death (kind of offshoot book about J Meredith), Call Yourself a Hero (ditto)
and finally Marian's Angels which features Ruth and Pat several years on
I have probably missed some! I would start with Fly By Night and The Team and then read the Pennington series
I think that is sort of chronologically correct

I think what was shattering about the discovery wasn't that somebody liked somebody else better than they liked Nicola, but that people who started off liking her best then went on to liking someone else best. If you see what I mean.

Do you remember how foul Giles was to Nicola when she ran away to visit him?

Yes I do see what you mean and I was just partly being rude about the poor old plank for the sake of it
but I do think the bit where she realises Tim likes Lawrie best is a bit cathartic for Lawrie fans
and you do think 'oh good lord Nicola has this honestly never occured to you before that someone might not like you best'
she is very superior about Lawrie in her private thoughts - well the family culture is that Lawrie is an idiot, also - they don't value her good points much at all

i think this could be getting to the heart of why I identify / identified so much with Lawrie actually

yes Giles was vile, wasn't he
another one who is slightly too sure of his own likeability and charms really

I like Rowan best, wanted to call DD Rowan, DH went mental so she is NOT Rowan.
I like "Peters Room" best as I love the Bronte's and I find Ginty fascinating as she just defines ditsy teenage girl.
Don't you love Grandma too?
I always wanted to be Nicola, but I'm more like Lawrie...

I hated Kay's adopted kids, am I horrid?

Oh, anyone got a copy of "The Marlows and the Traitor" for less than £100?????

Can't wait for DD to read the books but my old copies are so battered she may have to take up archaeology to put them together!!!!

Wow - great thread. I have never met anyone in RL who has read these books. (I knew I should be spending more time on Mumsnet and ignoring my poorly-read friends).

My favourite part was when Nicola and Miranda bought cool second-hand clothes for the rest of the form and were coerced into becoming drug mules. At least, I think that's what happened. I really must read them again.

Please could someone put me out of my misery as I don't have my AF books to hand.

Who was the witchy PE teacher who ensured that Nicola not only wasn't captain but wasn't in the netball team at all ? Been wracking my brains, can't remember.

Re my snipy comments earlier about fielding practice etc, I must admit it was a splendid moment when Nicola's team won the Cricket Cup. How she bowled six perfectly good medium pace balls at the ghastly Head Girl (was it Lois?) and she survived the lot...but that must have been in the semi-final. And bowling donkey drops at Ginty because she knew it was her weak spot. v mean.

I think Tim would definitely have gone on to be a theatrical producer. Probably made a Dame. Dame Thalia - has a certain ring to it.

Drug mules????????????????

As soon as I posted that I was slightly dubious. I just remember that the young hippy man in the shop gave them a package to deliver. What was in it? Why were they forced to return all the super clothes? Darn it. I need to find these books right now and start reading them again.

My favourite was definitely Rowan - especially when she drove underage, but it didn't matter because she wore lipstick and looked really grown up.

Marlows and the Traitor available from Girls Gone By as reprint - well, it was anyway
what didn't you like about Kay's step children? They were slightly annoying I agree, esp Rose. But Chas is more sparky and Fob is hilarious, if not especially likeable

they didn't become drug mules because Sensible Miranda said no! I do love that bit, yes

It was Head girl Val Longstreet who she couldn#t bear to bowl out
and Lois was the Games Captain who made sure Nicola got left out of the team
Lois is such a wonderful character

Wasn't Nicola's absence from the team pretty much due to Lois Sanger? ( I really have read these books over and over again!)

I remember too much about these, don't I?
recently reread whole darn lot - loved every minute of it

here's a list of places you might get Marlows and Traitor