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Original poster

Another Antonia Forest thread

155 replies

tvaerialmagpiebin · 27/04/2010 20:18

We haven't had one in a while.

I have just won "Attic Term" on ebay and almost got "Marlows and the Traitor" from a dealer but it turned out their website was out of date and it had sold in December. Boo hiss.

I tried to find the thread from a while back about "Nicola Merrick" the radio producer but I think it must have been in Chat because it has gone. I am re-reading all the AF books I have, in order, and it is surprising how things slip into place now. Can't believe I got "Ready-made family" for 25p in a charity shop 10 years ago and that launched me on such a fantastic discovery.

Now I have to convince my local library to get out the copy of "Run away Home" that they claim to have in the HQ store, and I will be very happy..

OP posts:
lawrieisluckybutnickyisnicer · 28/04/2010 21:00

i think the brilliance of AF is summed up in Lois. such a believable baddie, so easy to be that baddie.

anyone met an AF fan in real life? i never have. i fantasise about it

CoupleofKooks · 28/04/2010 21:04

lois haunts me - the finale of the cricket term and how it all finally goes wrong for her - and she is so very much an ambivalent character - not just a baddie - the way she steps in at the play and does the narration and charms them all, unwillingly
i think her self-deception is her major fault isn't it? it is carried to a dangerous level
if she had more self-awareness she could be quite quite devastating

LittleSilver · 28/04/2010 21:05

Brilliant thread. AF rocks. I've just read TTK and was a bit disappointed, although to be fair I think AF said it was a bit of an experiment. Does anyone go on the Chalet School Bulletin Board, there's quite a lot fo threads on AF there?

I want to be Rowan, but truthfully am a bit more of a Lawrie. I want Trennels too.

CoupleofKooks · 28/04/2010 21:06

shall i wait a bit before revealing my dull amazing AF claim to fame, or can i do it now?

megonthemoon · 28/04/2010 21:08

marie does need a slap. but then she dies! by getting up to switch off the telly, or something banal like that. and you feel bad for having hated her!

MayorNaze · 28/04/2010 21:08

actually that sounds familiar...maybe it is cricket term i have as well...

MayorNaze · 28/04/2010 21:09

do you know..it is coming back to me...does marie die and lois narrate in the same book??

all my books are in the loft so can't leap up and check

NoahAndTheWhale · 28/04/2010 21:13

Excellent thread

Marie dies in Cricket Term and Lois narrates in Autumn term (Autumn Term being the first).

I got the Thursday Kidnapping from GGBP and agree it isn't quite the same. Also couldn't cope with the Thuggery Affair - tried hard but couldn't manage to read it.

Can never decide which is my favourite - I have spells where I read them all one after the other. Am very glad GGBP did republising

HumphreyCobbler · 28/04/2010 21:42

Patrick thinks Lois is charming when he sees her for the first time, doesn't he?

I do agree, she is a superb character.

Are you meant to like Nicola the best? You see things from her point of view for more of the time than other people. AF does shift the viewpoints of her narrative to excellent effect, most notably for me the shift to Patrick's perception of the Christmas play.

CoupleofKooks · 28/04/2010 22:45

yes AF said herself that Lawrie was dreadful and that you were 'meant' to like Nicola
it's in that book about The Marlows and Their Maker, i think

CoupleofKooks · 28/04/2010 22:47

humphrey are you from the salterton trilogy? god i love those books
but am feeling so stupid in the head i may have misremembered the name

lawrieisluckybutnickyisnicer · 28/04/2010 23:16

aside from ready made family, i've never really bought into the non-school books. often felt AF was trying to write out of genre (thuggery affair, traitor) and it didn't always work. peter's room i've never managed to finish. who said they love it? all that funny language and bronte stuff - gah!

re lois, i think lucy mangan's point about the authenticity of the characters' internal monologue is so relevant. so easy to see how lois, well, is.

couple of kooks - beans spill please.

meg on the moon. dh overruled rowan so dd is esther .

HumphreyCobbler · 29/04/2010 09:02

YES! I love them too. You have remembered it correctly.

Have you read the other trilogies CoupleofKooks?

You are obviously a women of discerning taste, Antonia Forest AND Robert Davies

DyslexiaTeach · 29/04/2010 14:09

I love these too.

I'm dismayed that I've lost my copy of Peter's Room, which was a GGB paperback from a few years ago - it's GOT to be around somewhere, but where?!?!

There's a good livejournal forum all about AF and some excellent fan fiction on there.

My favourite is End of Term, followed by Falconer's Lure and in a slightly different way, Autumn Term (that one never quite feels like the Marlows are really themselves yet, so it almost seems set apart from the series in my mind).

CoupleofKooks · 29/04/2010 17:50

humphrey - sorry for hijack chaps!
yes i like deptford very much but salterton is just a joy - pure story telling and so funny and bitchy, (in a good way), while deptford is more brainy and more tortured!

i don't know if you like salinger? in a previous incarnation i was a salinger novel
also a big fan of john irving

lawrieislucky i have boasted about this before so fully expect etc
but i found out that wade minster (where nicola sang 'once in royal david's city', as a solo) is based on chichester cathedral (where i sang 'once in royal david's city' as a solo, when i was a gal)

MissCromwell · 29/04/2010 18:04

Just lurvvv this thread! I've got ALL her books except for Attic Term, tee hee. I read most of them as a child, but only owned a few so have bought the rest from GGB and have to say though have been a little disappointed with Falconers Lure and Run Away Home in particular. I love middle Forest the most, and Cricket Term is my all-time favourite. Though End of Term, Ready Made Family, Peter's Room...they are all fantastic.

I've even got the historicals, which are great especially The Players and the Rebels. Her Shakespeare is the best historical Shakespeare I've ever met. I'd say the historicals are definitely for adults though.

I love The Salterton Trilogy too! the last one, about Monica, is my favourite.

aJumpedUpPantryBoy · 29/04/2010 19:00

I love the fact that people have named their children after characters - I think it says a lot about the power of her writing.

I think the development of the characters is incredible - I would love to meet another AF fan in real life. DH bought me the whole set as a gift a few years ago - I was ridiculously excited and mentioned it to a colleague.
She said she had read a couple of the books. In what I considered to be an incredibly generous offer I said she could borrow mine and she refused sayng 'I don't read children's books'

aJumpedUpPantryBoy · 29/04/2010 19:04

CoupleofKooks - I think your claim to fame is brilliant - especially the fact it was the same carol.

One year at Christmas I chose 'Eddi's Service' for my class to perform as part of the Christmas service.

Original poster
tvaerialmagpiebin · 29/04/2010 20:25

W ought to have a AF meet-up.

Did anyone go to the Bournemouth conference?

Here is a link to the Livejournal stuff. There is also a lot of AF "fan fiction" where people write in the style of AF but I seem to have lost my links to that.

OP posts:
NoahAndTheWhale · 29/04/2010 21:26

CoupleofKooks I have just realised who you are

NoahAndTheWhale · 29/04/2010 21:27

My Ready Made Family disappeared for a few months but luckily appeared again.

aJumpedUpPantryBoy · 29/04/2010 21:33

Lankyalto - have you kissed your postman yet?

Did everyone else read the books in chronological order?

I didn't (read the school stories first) and I loved filling in the gaps when I read the others.
Things that had always bothered me - little things like the reappearnance of Regina in The Attic Term and the disappearnce of The Sprog between End of Term and Cricket were explained

I also loved the way that the farm log info and the Historical noevls linked together. In RMF Rose is comforted by the window in her room and the same window is mentioned by Nicolas.

cleanandclothed · 29/04/2010 21:38

I love them, especially The Players Boy and sequel. I haven't read The Thursday Kidnapping but I do have all the others. Is TTK worth buying?

Original poster
tvaerialmagpiebin · 29/04/2010 22:00

Bloody postman, no, he had better come up with the goods tomorrow.

I read RMF first, not really realising that they were part of a series. Then many years later I read Autumn Term, then Falconer's Lure, a bit later End of Term, Thuggery and Cricket Term.

Now I am waiting to fill in more gaps. Come on postie!!!

OP posts:
aJumpedUpPantryBoy · 29/04/2010 22:20

Cleanandclothed - I quite like TTK, but it isn't as good as the Marlow books (IMO)

When I read it as an adult I suddenly realised I had read it before (probably borrowed it from the library as a child) because bits were very familiar so it was obviously memorable but I hadn't realised it was the same author.

I suppose it depends how much it costs because I know AF books go for silly prices.

Lankyalto - I love Attic Term, I'm sure you will really enjoy it but you will need to read Run Away Home as it follows on directly from Attic Term.