K M Peyton has died.

[JubileeJumps]

I read her books voraciously as a teenager - waiting on tenterhooks for the next one to come out. She really was amazingly talented.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/02/km-peyton-obituary-kathleen-peyton?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I can still recall lying on my bed on holiday reading Flambards... how I'd love to be sucked into a book like that now.
Fabulous talent.

Loved them! She was a friend of the wonderful Antonia Forest too

I read all her books over and over. She just wrote so beautifully. I’m going to go back and reread them all - I still have all my well worn copies. The only one I didn’t ever reread was Dear Fred because it was just so heartbreaking.

I absolutely loved Flambards. I was at boarding school at the time - in a huge, rambling old house in extensive grounds on the edge of a village so it all felt very relatable 😊. We all crowded into the library/TV room to watch the TV adaptation every Sunday. I reread them all recently and they still pulled me in in just the same way. She was a wonderful, evocative writer.

Prove yourself a Hero was an amazing thriller.
Her books kept me going when I was miserable at school and incredibly lonely. Books give you so much comfort when life is hard and hers were a lifeline.

May I direct you to Jane Badger Books who has a lovely profile of KM Peyton and details of her books including cover illustrations. She put a post on her Facebook about the sad death with lots of information and genuine personal feeling.

Here we go, link to the Facebook page which contains a link to a longer article

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=774036828094378&id=100064642031731

Loved Flambards - both accessible for a young teen but felt “grown up”.

I had read her tribute but it’s great to read all the comments. Thanks so much for sharing.

Sad news. I liked Flambards, but my favourite of hers was Pennington’s Seventeenth Summer and its sequels. I recall having a bit of a crush on Pennington!

me too! I adored the Pennington books and fell completely in love with 'Penn'. I'd completely forgotten about them till you just mentioned his name.

Pennington was a great character. I definitely had a crush on him.

So true. The only thing that worked for me last night feeling miserable was starting a new book: Cecilia Ahern A place called here. Loving it.
NY resolution to read more books so I'll try these thank you

I was a huge Pennington fan, but I also liked the way she wove in the Fly-By-Night and Prive Yourself a Hero characters with them. I liked some of her early sailing books, too, and have a couple of her books for adults.

I absolutely love K M Peyton books. She was a superb writer. I am presently trying to read them all and apparently she wrote about seventy. They never disappoint. The characters, plot, description, language is all wonderful. So passionate too. They aren't all about horses, there's murder, music, adventure, history too. She deserves to be more well-known I feel. It's always the make writers that get all the attention. Her writing is written from a woman's perspective.

Oh I adored her books, flambards, fly-by-night and darkling were my favourites.

Oh, KM Peyton, I loved her novels. I felt like they were my own discovery - not given by my parents or kept in the school library, but I found her books in our public library and went through the lot. I got totally lost in Flambards. I was so excited when they made a TV series of it.

Ohh I think I've found a new author!

She really did seem to talk about the things I was interested in. I found her because I was reading lots of horse books. Josephine Pullein Thompson and Christine Pullein Thompson. Then I read Fly by Night and I was blown away. I really need to read them again. She also wrote some brilliant women and young women characters.

I went to a really rough London comprehensive and I was very lonely at times. Reading was such a saviour - I really wanted to talk to people about how much I loved K M Peyton but had no one to talk to so it’s lovely so many people have replied to this.
I do appreciate how tragic that sounds.

My school years would have been awful without reading. An escape from all the angst to worlds of endless possibilities. Absolutely loved this author.

I only wish my teens could understand what they’re missing!

I enjoyed her books so much, do you remember "who sir, me sir" which was televised - I think my non horsey son might enjoy that!

I loved the Pennington books, and Ruth was a great character too. I didn't know she was friends with Antonia Forest - what an amazing pair, their conversations must have been fascinating.

I read her books as a teenager and loved them. I remember one of her horsey books, where the girl is having her period and it was the FIRST TIME I had ever read a book where periods were even mentioned! (This was mid 70s from recollection and YA books didn't deal with the everyday quite as much back then).

I loved her books as a teenager. Flambards was a top favourite.

She had a wonderful talent.