Antonia Forest fans

You're right in a way - obviously what would have seemed appropriate in one period is quite outrageous a bit later. (There's also the fact that probably all of us know that Rowan won't turn out to be happy with her choice, and that's maybe colouring our responses.) But - I'm not sure that's sufficient explanation, really. Because when she's writing about Kingscote, Forest is very subversive of established values right from the start. There's no sense of the girls worshipping the headteacher or prefects, for example - it's fairly clear that Miss Keith, Miss Cromwell, Miss Redmond et al are fallible and capable of being unfair, and that the girls know this, and no sacrificing oneself for the sake of the school kind of moral code. The hierarchy is often poked fun at.

BUT then suddenly in the family setting we have Daddy is perfect, Big Brother Giles is perfect, and of course a mere girl like Rowan should sacrfice herself for the greater good of their naval careers. It's this kind of attitude that grates on me - an assumed respect for traditional hierarchy and authority that Autumn Term so gloriously disregards. It's as if my exapectations of Forest that have been created as a reader in the earlier books are being now disappointed - she's gone all Chalet School on me somehow.