The twins' first 12 years

[colne-dsr.livejournal.com]

What exactly did happen to the twins in their first 12 years? We know they went to Kingscote for the first time at that age, having been ill every time they tried school before that. Clearly they never tried Kingscote before - they presumably went to London day schools. How seriously ill were they? Is that why Lawrie can't sing? Why do they go from semi-permanent illness up to age 11 and a half, in wartime and mostly pre-antibiotic, to mother's apparent unconcern what they're up to at age 13 in Falconer's Lure? Has anyone ever written a prequel fanfic?

Marlows as Children

[res23.livejournal.com]

Let's hope this works. I have finally remembered my user name, but it's taken me ages to remember how to post a new message instead of a comment...

Anyway, I've always wondered what the various Marlow siblings were like as children, and a comment in the thread below about prequels made me think about it even more. I find the twins different in Autumn Term than pretty much everywhere else, somehow very much younger (Nick jumping out of the train, etc). And I'd be curious about how much all the others changed as they grew up, too. It would be easiest to write a prequel with them all much as they are now - Ann being very good, Rowan still supremely confident, Kay very academic, but I think that would be losing something. Was Rowan as insecure as Nick sometimes is about her capabilities? Was Ann always so at peace with helping everyone, or did she sometimes resent it more as a child? Was Karen ever silly? How did Ginty's bomb shelter experience change her? Was she always pretty, and did she notice as a child, or is some of her shallowness later on a result of that? What was Lawrie like before she realised she was supremely good at acting? (and indeed, was that actually known before the play in Autumn Term? It seemed like it was really sort of discovered then - was Nick always seen as the one who was best at everything before then?) Did Peter hide his fears just as well as a child? (I guess we get some clues in Falconer's Lure, that Patrick at least knew some of them. Come to that, we also hear a little about Nick as a child in that one too, wanting to trail after the boys), and a million other similar questions... So, what do you think all the characters were like as children??