Finding Antonia

[elizahonig.livejournal.com]

DandyinChina mentioned, on a thread over at *Esther's Term,* final chapter, that A. Forest is completely obscure in Germany but a friend whose literary tastes she liked had recommended her. I wondered how everyone else found Antonia, who isn't blazingly famous (as she deserves to be) even in the English-speaking world. Certainly I have never met a single American who has read her works, except people to whom I recommended them.

Here's my story. I was in London in 1971, aged 12, with my parents. They deposited me at Foyles for, as I recall, several hours, while they did other business in town. They said that I could choose five books. I had a long time to consider, and chose Ruth Arthur's *A Candle in her Room,* Brian Fairfax-Lucy and Philippa Peirce's *The Children of the House,* Norah Lofts's *The Story of Maude Reede*, and Antonia Forest's *End of Term*. (I'm forgetting the fifth, but it was good too.) There was a list in the Forest book of all her other works, and over the following years my father would order them from Foyles as my Christmas presents. I found the last ones when I was travelling in England myself, some years later. Now I have a complete set in America (including *Thursday Kidnapping* and the Elizabethan books) and about 1/2 of another set at my Amsterdam apartment, just in case I need a fix while I'm there.

I am proud to have once introduced a scholarly art history article (published in French, Flemish, and English) with a quotation from *Autumn Term,* the one where Tim compares her father and Mrs. Todd as a person who paints vs. a merely "artistic" person. That's why I was so pleased to see him "live" in *Esther's Term.*

Any other stories? Or was Antonia Forest a quite obvious choice for everybody else?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I first came across her in one of those anthologies of school stories, when I was about 10. It's only more recently that I've realised how strange it was that her writing was included in an anthology published around 1990. The "story" was the first chapter of Autumn Term, which impressed me enough to seek out the rest of the book. The school library only had Autumn Term and The Cricket Term, and like everyone else they inspired me to try Mary Renault and Thackeray and Stevenson's Master of Ballantrae.

Rather uncommonly, my local library (in NZ) had all the Antonia Forest books, including the Elizabethan ones, and I regularly got them out. Probably I was the only one though, because last time I checked they'd been moved to the stacks. Maybe they've been sold off, now.

[elizahonig.livejournal.com]

Yes, I recently came across that anthology and was struck by the inclusion of *Autumn Term.* It's the first item in the book and the only one that's a chapter rather than a short story. The editor clearly just couldn't bear to leave her out of a collection of school fiction. There are a couple of other cute stories in that book but of course nothing of Forest's literary quality....
I don't even remember the Marlows reading Mary Renault. I do remember the Thackeray. I memorized all the poems Lawrie (and Patrick) recited and read whichever Jane Austin novel Nicola claims she's not too young for--wasn't it *Persuasion*? I must already have been deeply into Sayers by the time I got to *Ready-Made Family* because I remember appreciating the reference. Do children's books ever have adult literary references any more? I've got a reference to Shaw in mine but wonder if anyone will get it.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't actually remember anything at all about the other stories, except that by and large they were far more recent. I don't remember anything at all about the anthology, in fact, except for Antonia Forest, but in spite of that I can't count it a complete waste.
Mary Renault's "Mask of Apollo" features prominently in The Cricket Term; it's the "limited" book that Nicola smuggles back to school and gets in trouble for, which naturally made me go and seek it out immediately. Its shockingness went over my head, unfortunately. Or possibly it's no longer considered especially shocking.
And I don't know how much children's books really did have adult literary references. I have the impression that it was very much one of Forest's signatures, that she could have well-read characters and didn't need to dumb things down for the reader.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a shame! I was hoping that there was an AF short story out there.