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trennels2006-04-18 12:14 pm
elizahonig.livejournal.com) wrote in trennels2006-04-18 12:14 pm
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Finding Antonia
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?
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?
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