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?

Comments

[res23.livejournal.com]

oh dear, I'm sorry, I've posted practically the same message just about yours, at about the same time. Your question is more about the actual plot, though, and particularly the twins' stories, whereas mine was meant to be about the characters of all the Marlows and how they changed.

[res23.livejournal.com]

But in answer to your question.. I don't know how seriously they were ill, but it seems like a lot of children were kept away from particularly boarding schools in that time, if they'd been prone to lots of infections etc. There seem to be a lot more cases of just being 'delicate'. And of course it makes a good excuse for not having to write about them joining the school at the same time as everyone else, which is often not so interesting!

To some extent singing ability is presumably genetic, but there are likely lots of environmental factors as well, as it needs not just physiological characteristics but also personality factors, such as motivation, ability to listen, and so forth. I can see Lawrie's ability to hear, perceive pitch, etc. being damaged in various illnesses (scarlet fever, measles, meningitis, etc), but also, I can see personality differences between the twins as being part of it. A huge factor in singing is the ability to listen to yourself and determine how well you fit in to the sounds around you and/or a fixed pitch, and I don't see listening being one of Lawrie's strengths in general! Of course to imitate voices she has to, but somehow that's different - she's still the star that way, whereas for singing, you're matching your voice to some predetermined standard, which takes a lot of listening (is this making any sense whatsoever??!). And then so much of music is just interest and practice, and if Nicola showed more talent in something, I can see Lawrie just turning off, and deciding she "can't" do it, and therefore never getting any better.

[elizahonig.livejournal.com]

In one of my several unanswered fan letters to AF, written over a period of many years, I suggested that she herself should go back and write a book about Karen and Rowan's early years at Kingscote, when they were about the age of the twins in the first book. Clearly there is an imaginative need for such a work and were I capable of writing fanfic, I'd give it a try myself.