To whom I wish long life still lengthened with all happiness

[rekraft.livejournal.com]

Will Shakspere's dedication of The Rape of Lucrece to Harry Southampton reminds me of the more cryptic dedications in Antonia Forest's own books - and the fact that one name keeps coming up.


Autumn Term - none
The Marlows and the Traitor - A. M. C. R.*
Falconer's Lure - Barbara Bower
End of Term - G. B. Stern
Peter's Room - Elizabeth my shanghai'd godmother with love and humble duty
The Thursday Kidnapping - David
The Thuggery Affair - Anthony C.**
The Ready-Made Family - Claire Hassard
The Player's Boy - Mr H. F. R.
The Players and the Rebels - Jason Hassard
The Cricket Term - Nicola Hassard
The Attic Term - P. B. T.
Run Away Home - Dorothy and Peter

* Any relation to P. G. C. K. R., I wonder?

** Forest also thanks J. and E. H. - in the absence of more information it is tempting to imagine more Hassards - for the use of their car registration number.


I apologise if this has been covered before, or if it comes across as a terrible invasion of the privacy of individuals whose identities Forest has clearly taken some pains to conceal - but I would be most interested if anyone knows anything about the other dedicatees and how they were important to her and her work.

One is clear enough (G. B. Stern), another explained (the shanghai'd godmother), and a third readily deducible (unless Forest had another Dorothy and Peter in mind); still others are so brief or cryptic one can't imagine where to begin.

And perhaps most of all I'm curious as to who the Hassards are - there are so many of them throughout the series they could almost rival the Marlows. There's even a Nicola Hassard - I wonder if she by any chance had the additional privilege of being immortalised as a Marlow -

And finally, a little by way of introduction - I used to be on GO, albeit mostly as a lurker, circa late '90s and early '00s, but simply couldn't keep up with the amount of traffic there after a while. Of course, that didn't stop me from re-reading my AFs on a regular basis or wondering idly about things like this, and so am glad to have found Trennels.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

The thing about Ginty and Catkin is that while we may see Ginty as unfairly lucky and privileged (especially in Peter's room, where she gets to be pretty, wear a Doris dress, own Catkin and flirt with Patrick), the adults are probably worried about her. She was the one who got buried during the Blitz, she had a particularly hard time during The Marlows and the Traitor, and she spent the previous holidays in the thrall of Unity Logan. The grown-ups are probably thinking that Ginty needs something to occupy her during the holidays - preferably something that will also teach her responsibility - and since she's shown signs of turning into a Pony Club type, why not buy her a pony? From the adult point of view, Nicola has hawking, Peter has various hobbies, and Lawrie doesn't need to be spoiled any more than she already is.

[rekraft.livejournal.com]

There's a point, or so the grown-ups hope at least - though it may just go to show that keeping a Marlovian stiff upper lip and coping on one's own doesn't pay off, even in their own family.