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

[antfan.livejournal.com]

I also feels Mrs M changes during the series - that at the start she is much more of a stock story book mother - fairly deferential to her husband, slightly fussing over her children, very domestic, rather bland in other words. It's just "darling" this and "darling" that. And so in keeping with that maybe bundling her off in M and the T is just yet more story book convention (I agree with you it seems pretty irresponsible).

By contrast I think from End of Term on she comes much more alive - for a start she is much more (realistically to my mind) ratty with her children. She can really be pretty snarly, plus she has her interesting tension-filled relationship with her mother, plus back story of elopement, hunting etc - really comes to life.

But then that's probably just me - I'm not crazy about the earlier holiday books generally, maybe because I didn't own copies until recently (I did read them once from the library as a child) and so the more old-fashioned family I find there seems alien to me. I know lots of people on Trennels adore Falconer's Lure in particular.

[rekraft.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like how Mrs Marlow starts getting a rich back-story of her own - I know I was as fascinated as her sprogs were whenever these snatches of her past life came to light. Randomly it brings to mind the movie An Education (which set off Karen Marlow bells when I first heard about it - 1960s, bright swot ditching Oxford for older man - unfortunately the resemblance ends there) where the mother starts getting lippy with her husband with a retort along the lines of "I did have a life, at least before we married!" But I digress.

I had the good fortune to find The Marlows and the Traitor and Falconer's Lure quite early on. But I admit I'm not as partial to The Marlows and the Traitor myself - the book is a pleasure to read for her brilliant characterisation of Anquetil and Foley, but in the larger scheme of things the Marlows are just sculling around still, as the author says in a not-too-different context - but it's precisely that. For me, Falconer's Lure is in fact the point where things start feeling familiar - this and End of Term are the first books in the series with a distinct sense of the history, setting and themes that ground the later ones.

[antfan.livejournal.com]

I think you're right essentially - yes, I'd say End of Term is where it really starts and the characters suddenly feel really authentically themselves. I've read FL twice since getting my GGB edition, and liked it a lot more the second time - so maybe I'll like it still better if I give it another go.