Review: Autumn Term by Antonia Forest

Published: 1948
Series: The Marlows #1
First Read: Sometime before 2004
Times Read: 3
Status: Owned book (my edition: Faber, 2000)
Reason I Read It: I'd been told Antonia Forest is the Jane Austen of school stories - I was not disappointed.

Synopsis: Twins Nicola and Lawrie are the youngest of six sisters to start at Kingscote School.  They are determined to do as well as their elder sisters, but things do not go to plan.

First Line: "Train journeys, Nicola decided, were awfully dull."

Review: Rereading this book I was surprised by how many elements of the later books are present here, not just the brilliance of the writing and dialogue, but also in the characters and plotlines that are emerging.  There's Lois Sanger and her feud with Rowan and later Nicola; there's Marie Dobson and her general air of desperation; and there's even Miss Cromwell and her hatred of prefects.  All sorts of events are here which are going to affect later plots, but the book itself is self-contained.

The plot itself is fairly simple, as shown in the above synopsis.  Everything Nicola and Lawrie try to succeed in - entrance exams, sports, Guides - fails, either because of their own lack of education (they're behind because they've been ill a lot as children) or because of other people's actions.  Nothing happens that is beyond the bounds of reality, except that it's a fairly eventful term, and there are no sudden miraculous changes of fortune at the end.  The success that is achieved at the end is the result of the twins' own hard work and abilities, when they decide to do something they want to do instead of trying to emulate their sisters. 

If there is a fault with the novel, it's that Ginty and Karen Marlow aren't as fleshed out as they later will be.  They're still believable and differentiated from the rest of the family, but they aren't given the same attention as Rowan and Ann.  I think this may be because Forest planned to do a series in which each member of the family was focused on in turn, so she purposefully left them 'blanker' in order to utilise the others more.  It isn't a weakness of the novel for a first time reader, but as I've read the whole series I'm looking for things - especially from Ginty (bah, The Attic Term, bah!) - which aren't yet apparent.

For a first novel, this is a fantastic book.  I'd recommend it to someone even if they don't read school stories, albeit with the knowledge that the series is only going to get better as it progresses.

Five Reasons I Love It:
1) It takes school story cliches and plays with them.  Everything the twins try to do that is inkeeping with a recognised school story trope fails miserably.  There's even a point at which Lawrie imagines saving Lois from drowning, and then "a feverish and conscience-stricken Lois would...confess everything" (143), only Lawrie isn't really going to follow the traditional storyline, she's going to "jolly well let her drown.  And I'd let her see I was letting her drown, what's more" (143).  There aren't many school stories in which a heroine would have such thoughts, or in which she would be allowed to go unpunished for even thinking such a terrible thing.

2) Rowan Marlow and her snarky glory.  It continues to grow - my favourite future line is "my grief would be consolable" - but is already on display here, such as when she concedes a point to Ginty: "[a]ll right...[y]ou didn't cry.  It was an extraordinary coincidence that just that week you had such a very bad cold" (20).

3) The 'villains' are believable.  They're not hideous pantomime types, doing things because they're evil and devious and have no morals whatsoever.  A lot of the time, they're causing problems and dropping other people in it because they're trying to save their own skins - Marie Dobson is a particular example of this.  They're villains because they're weak, and it's this weakness (as well as Forest's strength as a writer) that prevents them from having redemptive moments in which they're 'fixed'.

4) All of the prose, especially the dialogue.  It's so finely crafted yet doesn't feel forced.  As I said above, Antonia Forest is often compared to Jane Austen and I think this, along with her ironic view of everything, is part of the reason.

5) The occasional flashes of insight: "[she]...was affected by the...uncertain feeling of guilt which arises from seeing one's secret ill-wishing regarding other people come true" (159) or "one couldn't...suddenly like people just because everyone else did, or forget that they had been fairly swinish, even if they were doing their best now" (241).  It ties in with how great the characters are, but everyone gets some deeper moments of characterisation, even if its only for a moment.  All of it adds depth.

Next: The Marlows and the Traitor (scheduled for Saturday 24th September)

Focus On: Antonia Forest

In March I read The Marlows and the Traitor, the second in the Marlows series by Antonia Forest and the last book of hers I had left to read.  This did not fill me with joy.  She's one of those writers who never wrote nearly enough to satisfy her fans, even though she wrote ten books over the course of 34 years, and even though they are all quite long for children's books.  All but one of her books focus on the Marlow family; four are school stories; two are historical; and they all feature wonderful prose, believable characters and an ironic view of the world. 

Unlike a lot of school stories, Kingscote is a real school: no wonderfully understanding headmistress, no jolly nice prefects, and no guarantee that the 'villains' will be punished at the end.  The girls are teenage girls, with cliques, rivalries, and friendships that often include cruel words and painful ostracism.  Within the Marlow family there are favourites, arguments and misunderstandings.  Even Nicola, the heroine, is not saved from being wrong or spared ironic representation. 

To summarise: I am a massive fan of these books.

So, I'm going to have a reread.  First the present day Marlow series, then the two historical novels, and finally The Thursday Kidnapping, the standalone book.

The Marlows series
Published between 1948 and 1982, the books only cover two and a half years in the lives of the characters but are all set during the time in which they were written.  The series starts with references to the Blitz and ends with characters watching Morecambe and Wise.  There are seven books in the series: four school stories and three 'holiday' books, although the events of these last range from spies to gymkhanas.

Autumn Term (1948)
The Marlows and the Traitor (1953)
Falconer's Lure (1957)
End of Term (1959)
Peter's Room (1961)
The Thuggery Affair (1965)
The Ready-Made Family (1967)
The Cricket Term (1974)
The Attic Term (1976)
Run Away Home (1982)

Historical novels
The Player's Boy (1970) and The Players and the Rebels (1971) are really one book split in half for length.  They're set in the later years of Elizabeth I, are mentioned in the main series, and feature Shakespeare, Marlow and the Essex Rebellion.

The Thursday Kidnapping
Published in 1963 this is the only book by Antonia Forest not to feature the Marlow family.  It is set in Hampstead Heath, where she grew up, and features one of the most painfully accurate portrayals of a lonely girl I've ever read.

Of all these books, my favourite is The Cricket Term - though whether that will change when I've reread them all, I don't know.  I suspect it won't, but you never know.

Later: Autumn Term, which I haven't read all the way through for ages.

Friday Favourites: Top Five School Story Authors

As I'm starting a new series of posts tomorrow focusing on Antonia Forest, I thought I'd start doing Friday Favourite: Top Fives with a list of my top five school story authors.

I'm not sure why I love school stories so much.  Possibly because I first started reading them as a teenager when my life was hellish and they offered an ideal escape.  Possibly because a lot of them are set in between the world wars and there's something I love about that period.  Or possibly because my earliest 'big book' was The Worst Witch, so that got me thinking of school stories as special (that and schools where you learn magic).

1) Antonia Forest.  Obviously.  Given that I'm about to start reviewing all of her books, I won't say any more here except that she is an aberration in my school story love as her books are frequently lacking in any idyllic happiness.  Things are happy, but they're never as perfect or easily resolved as in other author's work.  Favourite book: The Cricket Term.

2) Elinor M. Brent-Dyer.  She wrote a lot of short series, some standalones, and one monster of a series, The Chalet School, which is 58 books in hardback, even more in paperback thanks to Armada and their belief that children don't read long books so they'd better split some titles in two.  The series covers over four decades and travels around Europe, from Austria to Guernsey to Britain and finally Switzerland.  Incredibly idealised in places, lots of girls almost dying and having to be rescued by other girls, but incredibly enjoyable.  Favourite book: The Chalet School in Exile, though all of the early books are wonderful.

3) Dorita Fairlie Bruce.  Five distinct series, four of them school stories although these all continue to focus on the characters after they leave school.  The series often interconnect, so that Dimsie will suddenly rock up at Springdale to help people out or two of the schools will play matches against each other.  Favourite book: Captain at Springdale.

4) Elsie J. Oxenham.  Lots of interconnected series, with major characters in one becoming minor characters in others.  There are charts and reading orders for all of the connections, which are confusing to say the least.  A lot of her books are out of print (and some cost a small fortune to find as they were only printed once) but those I have been able to get my hands on are worth reading.  Favourite book: The Girls of the Hamlet Club (even if I have to read it as loose sheets of photocopied paper because an actual book is out of my price range).

5) Josephine Elder.  I have to admit I've only read one of her books but it was superlative.  Like Antonia Forest, she writes a much more realistic version of school and growing up - I'd dare to say it's more 'modern' than the other authors, in that the interactions between characters feel more real: they're real teenage girls, which isn't always pretty.  I do have a couple more of her books on my shelf (thank you, Girls Gone By) and hope they're as good as my 'favourite' book: Evelyn Finds Herself.