Only the Best Books for Children.

...'that which we are we are:

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by by time & fate but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, & not to yield.' Tennyson

Every so often an author comes along whose work pierces into one's very marrow leaving you breathless for more. It is rare in an adult work, even rarer in children's literature. It was my good fortune to stumble upon one of the most brilliant writer's ever for children while I was still a child & I still read her work with amazement & pleasure. Her name : Antonia Forest.


Antonia Forest is the name she chose to be known by as a writer, though it is not her private name. I will use it because it is the name I know her by & the other really doesn't matter. Intensely private, to the point even her publisher's didn't know her real name, Forest wanted to write for adults. She was rejected 3 times & turned to children's literature to *get a foot in the door*. She never did write that adult novel. It doesn't matter. The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books lists her in its first section on neglected works. She has been compared more than favourably with Arthur Ransome [Swallows & Amazons] & Noel Streatfield [Ballet Shoes] & even Jane Austen! I prefer her to all of them!


So what is it about Forest that makes her so good? Firstly I have rarely read an author with such a good grasp on character. Everyone agrees characterization is one of Forest's great strengths. All her characters, even quite minor characters, are fully developed 3~dimensional characters you'd recognize immediately if you bumped into them in the street, or the classroom or church. They have strengths & flaws in an interesting mix & they are juxtaposed with characters who think & act very differently. The honourable & oh so trustworthy Nicola, arriving at boarding for the first time & cautioned by her extremely large family not to create waves just because her sister is Head Girl, strikes up an immediate friendship with *Tim*, who thinks nothing of helping herself to the pears in the Head's private garden because, after all, she is the headmistress' niece & there should be some perks to that. Wavering between her family's indeterminate Anglicism & downright agnosticism Nicola's best home friend is old tradition Catholic. This juxtaposition makes for multi~layered personalities, multi~layered plotting, interesting subtexts & a whole plethora of historical information in passing. If it were not for Forest I would most likely never have heard of the Blessed Edmund Campion or Hakluyt. I first came across The Lyke~Wake Dirge in End of Term & the Bronte's imaginary world in Peter's Room. It makes me seem a lot better educated than I actually am!


Forest also has an exceptionally good ear for dialogue. I'll even forgive her use of outrageous slang in The Thuggery Affair, overtones of A Clockwork Orange's dialect. She is keenly attuned to the short pithy comments children instinctively pick up on & then bandy about as catch~phrases for weeks on end: Blood for breakfast; I am not my brother's keeper; one coughing bear.


Along with characterisation Forest has an unerring feel for the internal dynamics that drive large families & school friendships. Nicola's *Family Liking List* is outrageous & true enough to sting. Her twin's watery manipulation as the youngest of a long, long tail is both aggravating & funny. I find the tension between the need to maintain the *twin thing* & the need to be a separate individual of the two central characters particularly well drawn.


At least half of Forest's books are essentially school stories. I hate calling them that because they are so much more than your standard school story & Forest's greatest strength after characterisation is her grasp on reality. Nothing happens that is not essentially possible. This gives her books a hard gritty edginess that is unusual for children's books, especially children's books of the time Forest first began writing. The other books are set on the family farm but cover a range of interesting topics that quite simply fascinated & intrigued me: hawking; pigeon racing; The Brontes imaginary world; the British navy; English history...


Best of all she is subtle & just plain funny.


Miss Cromwell presented Nicola with a postcard & said, alarmingly genial, " Describe this to me."


Experience of Miss Cromwell suggested that that this apparently absurd order should be obeyed literally. Nicola said, " It's a card from Colebridge library ~ about overdue books~"


"So far, correct."


"They sent it to home & ~ it must be Rowan sent it on. She's put~" Nicola deciphered a sisterly scribble ~ "Action this day."


"Very apt. Go on."


"D'you mean you want me to read all the printed bit?"


"No. That can be taken as read."


"I don't~oh~you mean it's addressed to Miss K. Marlow? Well~ I expect they don't know she's married yet ~ & p'raps the book was out on her ticket ~ they do get mixed up~"


"Understandably. And suppose we now come to the particular objects of this exercise?"


"Oh, you mean the books," said Nicola, enlightened. "Ramage & ~oh!"


"Exactly Ramage I recall. Who brought back the Mask of Apollo?"


"It's a fair cop," said Nicola ruefully, a split second before it occurred to her that very few people indeed survived that kind of cheek with Crommie.


All my copies are in tattered pieces. They have been well loved & read to death. People who read Antonia Forest don't let their cherished copies go so second hand copies of her out of print books are rare & difficult to find. I think Penguin has been reprinting the school stories, which are not actually my favourites, but any port in a storm. This is an author not to be missed by anyone who loves & appreciates quality children's literature.