Flambards
Amy E. Mossman
I picked up "Flambards Divided" at a book sale a few weeks ago. I had
read the first three in an all-in-one edition that came out just after
the TV production but I only learned about the 4th book recently. Now,
it has been a while since I read the first three but this one seems
different. I'm only about halfway through but I don't feel like these
are the same characters. I will probably need to go back and reread
the first but I wonder if anyone else had a similiar impression.
Amy Mossman
amos...@cfa.harvard.edu
Deborah Stevenson
Everybody I know feels that way (well, everybody I know who's uttered an
opinion on the matter :-)). My best friend's theory is that Peyton saw
the Flambards series and liked Mark so much better than Dick that she
felt she had to rectify the situation. That's probably not true, but
it's an idea I find intriguing.
Deborah Stevenson
(stev...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu)
Wendy E. Betts
In article <4u8eo4$p...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>,
Heheh....from what I remember of the Flambards series, that sounds all
too likely! The Dick character was terribly cast, totally
unattractive. I remember the Christina as being very good.
Unfortunately, it's been years...I'd love to see it again.
--
w...@deeptht.armory.com
Wendy E. Betts, Editor "The WEB: Celebrating Children's Literature"
See a sample of our last issue at http://www.armory.com/~web/web.html
Alayne McGregor
SPOILERS INCLUDED for Flambards Divided
>>In <320790...@cfa.harvard.edu> "Amy E. Mossman" <amos...@cfa.harvard.edu> writes:
>>
>>>I picked up "Flambards Divided" at a book sale a few weeks ago. I had
>>>read the first three in an all-in-one edition that came out just after
>>>the TV production but I only learned about the 4th book recently. Now,
>>>it has been a while since I read the first three but this one seems
>>>different. I'm only about halfway through but I don't feel like these
>>>are the same characters. I will probably need to go back and reread
>>>the first but I wonder if anyone else had a similiar impression.
I was horribly disappointed with the ending of Flambards Divided. It
seemed totally wrong, because Mark hadn't changed -- and it didn't appear
as though Christina would be happy with him. It was unfair to Dick, as well.
Anyone think the ending was a bit class-conscious, too?
--
Alayne McGregor aa...@freenet.carleton.ca
ala...@ve3pak.ocunix.on.ca
mcgr...@cognos.com
Pat Noone
I felt exactly the same way. I picked up _Divided_ while I was hiking in
England, very excited to have found a book that, at that time, I couldn't
find in the States. I ended up skimming it and abandoning it in a B & B.
I thought, Who are these people? All of sudden Dick's peasant soul is
coming out ??!! I liked the theory that it was written to rehabilitate
Mark because he had become more popular. I can't say I'm looking forward
to another--the idea of Mark as stepfather to Tizzy and Isabelle gives me
the shudders.
Amy E. Mossman
Deborah Stevenson wrote:
>
> In <320790...@cfa.harvard.edu> "Amy E. Mossman" <amos...@cfa.harvard.edu> writes:
>
> >I picked up "Flambards Divided" at a book sale a few weeks ago. I had
>
> >different. I'm only about halfway through but I don't feel like these
> >are the same characters. I will probably need to go back and reread
> >the first but I wonder if anyone else had a similiar impression.
>
> opinion on the matter :-)). My best friend's theory is that Peyton saw
> the Flambards series and liked Mark so much better than Dick that she
> felt she had to rectify the situation. That's probably not true, but
> it's an idea I find intriguing.
>
Mark is such a rouge in the TV series. I can see the appeal but I
was happy with Christina having a close but more brotherly relationship
with him. I thought Dorothy would keep him in line better.
I just finished "Divided" yesterday and I have to say that
'dissapointed' is the word that first crosses my mind. It just
did not seem like any continuation of the books I had read before.
The writing was very stilted, the dialogue silly at times and the
characters didn't seem to bear any resemblance to the ones I read
about before. I didn't think Christina and Dick getting married
at the end of the third book as a great thing but nothing would
have prepared me for how rotten it turned out in the fourth book.
I also refused to believe at any time that Mark truly loved Christina
and had loved her for years. The final few chapters of the book
really left me cold with the can't marry your brother-in-law
stuff.
I guess I'll have to go back and reread the first. I loved William
and Christina at the Hunt Ball. It was very adorable.
Amy Mossman
amos...@cfa.harvard.edu
Sterling Hada
> Heheh....from what I remember of the Flambards series, that sounds all
> too likely! The Dick character was terribly cast, totally
> unattractive. I remember the Christina as being very good.
> Unfortunately, it's been years...I'd love to see it again.
> --
> w...@deeptht.armory.com
>
> Wendy E. Betts, Editor "The WEB: Celebrating Children's Literature"
I loved that series, too. It was a real sleeper, unfortunately; it didn't
receive the attention and accolades of other BBC productions from that
time period (Jewel in the Crown, I, Claudius). Nevertheless, I still
thought it was a gem. In some respects, it reminds me of a more recent BBC
production that I saw last year: "The Cinder Path."
I realize that this is off-topic for this newsgroup, but the series are
available on video, in a 6-volume set. I've seen them in at least two
video stores around here, and several on-line video companies have
advertised them.
--
92.5% pure. It's that other 7.5% you have to worry about.
MDIMAND
aa...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Alayne McGregor) wrote:
>SPOILERS INCLUDED for Flambards Divided
[and therefore some space left here]
>I was horribly disappointed with the ending of Flambards Divided. It
>seemed totally wrong, because Mark hadn't changed -- and it didn't appear
>as though Christina would be happy with him. It was unfair to Dick, as well.
>Anyone think the ending was a bit class-conscious, too?
Hi, Alayne (and everyone else)!
When I first read Flambards Divided, I was also at least saddened by
the Dick story, and bothered by the idea of any sane person marrying
Mark. (Gee that sounds like a gibe at Dorothy, and I didn't mean that!
But on the other hand, she never really seemed like a whole person to
me.)
I chewed hard, and came up with the following. The first three books
are, as much as anything, about a change from an Edwardian pre-War era
to one of more mobility and a chance for new roles. I wondered if
perhaps Peyton has decided that as radical a change as a *successful*
marriage between Christina and Dick could pan out, post-War. That it
would be superior social realism to suggest that despite their good
will and love, it was far from likely to work out in the environment
they both inhabited.
Class pervades all the novels, even the second (with Clouds in the
title-- Clouds Over Flambards?), in which Christina is a Different
chambermaid because of her class. Class is an idea Peyton plays with
throughout the novel.
*grin* Perhaps Will could have successfully married a lower-class
woman. I still miss Will.
Mary Ann
(I also find the television-theory attractive, though.)
Judi Smith
do you suppose there's any way to find OUT?
--
Judi Smith no that's not love
jsmith@bcfreenet. 'cause you don't feel good inside
seflin.lib.fl.us i don't know what it is,
but that's not love
"why'd you untie -- keb' mo'
your pants?@*!" -- gene
Ailsa Jenkins
ha...@tcsi.com (Sterling Hada) wrote:
> In article <4u8gkb$f...@news.scruz.net>, w...@armory.com (Wendy E. Betts) wrote:
>
> > Heheh....from what I remember of the Flambards series, that sounds all
> > too likely! The Dick character was terribly cast, totally
> > unattractive. I remember the Christina as being very good.
> > Unfortunately, it's been years...I'd love to see it again.
>
> receive the attention and accolades of other BBC productions from that
> time period (Jewel in the Crown, I, Claudius).
A slight correction... it was made by Yorkshire TV. The locations
were all Yorkshire though I never did work out where precisely.
Brits who are lucky enough to have have cable tv can re-watch it on
Carlton Select.
> Nevertheless, I still thought it was a gem.
It still is. It has worn very well.
> I realize that this is off-topic for this newsgroup, but the series are
> available on video, in a 6-volume set. I've seen them in at least two
> video stores around here, and several on-line video companies have
> advertised them.
A good investment IMHO.
AJ - traveller in time
Ailsa Jenkins, ARKhive productions
<ark...@apusapus.demon.co.uk>
BoxHill
I'm glad to see someone discussing K.M. Peyton, whom I adore, even if I
disagree with almost everything everyone has said! <VGB>
I thought that the actress cast as Christina was terrible (there was no
earthly reason for all those boys to have desperately wanted such a
plodder), but the Dick quite good, Will excellent, and Mark the best one
could have hoped for, give that the producers seemed to want to make the
whole thing somehow blander than the books.
As to class conciousness, well of course it was class conscious: that was
a fact of life in the era Peyton was writing about. As it is now, of
course, but really an insuperable barrier then. In fact, I found it just
about unbelievable that Christina would actually MARRY Dick and that they
would make a go of it. The fact that their marriage subsequently failed
did not, therefore, surprise me--although the perhaps all-too-realistic
manner in which it did was something one would expect to find in an adult
book, not in YA fiction.
Has anyone else read the Pennington books? (The Beethoven Medal,
Pennington's Heir, etc) They are my favorite Peytons, but seem to engender
little discussion.
Janet
//Dear Artemesia! Poetry's a snare:
//Bedlam has many Mansions: have a care:
//Your Muse diverts you, makes the Reader sad:
//You think your self inspir'd; He thinks you mad.
Britt Kammerer
ark...@apusapus.demon.co.uk (Ailsa Jenkins) wrote:
>ha...@tcsi.com (Sterling Hada) wrote:
>> In article <4u8gkb$f...@news.scruz.net>, w...@armory.com (Wendy E. Betts) wrote:
>>
>> > Heheh....from what I remember of the Flambards series, that sounds all
>> > too likely! The Dick character was terribly cast, totally
>> > unattractive. I remember the Christina as being very good.
>> > Unfortunately, it's been years...I'd love to see it again.
>>
>> I loved that series, too. It was a real sleeper, unfortunately; it didn't
>> receive the attention and accolades of other BBC productions from that
>> time period (Jewel in the Crown, I, Claudius).
>
>A slight correction... it was made by Yorkshire TV. The locations
>were all Yorkshire though I never did work out where precisely.
>
>Brits who are lucky enough to have have cable tv can re-watch it on
>Carlton Select.
You could also contact your local PBS station and ask them to re-run the
series. They do respond to requests! Out local PBS station KCTS here in
Seattle is currently re-running they series, primarily due to public
request.
Britt
ConMartin
I agree with those who felt they were reading about totally different
characters in F Divided. However, just as the husband and wife writing
team returned to Flambards for the fourth book after several years so too
did I - so I guess I felt somewhat differently reading the book as an
adult from reading the first three at 11 or 12. I do like the theory
mini-series theory for the rehabilitation of Mark <g>.
However, my feelings toward all the characters changed in F Divided, which
I am just now fully recognizing. I found Christina (whom I previously
loved dearly) quite irritating, Dick repulsive, Dorothy annoying, and Mark
oddly appealing (and surprisingly sexy despite his wounds) albeit
infuriating too. And Mark's bastard child was such a brat it was hard to
like him.
My mother felt that the more the author thought about Christina and Will
the less she/they thought it would have worked.
I think the first two were the best and yet F Divided offered such an
interesting view of the post-war world. Fergus and his lady friend were
such fun characters. Has anyone read Pat Barker by way of contrast?
I never saw the mini-series but just joined the Museum of Broadcasting so
will have to see if they have it in their archives.
Constance
Adam Atkinson
Flambards is (or has been, recently) on a cable TV channel here in the UK.
What else has Christine McKenna done?
Adam Atkinson - gh...@mistral.co.uk / etl...@etlxdmx.ericsson.se
If I were a fuzzy-wuzzy bear, 3 would be a perfect square.
If I were a bumble bee, Z would be a UFD.
AJH
In article <321749bd...@news.demon.co.uk>, Ailsa Jenkins
<ark...@apusapus.demon.co.uk> writes
>Brits who are lucky enough to have have cable tv can re-watch it on
>Carlton Select.
>
--
AJH
Wendy E. Betts
In article <4vb91e$g...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
ConMartin <conm...@aol.com> wrote:
>My mother felt that the more the author thought about Christina and Will
>the less she/they thought it would have worked.
I always had the impression she thought that all along. To me,
Christina and Will's relationship is an excellent portrayal of a
kind of love in which the participants really aren't connected in any
real way. It's so much like my first serious love affair, in which I
always felt like I was hiding my true self and playing a part. I don't
know if Peyton killed off Will because she didn't want to deal with
showing the inevitable consequences of such a marriage or if it was
just so inevitably part of the times that he would die.
Or was your mother talking about Christina and Dick?
--
w...@deeptht.armory.com
Wendy E. Betts, Editor "The WEB: Celebrating Children's Literature"
Susan Ashton
In article <4vage7$3...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, BoxHill <box...@aol.com>
writes
>
>Has anyone else read the Pennington books? (The Beethoven Medal,
>Pennington's Heir, etc) They are my favorite Peytons, but seem to engender
>little discussion.
>Janet
them every so often. You can believe in the people and the situations.
I still revel in Pat playing Tannenbaum in Assembly!
--
Susan Ashton (su...@ashton.demon.co.uk) "I know it is one of those things
Southport, Lancs, UK I shall never hear the last of."
("HARD TIMES" - Charles Dickens)
Anita Graham
In article <4vage7$3...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
box...@aol.com (BoxHill) wrote:
>I'm glad to see someone discussing K.M. Peyton, whom I adore, even if I
>disagree with almost everything everyone has said! <VGB>
>
<snip>
>
>Has anyone else read the Pennington books? (The Beethoven Medal,
>Pennington's Heir, etc) They are my favorite Peytons, but seem to engender
>little discussion.
>Janet
Janet,
I started Pennington's Last Term (title?) and can't quite get into it, same
with Flambards. I am retrying with "Who Sir? Me Sir?" and quite enjoying
it!
Anita Graham.
Mike Farthing
Anita Graham wrote:
>
> In article <4vage7$3...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
> box...@aol.com (BoxHill) wrote:
>
> >I'm glad to see someone discussing K.M. Peyton, whom I adore, even if I
> >disagree with almost everything everyone has said! <VGB>
> >
> <snip>
> >
> >Has anyone else read the Pennington books? (The Beethoven Medal,
> >Pennington's Heir, etc) They are my favorite Peytons, but seem to engender
> >little discussion.
> >Janet
>
There are some earlier connected books about Pennington's girlfriend
(Ruth?) as a younger girl interested in horses. I think one was called
"Fly-by-Night"
Tamsin
BoxHill
Several people have alluded to co-authorship of Peyton and spouse--can you
shed some light on this? I had never heard before that the books were
co-authored: certainly it doesn't say so on any of the dust jackets I've
read. Which ones did she write alone? Is she writing with her spouse now?
Could you give us a rough chronology of events?
Thanks!
Janet
BTW, I, too, loved the "pony" books with Ruth. Is she less interesting
post Pennington? I'm not sure, but certainly the focus is less on her--and
Pennington is such a riveting fellow that he's hard to share the spotlight
with!
Deborah Stevenson
>I agree with those who felt they were reading about totally different
>characters in F Divided. However, just as the husband and wife writing
>team returned to Flambards for the fourth book after several years so too
>did I
I don't have the fourth book on hand, but the first three weren't
co-authored, AFAIK. Peyton kept the pseudonym from her days of spousal
co-authorship, but she wrote the Flambards books on her own. Are you
saying that the fourth book was a cooperative effort? I missed that, if so.
As a horse-book kid, I loved the Fly-By-Night, The Team, etc. series (she
also wrote Sabre, the Horse from the Sea, as Kathleen Herald). I thought
Ruth got boring when she met Pennington and gave up the horses :-).
Deborah Stevenson
(stev...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu)
Judi Smith
was anybody else jarred by the scene in one of the later pennington books
where he left their baby at home (i think he hurt himself and went to the
hospital; can't quite remember the reason but i suppose it was supposed
to be compelling enough....)?? i just never bought that anybody would forget
they had a BABY.
i had a hard time getting into pennington the first 3 or 4 times i tried
them, btw, but having read flambards and all the ruth books, i kept
giving it a shot and boy, was it worth it! i've re-read and re-read them,
and one summer even made a list so i could try to locate all the pieces he
plays in various competitions.
--
Judi Smith she can feel it in her fingers
jsmith@bcfreenet. and it moves on down her spine
seflin.lib.fl.us and then it hits her hips; she parts her lips
and you know she's feeling fine
"why'd you untie she ain't looking for no lover
your pants?@*!" -- gene she ain't looking for romance
she just wants to dance --
keb'mo'