K.M. Peyton

K.M. Peyton is the pseudonym of Kathleen Wendy Peyton and Michael P. Peyton.

Pennington's Last Term (1970), originally published as Pennington's Seventeenth Summer, was the first story in the series dealing with the story of Patrick Pennington (known to classmates as Penn), "born trouble-maker, always brushing against authority in the shape of his parents, the law, or the masters at the Beehive Secondary Modern School" and dealt with his memorable final term of school. "Pennington's seventeenth summer eventually proves to be the most challenging and memorable of his life."

In The Beethoven Medal (1971), Peyton cleverly brought together the lead characters from two separate series - Ruth Hollis from Fly-By-Night (1969) and The Team (1975) & Patrick Pennington. The book was also renamed to the somewhat irritating If I Ever Marry for the American market. Pennington's Heir (1973) continued their story through the trials of an unplanned pregnancy and hurried marriage, and a fourth volume, Falling Angels (1979) was released a few years later. The story was told from the point of view of Marion, a young girl, with Ruth and Patrick's marriage on shakey ground just as his career looks to be seriously taking off.

Another spin-off series dealt with Jonathan Meredith, a character first introduced in The Team.

These were:

Prove Yourself A Hero (1977)
A Midsummer Night's Death (1978)
Free Rein (1983)

Her Flambards trilogy, set in England in the early decades of the twentieth century, was made into a television series. The books were: Flambards (1967), The Edge Of The Cloud (1969) and Flambards In Summer (1969).

A sequel was also written after the television series went to air, Flambards Divided (1981), not only revealing the attachment to her characters that Peyton has, in common with many authors, but also the sting in the tail, that the happily ever after of the previous book was not for ever after all.

Monica Dickens

'Surely,' I thought, 'there's something more to life than just going out to parties one doesn't enjoy, with people one doesn't even like? What a pointless existence it is - drifting about in the hope that something may happen to relieve the monotony. Something has got to be done to get me out of this rut.'
- from One Pair of Hands, Monica Dickens, 1939

Monica Dickens was the great granddaughter of Charles Dickens, and began her writing career with a mostly autobiographical account of her time as a cook-general, One Pair Of Hands (1939). During World War II she worked as a nurse in a hospital, and subsequently turned these experiences into One Pair Of Feet (1942). The furore this caused in the medical establishment ensured that "Nurse Diggins" would never work as a nurse again. Next came The Fancy (1943), in which she used her own experiences of working in a munitions factory, turning out Spitfires. She continued her semi-autobiographical stories with My Turn To Make The Tea (1951), detailing the experiences of a female reporter working for a small regional newspaper.

Monica Dickens wrote for both adults and children, gifted not only in understanding her audience, but also in portraying her characters in a sympathetic yet unsentimental light.

The four books in the World's End series follow the lives of Carrie (Caroline) Fielding and her three siblings, Tom, Em (Esmeralda) and the youngest, Michael.

The House at World's End (1970)
Summer at World's End (1971)
World's End in Winter (1972)
Spring Comes to World's End (1973)

"Nothing at World's End was complete or unbroken. Everything was cracked, chipped, leaky, patched up, propped up, and tied together with string. But it was theirs."

Possibly her most well-known series was Follyfoot, which was made into a television series, though the television version of the story differed markedly from the original novels. Gillian Blake, as the female lead, was far more conventionally attractive than the serious, stolid, horse-loving Dora ever was in the books.

The story of the rest home for horses was actually based on a previous novel written for adults, Cobbler's Dream (1963). Its horrifying message on the mistreatment of old and unwanted horses was toned down for the younger market in the Follyfoot series, but without the jolly tones and saccharine coating adopted by many writers.

Follyfoot (1971)
Dora at Follyfoot (1972)
The Horses of Follyfoot (1975)
Stranger at Follyfoot (1976)

Horses were a serious love in her life, and she wrote Talking Of Horses (1973), a practical non-fiction book on the love and care of horses, with many anecdotes from her own life.

One of my most favourite of her works is Kate and Emma, written in 1964. This is an unemotional and yet moving account of how two girls from very different backgrounds become friends, and how that friendship endured despite the divergence of their lives.

Other books:

Mariana (1940)
Thursday Afternoons (1945)
Joy and Josephine (1948)
No More Meadows (1953)
The Winds of Heaven (1955)
The Angel In The Corner (1956)
The Heart Of London (1961)
My Fair Lady (1967) (Adaption of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion)
The Landlord's Daughter (1968)
Last Year When I Was Young (1974)
Dear Doctor Lily (1988)
Enchantment (1989)
Closed at Dusk (1990)
Scarred (1991)
One of the Family (1993)

Follyfoot Farm - the TV series location
TV Series: synopsis, episode titles, characters etc

Honor Arundel

(October 15, 1919 - June 8, 1973)

One of the few authors who dares to write about the mundane, the disappointments and the bittersweet reality of everyday life.

She began writing for young people when her twin daughters asked her to "get away from the buried treasure, capturing smugglers, becoming film stars overnight type of book and deal with the real problems that real children have to face."

In the series Something about the Author, she said, "I feel very strongly that social and political questions should not be kept out of children's books - after all they suffer from wars and economic slumps and are often the victims of racial or religious prejudice and a writer who suggests that everything in the garden is lovely is not being truthful. ...I feel particular sympathy with anyone trying to make a life of his own regardless of what Mummy or the neighbours think. I think, in general, that far more parents are domineering, unjust and (psychologically) cruel than children are selfish, rude and irresponsible."

Her books are remarkably difficult to find, not to mention information about her, beyond what's written on the jackets of her books. This is all the more extraordinary considering that one of those blurbs details, "Miss Arundel has also written poetry, plays, articles, and criticism for magazines and radio. She has appeared as a lecturer and has taken part in radio and television debates in Britain."

Her books:

Green Street (1965)
The Freedom of Art (1965)
The High House (1966)
The Amazing Mr. Prothero (1968)
The Two Sisters (1968)
Emma's Island (1968)
The Longest Weekend (1969)
The Girl In The Opposite Bed (1970)
Emma In Love (1970)
The Terrible Temptation (1971)
A Family Failing (1972)
The Blanket Word (1973)

Other books and authors of interest

Antonia Forest

Of particular interest is how the author dealt with setting each of the books in the era it was written contrasted with the time which actually passes within the story - i.e. 2 and a half years of character time spaced out over thirty years of real time!

Floating Worlds - Cecelia Holland

I discovered this brilliant book completely by accident, in my steady progress of reading my way through every science fiction book in the local public library.

This story is summed up as "A woman diplomat strives to keep peace between Earth, a colonized Mars, and a race of mutants from the outer planets," but it's far more than that. Paula Mendoza is that rarest of characters...

Interestingly, Cecelia Holland is a writer of historical fiction, not a science fiction writer, and yet she has written this book so convincingly it is, quite simply, a classic.

Cecelia Holland home page

Merchanter's Luck - C.J.Cherryh

Another one of those delightful books that I re-read every now and again just for the sheer pleasure of it.

Lord Of Light - Roger Zelazny

This most brilliant of books was the worthy winner of the 1968 Hugo award.

Links

The Chronicles of Amber

Trumps
Amber webrings
Detailed bibliography

Doris Lessing

A Retrospective - an excellent compilation of information and material.

Saki Hiwatari

Saki Hiwatari is a Japanese manga artist, that is, a comic book artist. She is probably best known in the west for her seminal work Please Save My Earth.

I had been a fan of her work since her previous series, Akuma-kun Magic Bitter, and as the new series (Boku no chikyuu o mamotte, or Please Save My Earth) unfolded in the bimonthly pulp Hana to Yume (Hearts and flowers), I became more and more excited. The story was brilliant. It eventually ran for 21 volumes, and catapulted Hiwatari into the public limelight when it was made into a 6 part animated video production.

Unfortunately some of the complexity of the story was lost during the conversion to animation. I tend not to notice it since I read the manga version first, but I imagine it must be very confusing to someone not aware of the complicated subplots and also the details of the alien culture, its technology and religion.

Brief synopsis of Please Save My Earth
Saki Hiwatari fansite
PSME webring

Junko Murata

Her vibrant artwork and quirky characters are a delight. Her major works consists of two 7 volume series based on main character Ayame Nishibojo, Benisuzume series, following her life from high school to college; and Tokyo Jungle Girl, following her into a career as a consultant for a rather radical travel company.

Along the way, Ayame falls in and out of love and discovers her own inner strengths.

Another series she has written in a similar vein is Hong Kong Working Girl, which follows Japanese girl Tomo's adventures in, naturally enough, Hong Kong.

To see what I'm reading at the moment - click on Current Reading, below!