Posted by Katharine on October 13, 2003 at 19:29:39 from 81.96.140.205 user Katharine.
In Reply to: Re: Are the D's the real heroes? -why no Ds in ML? posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on October 13, 2003 at 01:39:01:
But your point about the Walkers was so interesting, and so true. I really think their expatriate condition does explain the passionate way they feel about the island - there is such a sense of longing, especially in Swallowdale after they've been shipwrecked and can't live there. I feel like I understand this and appreciate this part of the book, far better as a result of the post in which you talked about the 'rootless cosmopolitan' experience!
There is a Noel Streatfield book on that theme called 'Apple Bough' - one of the kids in a family of 4 turns out to be a genius violinist, so the parents take the family off round the world to follow him on tour. The children sit around in hotel rooms playing a game called 'remembering Apple Bough' - that being the name of the run-down old house that they left behind. Thinking about the book now, it sounds horribly heart-wrenching. Like a lot of children's books that I read quite happily 20 years ago, I think it would make me cry if I read it now - too much emotion. Thank goodness for AR and the jolly, buttoned-up Walkers.