Posted by Mark Dudley on January 19, 2008 at 21:31:23 from 82.25.197.199 user Whiteshill.
I have just started to re-read 'Mystery at Witchend' (prior to a visit to the Long Mynd and was struck by the similarities at the beginning of the book to the opening of S & A. There is a long train journey, Daddy is unavoidably elsewhere, the children are expected not to do anything silly (I don't have the quotation to hand, but it is significantly duffer-like), the elder boy has a very strong feeling of not letting Father down ...
Going back to the recent comparisons of AR with the Famous Five, I would put Saville somewhere inbetween. The children have adventures, but also live in a world of their own imagination (the twins are 'intrepid explorers') and in a real adult world ...
Any thoughts from the board?