Posted by Peter H on February 27, 2008 at 10:14:28 from 86.149.220.158 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: The Missionaries posted by Elizabeth on February 27, 2008 at 05:59:37:
Thanks, Pam. The description "just an ordinary pleasant couple of grown-ups" always amuses me. The inference is that all the other grown-ups in the books are just a little bit wacky. The she-missionary thought that the S&As were "the politest children I've ever met". This seems an odd passage altogether. Was AR simply emphasising the gap between the polite tea party and the 'savagery' of the Eels? I always feel that narrative ideas which would have worked beautifully in the other books don't work so well in 'Secret Water'. Don't know why.