Posted by Peter Ceresole on November 30, 2014 at 13:01:32 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Grandparents posted by Jon on November 30, 2014 at 05:40:38:
for the Blacketts we have the negative information that their Turner grandparents weren't present to raise Molly Blackett
Yes; that introduces a very muted element of tragedy, reinforced more strongly with the death of Bob Blackett; AR seems to have given the Blacketts/Turners a bit of a dark background, completely absent from his other families. It also creates a specially close bond between Molly Blackett and CF- off on a convalescence cruise together as the starting point of PM.
Of course, in a time before antibiotics, TB especially was a horribly common way to die prematurely. But none of 'his' children fall ill in any of the books except for Nancy in WH, who gloriously breaks the rule and makes the whole story possible. Otherwise, does any child get as much as a sniffle?