Re: 'The Far-Distant Oxus'.


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Posted by Jack Eckert on November 17, 1998 at 19:59:14:

In Reply to: Re: 'The Far-Distant Oxus'. posted by kate crosby on November 17, 1998 at 18:07:36:

Now don't get me wrong, as I've quite enjoyed FDO and EP (and appreciate Kate's summary of OS and hope a copy will surface my way someday); particularly given the youth of the authors (and the fact that these were collaborative works: didn't the two switch off writing chapters?) I think the books are admirable. But I still maintain the characters are a bit stiff and less natural-seeming than the Ransome tribe. True, there're no boats visible (well, there is a raft), and I was never overly enamoured of horses.

It might be the Maurice character that I find most difficult to take. He's a bit too good to be true (let alone interesting), and the mystery about his identity--particularly if this is never resolved--is just annoying. I think I assumed somewhere along the way that Maurice was a prince, though don't believe there's any evidence for that one way or another.

On a not-unrelated topic, is anyone familiar with Mary Treadgold's "We Couldn't Leave Dinah" (Cape, 1941), about some children stranded on one of the Channel Islands during the Occupation? It's another work that shows some visible AR influence (one of the characters, referring to the situation, says "Just think how the Arthur Ransome children would dote on it.")


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