Posted by andyb on July 22, 2009 at 13:12:15 user beardbiter.
In Reply to: Thoughts on "Secret Water" posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on July 21, 2009 at 18:40:18:
Yes but no but.. ACB makes a perceptive point, the Swallows sailing home to Pin Mill with their father closes the narrative arc which started with waiting for the telegram at Darien, two summers earlier. But can we discount GN or even ML? Even if we consider both of these to be PD stories, following the logic of "Their Own Story" we would have to see the Swallows as they appear in these stories as reflections of their older, post SW selves.
As for loosing interest in the Lake, may be but aren't the Swallows eagerly anticipated in PM?
My personal preference finds 'Swallows Abroads' more plausible than 'Coots in the North'. In my story Cmdr Walker hires a boat or two on the not very distant Broads and once again finds his holiday disrupted by that inscrutable plot device, the First Sea Lord leaving the S & A to blunder about the Broads unwittingly disturbing some rare bird (probably a bittern) and leading to the encounter between Nancy and the D & Gs with which CN finishes.
Admittedly, the disrupted holiday device is getting a bit travel worn but I'm sure with a bit of spit and polish it could be brought into service again.