Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on January 13, 2010 at 15:37:06 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: Missee Lee posted by David Bamford on January 13, 2010 at 14:58:16:
"Both of the above".
When little Miss Li was sent to school in England, Latin was the first mountain that she had to climb, so she kept her Latin Grammar, with a few other books, at her father's grave, to remind her of her childhood. She did not need the Grammar, being very fluent in Laton, but it was a childhood friend. As an adult, occupying a very lonely position, she found that the Roman and Greek authors (she is also fluent in Greek, but the Swallows and Amazons and Jim Turner are not, much to her disappointment) had something in common with the Chinese classics, and were reliable companions. So Roger stumbles across the Grammar and gets his chance to shine.
There is a wonderful air of menace in the opening chapters, as the Swallows, particularly Susan, try to maintain a Home Counties order and try to shut out the very alien nature of the place where they find themselves. The "house" is a grave...