Adding to the Marlows' saga
I have a strange urge to write a continuation of Antonia Forest’s Marlow books. This is a slightly dangerous urge, parce que it would be much, much harder to do them justice. It’s just that I have such a lovely idea. It actually came to me a while ago, when the pro-hunting protestors were really getting into the swing of things and larking about in the House of Commons. Firstly, of course, it would be set more or less in the present day, in keeping with AF’s tradition. And if that were the case, then what would be more natural for a slightly older Patrick Merrick than joining, for example, the Countryside Alliance. The Merricks, and selected Marlows, would be very much pro-hunting. But then I would be able to explore Patrick’s idea of courage, which was touched on in Peter’s Room because, frankly, I’d be surprised if he did have the balls (and I don’t mean this in a particularly derogatory way) to run the risk of police violence and/or arrest. Would he chicken out? What would Nick think about it? Hmm.