''Flambards'' is a novel for children or
young adults
A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...
by
K. M. Peyton
Kathleen Wendy Herald Peyton (born 2 August 1929), who writes primarily as K. M. Peyton, is a British author of fiction for children and young adults.
She has written more than fifty novels including the much loved " Flambards" series of storie ...
, first published by
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in 1967 with illustrations by
Victor Ambrus. Alternatively, "Flambards" is the trilogy (1967–1969) or series (1967–1981) named after its first book. The series is set in England just before, during, and after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
The novel ''Flambards'' (book one) features a teenage orphan and heiress Christina Parsons, who comes to live at Flambards, the impoverished
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
estate owned by her crippled and tyrannical uncle, William Russell, and his two sons, Mark and Will.
Novel summary
Christina Parsons, who has been shunted around the family since she was orphaned at the age of five years in 1901, is sent to live at Flambards with her mother's half-brother, the crippled Russell. Her Aunt Grace speculates that Russell plans for Christina to marry his son Mark to restore Flambards to its former glory using the money that she will inherit on her twenty-first birthday. Mark is as brutish as his father, with a great love for hunting, whereas the younger son William is terrified of horses after a hunting accident and aspires to be an aviator. Christina soon finds friendship with the injured William, who challenges her ideas on class boundaries, as well as her love for horses and hunting. William and Christina eventually fall in love and run away from the hunt ball to London, hoping to marry.
Series
The fourth book controversially reversed the ending of the original trilogy, twelve years later and following the television series.
* ''Flambards'' (Oxford, 1967)
* ''
The Edge of the Cloud'' (Oxford, 1969)
* ''
Flambards in Summer'' (Oxford, 1969)
* ''
Flambards Divided'' (1981)
For ''The Edge of the Cloud'', Peyton won the annual
Carnegie Medal from the
Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a
British subject.
[ She was a commended runner-up for both the first and third books, the latter in competition with her Medal-winning work.][
She also won the 1970 ]Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...
, conferred by ''The Guardian'' newspaper and judged by a panel of British children's writers.[ Ordinarily the prize recognises one fiction book published during the preceding calendar year; exceptionally Peyton won for the Flambards trilogy completed in 1969.][
The trilogy was ]adapted
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
as a 13-part television series in 1979, '' Flambards'', starring Christine McKenna as Christina Parsons.
World Publishing issued a US edition of the first book in 1968, retaining the Ambrus illustrations.[ World (Cleveland and New York) also published US editions of the second and third books in 1969 and 1970, also with the original illustrations, although all three novels were reset with a greater page-counts.
]
See also
Notes
References
External links
* —immediately, first US edition
*
a ''Flambards'' forum
Flying Dreams
– a ''Flambards'' fan page
a ''Flambards'' fan page
{{authority control
British children's novels
Children's historical novels
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize-winning works
Pony books
Novels set in Essex
Novels about orphans
Novels by K. M. Peyton
1967 British novels
Series of children's books
1967 children's books
Oxford University Press books
Children's books set in Essex
Children's books set in the 1910s
Children's books set in the 1920s
Children's books set during World War I