You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
Welcome to Tuesday, better known here as HaBO Day! HaBO, or “Help a Bitch Out,” is our attempt to reunite readers with romances that they can remember parts of, but not the important parts like the author’s name or the title. This HaBO request comes from Kat, who really wants to find this (possibly) young adult romance:
When I was a preteen – 1980s – in the UK, I read what was probably a young adult romance series.
In the first book, a girl went to live with her (cousins?) – there was an older boy, Mark (maybe) and younger brother, William (I am sure of that name, I think…). The family lived in a manor type place, and hunting was hugely important to the family – but William hated hunting. The girl ended up enjoying hunting.
I think in the second book, William became a pilot, and they were in love, then he died in a plane accident (I think early years of aviation?).
At the end of the series, she was with Mark (or whatever his name is) and I think somewhere in the middle she was with a farmer?
In any case, every time I try to think of the name, I keep thinking of something ‘place’. Would appreciate any thoughts.
Definitely sounds like a book series I would have also loved as a preteen.
It’s Flambards – they made a PBS series of it.
By K.M. Peyton — there are four books altogether.
Omg – I kept calling it Peyton Place and not finding it. Now it makes sense! Off to buy!
Flambards — awesome series and fantastic miniseries. Off to re-read.
lol Peyton Place is different! I read that in middle school by finding my mom’s copy–still have it.
Crap – I knew this one! Love the PBS series, too. Flambards Forever!
Peyton Place is boring. Although I have been to the teensy weensy town in NH on which it is based. Gilmanton, NH. I used to live in Ipswich, MA, the inspiration for John Updike’s roman á clef about Tarbox, MA called Couples.
Flambards mini-series was wonderful. When I was in graduate school, I only watched TV on Sunday night to watch Masterpiece Theatre. I’d watch Flambards and then whatever was on Masterpiece.
I loved Flambards when I was a teenager! Although I thought it was a trilogy, as I only had the first 3 books, given to me by my aunt. Then when I was about 25 I discovered book 4 — which totally upends the romantic order that’s there at the end of book 3! It’s like if you read Jane Eyre, and then discovered 10 years later that there’s a sequel written by Charlotte Bronte that has Jane dump Rochester and go back to St John.