cece, the Marie Louise memoir first came out in a Penguin paperback. That's the one I have. If you can't find it, I'd be happy to send it to you, although my copy is tattered, since I got it second-hand. Dyno, I did not discover Hesse's "Demian" until I was well into adulthood. I liked it a lot, but even more, I loved his "Narcisse & Goldmunde." I know these books were cult lit in my youth, but somehow, I read his "Steppenwolf" instead and missed these. I really admire Hesse's writings, in general. The older I get, the more subtle and timeless they seem.

Thanks for the explanations about R McK. I checked our county library 'on-line' section and they don't seem to have any of her books in stock, although this could be because they don't seem able to deal with McKinley and can only come up with MacK words. Even as a child I was not happy with fairy stories/make-believe and much preferred true-to-life books. As for names I think in the UK we are tending to go the way of America . . what you do today we will probably be following before long. I can't say I have ever heard an English girl called Brooke or Sydney and Tracy, along with Sharon has become attached to 'Estuary' England. Did you know that Wendy was 'invented' by J M Barrie in Peter Pan and the boy's name 'Barry' along with 'Clive' were originally surnames . . .probably dozens more egs. The name 'Sandy' is always short for either Sandra (for a girl) or Alexander for a boy, particularly in Scotland. Also quite popular for dogs! We certainly don't have your rich mix of 'first' names (or Christian names are they are still known over here). Can someone please tell me why it is that American women often use a couple of surnames rather than dropping the first when they get married; something we seldom do over here?

Vee, RMcK writes fantasy, generally but not exclusively for young adults, though she has also written children's books and a few at a more adult level. She is an American author married the UK writer Peter Dickinson and is now living in your country. Not all of her books appeal to me equally, but her best novels number among my all-time favorites. Rosefolly

Like Carolyn, I only knew of Dickinson as a mystery writer. I was probably already too old to have enjoyed his YA books when they came out. His mysteries that I read were not what I would call 'silly', but they were decidedly odd in my opinion. The two I remember best are The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest and The Yellow Room Conspiracy. The former was about some New Guinea tribesmen living in London but having trouble assimilating in the new culture. Gee, I wonder why? Anyway, the mystery was who murdered the New Guinea 'chief'? The latter is one of those double viewpoint narratives where the reader has to figure out which of the narrators is reliable, or unreliable, or both. It had something to do with the Suez Canal crisis, so it was partly a period piece told in flash black. I basically think I was confused most of the time. I did finish it, but I can't recall if the payoff was worth the effort. At any rate, I gather Dickinson was not a run-of-the-mill writer of either mysteries or YA books.