The schoolgirl crush that never went away: Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain reviewed
When 15-year-old Marianne Clifford tells her parents that she is in love with 18-year-old Simon Hurst, her mother dismisses it as a schoolgirl crush and her father tells her that she is far too young for a boyfriend and should concentrate on her own life ‘as befits a girl of your age and upbringing’. It is precisely because of her age and upbringing that Marianne meets Simon at one of the Home Counties ‘hops’ that her parents’ circle organises for their adolescent offspring. Ignoring the boys who ‘stood awkwardly in a line sipping cider cup’ and ‘jigged around in an embarrassing way’, she drives off in Simon’s new Morris Minor
