K M Peyton

[SantaVera]

Kathleen Peyton has passed away, December 19th 2023 aged 94. Rest in peace,and thank you for Flambards, Fly by Night and all the others which enriched our lives so much.

 

[ponynutz]

Didn't want to read and dip so just a message to say how sad, my thoughts are with her family x

 

[Ceifer]

Very sad news. I loved her books, she just knew how to write young pony mad girls realistically

 

[SEL]

Aw that brings back memories. I had all her books.

 

[Snow Falcon]

I, too, was an avid reader.

 

[Kunoichi73]

So sad. Her books were a part of my childhood.

 

[Baywonder]

Such sad news. I also loved reading her books as a child.

RIP

 

[Hobo2]

She was just mentioned in H&H last week in an article about children's / adults reading books. Part of my youth as well .

 

[whizzer]

Loved her books! Flambards was a fantastic series, also really loved Fly by Night & it's sequel( The Team?), read them over & over!

 

[Squeak]

Loved her books. So sad, RIP.

 

[tetij]

I am sorry to hear this. Her books gave me - and I know many other people - horses like no other books did. Each time I re-read her books, which is a bit less often now than it was, I feel her gift again. I didn't have access to the physical horse world in the way that I wanted to when I was younger, but she granted her readers this access in multitudes. She translated this world - often a world that I feel both confused and intrigued by in equal measure - into words as easily as breathing. My favourite will always be Blind Beauty, which spoke to me, quite deeply, when I was a teenager. Very recently I dreamt that I lost and then found my original copy of it. She took teenagers, particularly the emotional lives of teenage girls, completely seriously. She was an incredible writer, and I am very sad to hear that she has died.

 

[scats]

I loved Fly by Night. I’m going to dig it out and read it.
What a wonderful gift she gave to so many pony mad children.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Kathleen Peyton has passed away, December 19th 2023 aged 94. Rest in peace,and thank you for Flambards, Fly by Night and all the others which enriched our lives so much.

Loved Flambards when I was young. RIP

 

[rextherobber]

Such a sad loss, she was hugely important to me as a child/teen, she really got what it ( life) was like, in a way that no author I'd found did. I loved Peter McNair!

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Apart from the Flambards series I have most of hers and still re read them quite frequently. Brilliant writer. My favourite is Fly-By-Night.

 

[Surbie]

She was such a talented author. I loved Flambards, and it really helped to have those stories as a horse-mad but horseless teenager.

 

[ecb89]

How sad. As a ponyless child I devoured pony books and flambards was one of my favourites. Might have to dig it out and have read

 

[seriously festive equine]

That's so sad... I loved her books and read them over and over. Such a big part of my childhood

 

[Cadbury]

The only book of hers I’ve read is Darkling, but that was so long ago I don’t remember what it was like.

For those of you that have read many of her books, which authors would you say her books are most similar to, eg. Is her style similar to the Pullein-Thompsons, Ruby Ferguson? Interested to know but for now I’m going to re-buy Darkling!

 

[Errin Paddywack]

The only book of hers I’ve read is Darkling, but that was so long ago I don’t remember what it was like.

For those of you that have read many of her books, which authors would you say her books are most similar to, eg. Is her style similar to the Pullein-Thompsons, Ruby Ferguson? Interested to know but for now I’m going to re-buy Darkling!

I've got Darkling, brilliant book. Liked it so much the first time I read I raced through it then immediately read it again more slowly.

 

[Cadbury]

I've got Darkling, brilliant book. Liked it so much the first time I read I raced through it then immediately read it again more slowly.

I’m excited about re-reading it now!

 

[Widgeon]

For those of you that have read many of her books, which authors would you say her books are most similar to, eg. Is her style similar to the Pullein-Thompsons, Ruby Ferguson? Interested to know but for now I’m going to re-buy Darkling!

Much as I love the P-Ts, I would say KM Peyton was a better writer. The Flambards series is just wonderful - the relationships between all the human characters (!) are so well written and believable. Personally I think her writing has a lot more depth.

 

[TinseLeneHorse]

Sad news but she lived to a ripe old age. Condolences to her family.
She was a wonderful writer and her main characters were usually 'outsiders', which really resonated with me.
A couple of her young adult novels not mentioned already are Pennington's Seventeenth Summer and The Beethoven Medal. Both excellent.
Personally I would say she's a classier writer than most of the other pony book authors

 

[Sealine]

I loved the Flambards books and TV series as a child. The books were more adult and had more depth than the Pullein-Thompson books. A few years ago I bought the TV series on DVD. It was rather dated. I’ve no idea where it is now and I no longer have a DVD player.

 

[Ceifer]

The Flambards TV series is on YouTube if you search for the episodes.

Blue Sky and Gunfire is also a good non horse fiction work of hers that I enjoyed. Easily available on kindle.

 

[lozloz1]

The only one of hers that I have read is Blind Beauty but I adore it!

 

[Cadbury]

Much as I love the P-Ts, I would say KM Peyton was a better writer. The Flambards series is just wonderful - the relationships between all the human characters (!) are so well written and believable. Personally I think her writing has a lot more depth.

I definitely agree that the P-T books didn’t have as much depth as others. Thinking about it, we did have The Flambards books at home when I was growing up but I refused to read them for the silly reason that my sister (who wasn’t horsey and fell out with me all the time!) had read them!

After I’ve read Darkling again I’ll see if my parents can drag them out of their loft.

 

[Quigleyandme]

I still enjoy watching my Flambards DVDs but this thread prompted me to buy Fly by Night from WOB this morning.

 

[Tiddlypom]

She is an author that I’ve somehow missed out on reading, though I’ve certainly heard of Flambards.

A number of her titles are available on Kindle. Sample downloaded, I’ll start with the Flambards series.

 

[EarsofaSnowman]

I still occasionally re-read the Flambards series. It wasn't just the horses, but the impact of WW1 on society and women that resonated to me as a teen.

Eta - she reached a grand old age and my thoughts are with her family