About: The Marlows and the Traitor

The Marlows and the Traitor is the second in the series of novels about the Marlow family by Antonia Forest, first published in 1953. The story is set during the Easter holidays in a small fishing village on the South Coast of England. It is the first in the series to feature sailing (see also Falconer's Lure and especially Run Away Home) and the first to have a major male character. In fact there are two significant male characters, Peter Marlow and the traitor. This story, more than most in the series, focuses on the younger members of the family.In the introduction to the Girls Gone By edition of The Marlows and the Traitor, Forest admits she never intended to write a series of books about the Marlows. At the time of writing (the book was published in 1953) the Nuremberg Trials were hap