Prolific and versatile, K. M. Peyton has written successful adventure stories, historical fiction, pony stories, romances, and, recently, short fiction for young children. She writes equally well about male and female characters in their struggles to find a place for themselves in the world, in their discovery of love, and in their exasperation with parents or authorities. Peyton never condescends to her readers or glamorizes youthful rebellion; she depicts adolescence with honesty and compassion. She is best known for two trilogies: the Flambards books, about a girl growing up in a country house before and during World War I; and the Pennington series, about a concert pianist from a working-class background. Peyton is skilled in evoking action and movement, and her protagonists are passionately involved with sailing, flying, music, or horses. Her style keeps her readers similarly involved, a skill developed partly through her apprenticeship in writing serial...