Falconer's Lure

infobox Book |
name = Falconer's Lure
orig title =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Antonia Forest
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Faber and Faber
release_date = December 1957
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 247 p. (hardback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-571-06548-1 (hardback edition)
preceded_by = The Marlows and the Traitor
followed_by = End of Term

Falconer's Lure is the 1957 falconry based novel by Antonia Forest.Falconer's Lure is the third book in the series, between The Marlows and the Traitor and End of Term.

In the 1950s pony books were very popular among young girls. Antonia Forest's publishers wanted something different so she wrote a book about falconry instead. Falconer's Lure features the Marlow family during the summer holidays at their cousin's farm, Trennels, and was published in 1957 (although set in 1948).

Plot introduction

Falconer's Lure introduces Patrick Merrick, a key character in most of the ensuing Marlow books. Living on the neighbouring estate he was a childhood friend of Peter Marlow before WWII. He has spent the last two years at home, recovering from serious injuries sustained by falling off a cliff in search of baby falcons. The dangers of falconry, as well as its thrills, its demands and its sorrows are made very evident. The reader, like Nicola Marlow, is entranced by the falcons and Patrick's evident expertise.

Plot summary

Out collecting eggs early one morning, Nicola Marlow hears what she thinks is a cat caught in the top of a tree. She climbs up to rescue it, only to find that it is a bird, wearing leather thongs. Before she can make any attempt to save it, its owner climbs up beside her. He tells her that the bird is a falcon called Jael and its thongs, or jesses, have broken loose. Nicola recognises him as Patrick Merrick and tells him who she is. He asks if she'd like to help with the hawks over the summer.

While they are out with the hawks that afternoon, Patrick and Nicola feel something a bit like an earthquake. When they get back, they find out that it was her cousin Jon's plane crashing and he is dead. Nicola's father inherits the farm and the family won't be returning to London. Neither Captain Marlow, nor his eldest son Giles, want to leave the Navy to run the farm. Nicola suggests by accident that Rowan should do it. She offers and eventually her parents agree that she can leave school to become a farmer.

Nicola and Patrick spend most of their time with the hawks over the summer. While they are teaching Jael to catch rabbits, Peter who is out shooting rabbits, shoots Jael and kills her. Later, Regina rakes away and, although Patrick later finds her caught in some netting, she has forgotten him so he lets her go. Only Sprog, the little merlin who Patrick thinks of as a joke, is left.

The other big event of the summer is the Colebridge Festival. Nicola comes second in the singing competition, despite stopping in the middle of her song because it reminds her of Jael. Lawrie is sent out of the elocution competition for unconsciously mimicking another contestant. Later, however, she follows the adjudicator and persuades her to let Lawrie say her piece again. She agrees that Lawrie has real talent and introduces her to another actor.

Peter and Patrick compete against each other in the diving competition which, in the end, Peter wins and the two of them become friends again. For Nicola, the gymkhana is a crucial competition in which she might win enough money to enable her to keep Sprog at school. Unfortunately, the other contestants think she is Lawrie and want to get their own back at her for Lawrie's performance in the elocution comp. She is knocked and bumped and falls off her horse. Later, Rowan offers her half of whatever she wins in the showjumping, but she is beaten by Patrick.

When Nicola arrives home with Patrick she is greeted by his father who has a large cheque for Nicola from the sale of a secondhand book on hawking she bought earlier that summer. Amazed, Nicola admits to Patrick that she'd been worried about the money for Sprog.

Characters in "Falconer's Lure"

*Nicola Marlow – main character
*Patrick Merrick – owner of the bird "Jael"
*Captain Peter Marlow – Nichola relative
*Giles Marlow *mdash; Marlow's eldest son

Main themes

Forest never shies away from difficult themes in her books and Falconer's Lure deals sensitively and honestly with the issue of bereavement.