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I have just read this, the first Bannermere book for me.
Now, this is a case of me and Dr Fell, so don't get offended, Trease fans. I simply don't like GT. I find the historicals unreadable. A while ago we had a BD which included No Cue for Treason and I really struggled to get through it.
Since family stories are my thing, I thought I'd give No Boats on Bannermere a go. No problem finishing it; it was quite enjoyable. I still found plenty to irritate me, though. I dislike Trease's habit of having his cake and eating it. For instance, he makes jokes about "you've been reading too many holiday adventure stories" and then writes what is in effect a holiday adventure story, albeit set also in term time. Then there are hits at the boarding school story, with Bill wondering why writers never set books in day schools (they did, of course) but Trease then develops a relationship between the children and their respective head teachers which would be far fetched in any boarding school story.
Sir Alfred, horrid man, is just as much a caricature as if he had been a bluff, benevolent squire in one of the books Trease so much dislikes.
Sally's interesting introduction to the book explains a lot. I do think that Trease had a rather high opinion of himself as a writer of 'different' stories for children. In fact, Arthur Ransome had got there years before Trease even started writing.
-- Barbara Dryden
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