Notes - The Torchbearers by A.J. Hall

Chronologically, the principal part of this story takes place during the last day depicted in North Face. While it is not technically AU as at the moment it ends, it ends at a point of potential divergence from the canonical ending. Or, to put it bluntly, your author has handed the girl an escape ladder and it’s up to her to decide if she has the gumption to scale it.

Both Ellen Shorland and Neil Langton spout the most incredible half-baked rubbish throughout the whole of North Face; I have taken the liberty of assuming that at least some of it derives from the collected works of Philip Boyes.

Both the named canon character deaths occurring during it are either canonical or Word of God (the Wimsey Papers, to be precise).

The Bridstow sequences reflect both Mary Renault’s own attitudes and what I have been able to research about contemporary camp usage. All corrections to either the Polari or the broader culture depicted gratefully received.

Everyone quotes all the time. If in doubt, run and find out.