abstract
| - During the action of Swallows and Amazons (SA), Bridget Walker (then called Vicky) turns 2 years old. At the beginning of Swallowdale (SD), which takes place the following summer, she is said to be already 3 years old, but this is before her birthday, which occurs just after SD is over. Could this aging by 2 years in the course of one calendar year be a remnant of the discrepancy between the dates of the two books? Using this as a theory, she turned 2 in 1929 (the original year for SA) and 3 in 1930 (when SA appears to have actually taken place). Thus she would turn 4 on her birthday right after SD is over. Considering the shift this character goes through--a name change only lightly explained--if Vicky is a nickname, why would her birthday cake in SA have "Victoria" written upon it?--and that she would be more convincing a character as a 5 year old in Secret Water than as a 4 year old, I'm willing to assume she starts SD as a 3 year old, and that the "2 year old birthday" is a leftover of an earlier, incompatible, chronology.
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