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* MarySue: Laura is ordinary-looking, untidy, unable to carry a tune, and very clumsy. So in the Secret Country, ''Princess'' Laura is beautiful and graceful, an excellent singer and dancer and very comfortable with horses and riding. When Laura gets ''in'' the Secret Country and has to pretend to be the Princess, she can't do those things, which almost gives the Carrolls away from the beginning. Ruth, on the other hand, is a gentle, courteous girl who discovers that her counterpart was conceited, nasty, even violent. [[spoiler: The children who decide to stay at the end find that their peers in High Castle like them a lot better than the originals, although they just assume their manners have improved through maturity/experience.]]
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* MarySue: Laura is ordinary-looking, untidy, unable to carry a tune, and very clumsy. So So, of course, in their games about the Secret Country, this trope is invoked; ''Princess'' Laura is beautiful and graceful, an excellent singer and dancer and very comfortable with horses and riding. When Laura gets ''in'' the Secret Country and has to pretend to be the Princess, she can't do those things, which almost gives the Carrolls away from the beginning. Ruth, on the other hand, is a gentle, courteous girl who discovers that her counterpart was conceited, nasty, even violent. [[spoiler: The children who decide to stay at the end find that their peers in High Castle like them a lot better than the originals, although they just assume their manners have improved through maturity/experience.]]
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* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In the first two ''Secret Country'' books, the Carrolls impersonate the royal children and everything depends on their maintaining this facade. People in the Secret Country speak Early Modern English, more or less, with formal and casual styles. The children do well with this when they remember to use it. But they frequently lapse into 20th-century American English. Nobody seems to notice. Either they are all hearing what they want to hear, or given the reason the kids are there in the first place, maybe AWizardDidIt.
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* MarySue: Laura is ordinary-looking, untidy, unable to carry a tune, and very clumsy. So in the Secret Country, ''Princess'' Laura is beautiful and graceful, an excellent singer and dancer and very comfortable with horses and riding. When Laura gets ''in'' the Secret Country and has to pretend to be the Princess, she can't do those things, which almost gives the Carrolls away from the beginning. Ruth, on the other hand, is a gentle, courteous girl who discovers that her counterpart was conceited, nasty, even violent. [[spoiler: The children who decide to stay at the end find that their peers in High Castle like them a lot better than the originals, although they just assume their manners have improved through maturity/experience.]]
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In the first two ''Secret Country'' books, the Carrolls impersonate the royal children and everything depends on their maintaining this facade. People in the Secret Country speak Early Modern English, more or less, with formal and casual styles. The children do well with this when they remember to use it. But they frequently lapse into 20th-century American English. Nobody seems to notice. Same with the writing system; the Secret Country has several alphabets, but when Ted writes a letter using regular Roman letters, nobody thinks it's strange. Either they are all hearing what they want to hear, or given the reason the kids are there in the first place, maybe AWizardDidIt.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In the first two ''Secret Country'' books, the Carrolls impersonate the royal children and everything depends on their maintaining this facade. People in the Secret Country speak Early Modern English, more or less, with formal and casual styles. The children do well with this when they remember to use it. But they frequently lapse into 20th-century American English. Nobody seems to notice. Same with the writing system; the Secret Country has several alphabets, but when Ted writes a letter using regular Roman letters, nobody thinks it's strange. Either they are all hearing what they want to hear, or given the reason the kids are there in the first place, maybe AWizardDidIt.
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cross-wicking
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* UnexpectedlyRealMagic: This is the premise of the trilogy, in which five young cousins who [[{{LARP}} pretend to be characters in a fantasy world]] end up crawling through a bush and find themselves {{trapped in|AnotherWorld}} that fantasy world. It's ultimately subverted, though, with TheReveal that [[spoiler:the idea of the Secret Country was magically planted in their heads by a magic-user from the Country, in order to get them to come to the Country; they never made it up at all]].
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* StarStuddedSpandex: Fence, chief wizard of the Secret Country, wears star studded robes -- as in astronomical stars, complete with galaxies and nebulae. It is not wise to look to closely at said robes as one is likely to get motion sickness.
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* StarStuddedSpandex: StarSpangledSpandex: Fence, chief wizard of the Secret Country, wears star studded robes -- as in astronomical stars, complete with galaxies and nebulae. It is not wise to look to closely at said robes as one is likely to get motion sickness.
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from trope pages
* AllGirlsLikePonies: Averted in the trilogy. Of the three female main characters, Ruth and Ellen are competent riders, but not terribly interested in horses, while Laura hates horses with a passion and tends to fall off of them as soon as she's put in the saddle. This is inconvenient for her, since the person she pretends to be for two books plays this trope straight.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: People in the Secret Country have many literary and Biblical quotations familiar from the everyday world, but written by different people. At one point, Ted says "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some". He knows it as a verse from the Letters of Paul. But he says it because he is listening to the spirit of the dead Prince Edward; Edward is quoting from the writings of the great wizard Shan.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: People in the Secret Country have many literary and Biblical quotations familiar from the everyday world, but written by different people. At one point, Ted says "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some". He knows it as a verse from the Letters of Paul. But he says it because he is listening to the spirit of the dead Prince Edward; Edward is quoting from the writings of the great wizard Shan.
* BanOnMagic: Of the "ban on a specific school of magic" variety. A few hundred years ago, three of the four major schools of magic--Green Caves, Blue, and Yellow--drove the fourth, the Red, out of the inland countries where the books take place. What exactly the Red Sorcerers did to make themselves so unpopular is never really explained, only that they are still considered rather unsavory and that the forces they wield are both more powerful and more dangerous than those available to the other schools.
* BewitchedAmphibians: A character uses "Shan can turn you into a toad!" as an expression of annoyance, referring to a legendary wizard named Shan.
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* ChildMage: In ''The Dubious Hills'', all children younger than ten have magical abilties, which [[GrowingUpSucks wear off as they grow older]].
* EskimosArentReal: Lord Andrew, living in a world imbued with many different kinds of sorcery, does not believe in magic.
* EskimosArentReal: Lord Andrew, living in a world imbued with many different kinds of sorcery, does not believe in magic.
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* ChildMage: In ''The Dubious Hills'', all children younger than ten have magical abilties, which (except for the few who will go on to become wizards) [[GrowingUpSucks wear off as they grow older]].
* EskimosArentReal: Lord Andrew, living in a world imbued with many different kinds of sorcery, does not believe inmagic.magic, thinking it's all trickery and illusion.
* FantasyGunControl: Guns aren't specifically mentioned, but high tech items brought from the earth dimension tend to turn into their medieval equivalents in the Secret Country, e.g. a flashlight becomes a lantern, and a digital watch becomes its 15th century equivalent. Something similar would presumably befall a gun.
* FertileFeet: Unicorns do this, although they are creatures of capricious morality. One of the children calls the trail of blossoms "unicorn footprints" and her sarcastic brother immediately redubs them "fewmets".
* FourthWallShutInStory: A group of young cousins create a fantasy world together and end up stuck there for real.
* GhostMemory: Introduced subtly at first, this becomes a major plot point in the trilogy.
* EskimosArentReal: Lord Andrew, living in a world imbued with many different kinds of sorcery, does not believe in
* FantasyGunControl: Guns aren't specifically mentioned, but high tech items brought from the earth dimension tend to turn into their medieval equivalents in the Secret Country, e.g. a flashlight becomes a lantern, and a digital watch becomes its 15th century equivalent. Something similar would presumably befall a gun.
* FertileFeet: Unicorns do this, although they are creatures of capricious morality. One of the children calls the trail of blossoms "unicorn footprints" and her sarcastic brother immediately redubs them "fewmets".
* FourthWallShutInStory: A group of young cousins create a fantasy world together and end up stuck there for real.
* GhostMemory: Introduced subtly at first, this becomes a major plot point in the trilogy.
* IChooseToStay: The children make various decisions at the end of the trilogy. This is a world that they fervently love, but not all of them want to stay there forever. Any who make the decision will have to stay forever. [[spoiler:Three do stay, and two bring their parents with them]].
* IWishItWereReal: Five children have spent their lives playing a sustained imaginary game inside a detailed paracosm of their own making -- only to find out it's not of their own making. The reality is often very beautiful, but because it's a real place, it's filled with complications and tragedies they never dreamed of.
* ParentalAbandonment: The royal children all have {{Missing Mom}}s and distant fathers -- which proves most convenient. As does the fact that their real world alter-egos' parents are all in Australia. They even bring this up; "there seems to be a shortage of mothers around here" or words to that effect.
* SendMeBack: At the end of ''The Hidden Land'', the children write a letter of confession and attempt to return to the everyday world, hoping to prevent tragedy. Ted and Laura go through a brief and extremely painful SoWhatDoWeDoNow before being shown that they not only can go back to the Hidden Land, they ''must'' go back.
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* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Used in a... different context than usual in ''The Hidden Land''.
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* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: In the last chapter of ''The Hidden Land'', Laurie actually says "What do we do now?" She and Ted have just returned from the Hidden Land, which they had imagined and played about for years as the Secret Country. Although readers are aware there's a third book, the bitter loss is described in painful detail. They even lampshade the "we learned something" business.
-->It seemed that even imagination was no friend to them now. They could stumble from day to day, thinking they saw summons after summons back to the Hidden Land. But they had lost the Secret Country.
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Used ina... a different context than usual in ''The Hidden Land''.Land'', at a coronation rather than a wedding.
* StarStuddedSpandex: Fence, chief wizard of the Secret Country, wears star studded robes -- as in astronomical stars, complete with galaxies and nebulae. It is not wise to look to closely at said robes as one is likely to get motion sickness.
* TrappedInAnotherWorld: The premise of the trilogy.
-->It seemed that even imagination was no friend to them now. They could stumble from day to day, thinking they saw summons after summons back to the Hidden Land. But they had lost the Secret Country.
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Used in
* StarStuddedSpandex: Fence, chief wizard of the Secret Country, wears star studded robes -- as in astronomical stars, complete with galaxies and nebulae. It is not wise to look to closely at said robes as one is likely to get motion sickness.
* TrappedInAnotherWorld: The premise of the trilogy.
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* WhiteMagic: At one point in ''The Secret Country'', Fence is described as a "white magician", meaning that he is good. The various styles of magic in that world are categorized by colors, so he is actually doing ''blue'' magic. Any of the magic types can be perverted to cause harm.
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* WizardingSchool: Different branches/philosophies of magic are identified as Red, Green or Blue. Each has its School, with Ruth belonging to the Green School. We get tantalizing glimpses of the Green Caves in ''The Whim of the Dragon''. Their magic is devoted to earth, water and plants.
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* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Natives of the Secret Country use a tolerable form of this, including "likes" for "pleases", "a" for "he or she" and "an" for "if". Interestingly, the author manages to vary it to less and more formal depending on the situation, and includes a described language that English-speaking visitors from modern Earth find maddening because they ''almost'' understand it; it might be a form of Old (not Middle) English. The one example occurs in ''The Hidden Land'' where they are able to pick out a few of the lines. They are from Chaucer's ''The Knight's Tale'', which ''is'' Middle English.
-->What is this world? What asketh men to have?\\
Now with his love, now in his colde grave,\\
Allone, withouten any compaignye.
-->What is this world? What asketh men to have?\\
Now with his love, now in his colde grave,\\
Allone, withouten any compaignye.
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trope names
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* {{Bromance}}: Lord Randolph and Fence the wizard are devoted friends.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Lord Randolph and Fence the wizard are devoted friends.
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* PromotedToParent: Arry in ''The Dubious Hills'', after her parents mysteriously never returned from a business trip.
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* PromotedToParent: PromotionToParent: Arry in ''The Dubious Hills'', after her parents mysteriously never returned from a business trip.
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* ShowWithinTheShow:
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* ShowWithinTheShow:ShowWithinAShow:
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extracted from Pamela Dean
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The Secret Country is the setting of a series of fantasy novels by Creator/PamelaDean.
It was introduced in the Secret Country trilogy -- ''The Secret Country'', ''The Hidden Land'', and ''The Whim of the Dragon'' -- about a group of five cousins who find themselves in a world they thought they had invented for their games.
''The Dubious Hills'' is set in the same world, but takes place in a different area and involves different characters.
A forthcoming novel, with the working title ''Abiding Reflection'', is to be a joint sequel to the four previous books. In 2013, Dean referred to it as her "still-in-limbo amazing and expanding shrinking novel variously known as ''Going North'', ''Abiding Reflection'', and ''My Poor Book''. It was rejected by Viking Press in 2013 due to its length.
-> I need to finish revising ''Going North'' before we publish it. It got into repeated trouble with the publisher that bought it on spec, because it was just too long. Then, when I cut it down, my editor rightly thought that I’d gone too far and made it difficult to comprehend. Also, sadly, the opening, which I am much attached to, does not work for people who haven’t read the earlier books. That’s the major issue right now; the rest is just adding back in some of the scenes that I cut. - Pamela Dean in a February 2016 interview.
----
!!These novels contain examples of:
* TheAtoner: Prospero (no, not [[Theatre/TheTempest that one]]), Melanie's elder brother, who helped her kill a unicorn and became immortal using its blood; he later foreswore the teachings of their school of sorcery and is currently one of the scholars of Heathwill Library.
* ArrangedMarriage: Lady Ruth of the Green Caves and Lord Randolph. In the kids' game, it was arranged when she was a young child [[spoiler:although in the real Hidden Land, it seems likelier that it was arranged later to strengthen ties between their opposing schools of magic]]. Later on, [[spoiler:Lord Andrew complicates the peace negotiations between the Hidden Land and the Dragon King by offering Ted and Ruth to be married to the Dragon King's son and daughter]].
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The Carroll children learn this in ''The Secret Country'' trilogy.
* BigBad: Claudia/Melanie in ''The Secret Country'' trilogy.
* {{Bromance}}: Lord Randolph and Fence the wizard are devoted friends.
* ChildMage: In ''The Dubious Hills'', all children younger than ten have magical abilties, which [[GrowingUpSucks wear off as they grow older]].
* EskimosArentReal: Lord Andrew, living in a world imbued with many different kinds of sorcery, does not believe in magic.
* ImmortalityImmorality: Humans can become immortal using the blood of a unicorn killed in treachery. Since the unicorns, although annoying, are sentient beings, most of the characters are horrified by this. The wizard Shan, one of the founders of the Secret Country and a major contributor to its culture, also apparently disapproved of immortality on principle.
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: In ''The Secret Country'', when Fence, Randolph, Patrick, Ellen, and Laura are discussing Lady Claudia, whom Randolph had been looking chummy with earlier:
-->'''Fence:''' What did she [Claudia] want with thee?\\
'''Randolph:''' ''[looks amused]''\\
'''Fence:''' Apart from the obvious.
* LongingForFictionland: The Carroll children in ''The Secret Country'' had a long, elaborate fantasy game about said country for years. They thought it was a fantasy of their own creation. [[IWishItWereReal It wasn't.]] Once they're involved with the actual place and its people, not only the real world but their old fantasy looks dull and wrong by comparison.
* MagicMusic: The Flute of Cedric.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In the first two ''Secret Country'' books, the Carrolls impersonate the royal children and everything depends on their maintaining this facade. People in the Secret Country speak Early Modern English, more or less, with formal and casual styles. The children do well with this when they remember to use it. But they frequently lapse into 20th-century American English. Nobody seems to notice. Either they are all hearing what they want to hear, or given the reason the kids are there in the first place, maybe AWizardDidIt.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In ''The Dubious Hills'', where the enchantment that turns people into werewolves [[spoiler:cancels the one that gives the Dubious Hills' inhabitants their "knowledge"]].
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: A very odd example. [[spoiler:There are no indications that Lady Ruth and Lord Randolph would have gotten on well at all... but when Ruth Carroll takes Lady Ruth's place, she finds herself falling in love with Lady Ruth's intended, who ultimately reciprocates]].
* PromotedToParent: Arry in ''The Dubious Hills'', after her parents mysteriously never returned from a business trip.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Prospero and Melanie in ''The Whim of the Dragon''.
* ShowWithinTheShow:
** ''The Secret Country'' opens with a the kids performing the climactic scene of their original, "game" version of the story, as a private play.
** In ''The Hidden Land'', Ted participates in a ritual play, whose significance he does not know about until it's over.
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Used in a... different context than usual in ''The Hidden Land''.
* {{Unicorn}}: The ones in the Secret Country are snarky and unhelpful, but can be bargained with.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Shan in the Secret Country Trilogy. He never wanted to become immortal; his lover Melanie made him so against his wishes, using unicorn's blood. He then spent the rest of his life trying to undo this. People in the Hidden Land now swear by Shan's mercy, meaning "that mercy which was granted to Shan" -- death.
* YearInsideHourOutside: Subverted in ''The Secret Country''. In fact, several chapters at the beginning are devoted to the kids painstakingly working out that time moves exactly the same outside the Secret Country as in it, and realizing that they are quickly going to get into serious trouble in both worlds if they don't find a way to account for themselves. They finally jerry-rig a solution, which has both good and bad consequences.
----
It was introduced in the Secret Country trilogy -- ''The Secret Country'', ''The Hidden Land'', and ''The Whim of the Dragon'' -- about a group of five cousins who find themselves in a world they thought they had invented for their games.
''The Dubious Hills'' is set in the same world, but takes place in a different area and involves different characters.
A forthcoming novel, with the working title ''Abiding Reflection'', is to be a joint sequel to the four previous books. In 2013, Dean referred to it as her "still-in-limbo amazing and expanding shrinking novel variously known as ''Going North'', ''Abiding Reflection'', and ''My Poor Book''. It was rejected by Viking Press in 2013 due to its length.
-> I need to finish revising ''Going North'' before we publish it. It got into repeated trouble with the publisher that bought it on spec, because it was just too long. Then, when I cut it down, my editor rightly thought that I’d gone too far and made it difficult to comprehend. Also, sadly, the opening, which I am much attached to, does not work for people who haven’t read the earlier books. That’s the major issue right now; the rest is just adding back in some of the scenes that I cut. - Pamela Dean in a February 2016 interview.
----
!!These novels contain examples of:
* TheAtoner: Prospero (no, not [[Theatre/TheTempest that one]]), Melanie's elder brother, who helped her kill a unicorn and became immortal using its blood; he later foreswore the teachings of their school of sorcery and is currently one of the scholars of Heathwill Library.
* ArrangedMarriage: Lady Ruth of the Green Caves and Lord Randolph. In the kids' game, it was arranged when she was a young child [[spoiler:although in the real Hidden Land, it seems likelier that it was arranged later to strengthen ties between their opposing schools of magic]]. Later on, [[spoiler:Lord Andrew complicates the peace negotiations between the Hidden Land and the Dragon King by offering Ted and Ruth to be married to the Dragon King's son and daughter]].
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The Carroll children learn this in ''The Secret Country'' trilogy.
* BigBad: Claudia/Melanie in ''The Secret Country'' trilogy.
* {{Bromance}}: Lord Randolph and Fence the wizard are devoted friends.
* ChildMage: In ''The Dubious Hills'', all children younger than ten have magical abilties, which [[GrowingUpSucks wear off as they grow older]].
* EskimosArentReal: Lord Andrew, living in a world imbued with many different kinds of sorcery, does not believe in magic.
* ImmortalityImmorality: Humans can become immortal using the blood of a unicorn killed in treachery. Since the unicorns, although annoying, are sentient beings, most of the characters are horrified by this. The wizard Shan, one of the founders of the Secret Country and a major contributor to its culture, also apparently disapproved of immortality on principle.
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: In ''The Secret Country'', when Fence, Randolph, Patrick, Ellen, and Laura are discussing Lady Claudia, whom Randolph had been looking chummy with earlier:
-->'''Fence:''' What did she [Claudia] want with thee?\\
'''Randolph:''' ''[looks amused]''\\
'''Fence:''' Apart from the obvious.
* LongingForFictionland: The Carroll children in ''The Secret Country'' had a long, elaborate fantasy game about said country for years. They thought it was a fantasy of their own creation. [[IWishItWereReal It wasn't.]] Once they're involved with the actual place and its people, not only the real world but their old fantasy looks dull and wrong by comparison.
* MagicMusic: The Flute of Cedric.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In the first two ''Secret Country'' books, the Carrolls impersonate the royal children and everything depends on their maintaining this facade. People in the Secret Country speak Early Modern English, more or less, with formal and casual styles. The children do well with this when they remember to use it. But they frequently lapse into 20th-century American English. Nobody seems to notice. Either they are all hearing what they want to hear, or given the reason the kids are there in the first place, maybe AWizardDidIt.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In ''The Dubious Hills'', where the enchantment that turns people into werewolves [[spoiler:cancels the one that gives the Dubious Hills' inhabitants their "knowledge"]].
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: A very odd example. [[spoiler:There are no indications that Lady Ruth and Lord Randolph would have gotten on well at all... but when Ruth Carroll takes Lady Ruth's place, she finds herself falling in love with Lady Ruth's intended, who ultimately reciprocates]].
* PromotedToParent: Arry in ''The Dubious Hills'', after her parents mysteriously never returned from a business trip.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Prospero and Melanie in ''The Whim of the Dragon''.
* ShowWithinTheShow:
** ''The Secret Country'' opens with a the kids performing the climactic scene of their original, "game" version of the story, as a private play.
** In ''The Hidden Land'', Ted participates in a ritual play, whose significance he does not know about until it's over.
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Used in a... different context than usual in ''The Hidden Land''.
* {{Unicorn}}: The ones in the Secret Country are snarky and unhelpful, but can be bargained with.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Shan in the Secret Country Trilogy. He never wanted to become immortal; his lover Melanie made him so against his wishes, using unicorn's blood. He then spent the rest of his life trying to undo this. People in the Hidden Land now swear by Shan's mercy, meaning "that mercy which was granted to Shan" -- death.
* YearInsideHourOutside: Subverted in ''The Secret Country''. In fact, several chapters at the beginning are devoted to the kids painstakingly working out that time moves exactly the same outside the Secret Country as in it, and realizing that they are quickly going to get into serious trouble in both worlds if they don't find a way to account for themselves. They finally jerry-rig a solution, which has both good and bad consequences.
----
