History Literature / BratFarrar

-->"Ah, Miss Ahby," Mr. Sandal said. "This is a shocking dilemma. A most unprecedented--- Do sit down. you must be exhausted. A dreadful ordeal for you. Sit down, sit down. Mercer, some tea for Miss Ashby."

* BrotherSisterIncest: Doesn't actually happen, but Eleanor is appropriately horrified when she realises she's falling in love with "Patrick". [[spoiler:In the end they turn out to be first cousins, and Eleanor has no problem with marrying her cousin]]

* FinallyFoundTheBody: The plot revolves around the disappearance of Patrick Ashby, who left a suicide note but his body was not found. [[spoiler:Brat finds the body turns up near the end of the novel, at which point its only a skeleton.]]

In 1986 the novel was adapted by Creator/TheBBC as a TV miniseries, which was shown under the ''[[Series/{{Masterpiece}} Mystery!]]'' banner in the US; Mark Greenstreet played both Simon and Brat. It was also the inspiration for the 1963 Creator/HammerHorror film ''Film/{{Paranoiac}}''.

* ImaginaryLoveTriangle: Brat becomes jealous of Eleanor's friend Roger Clint after Ruth tells Brat he and Eleanor are going to be married; it turns out she was just romancing, and not only is there nothing going on between them, Roger is already married to someone else.
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler:It's revealed at the end that Brat actually is a previously-unknown member of the Ashby family]].

* ProofDare: After Brat figures out the truth behind Patrick's disappearance, he impulsively reveals as much to the culprit, who calmly responds that he has no proof, and furthermore that he can't even share his suspicions with anyone without admitting that he's been lying about being Patrick.
* SiblingYinYang: Twin sisters Jane and Ruth are described as being opposite in pretty much every way except physical appearance.

* FinallyFoundTheBody: The plot revolves around the disappearance of Patrick Ashby, who left a suicide note but his body was not found. The body turns up near the end of the novel, many years later.
* GenuineImposter: The explanation for Brat's resemblance to Patrick is that [[spoiler:his unknown father was the black sheep of the Ashby family. At the end of the novel, the Ashbys accept him into the family on his own account]].

* AmateurSleuth: Brat decides to look into Patrick's suicide after he decides that Simon knows he isn't Patrick but for some reason is keeping his secret anyway.

** In the Ashby family, mention is made of Cousin Walter, who was brought low by drink and died a pauper.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Doesn't actually happen, but Eleanor is appropriately horrified when she realises she's falling in love with "Patrick".

* AmateurSleuth: Brat sets out to solve Patrick's disappearance after he realises that whoever got rid of Patrick will try to get rid of him too.

* CharacterOverlap: The lawyer Kevin Macdermott also appears in ''The Franchise Affair''. The Toselli family had previously appeared in ''A Shilling for Candles'', which is also set in Westover and surrounding areas.

* CharacterOverlap: The lawyer Kevin Macdermott also appears in ''The Franchise Affair''.

In 1986 the novel was adapted by Creator/TheBBC as a TV miniseries, which was shown under the ''[[Series/{{Masterpiece}} Mystery!]]'' banner in the US. It was also the inspiration for the 1963 Creator/HammerHorror film ''Film/{{Paranoiac}}''.

* PlayingTheirOwnTwin: Mark Greenstreet plays both Simon and Brat. (On the other hand, Jane and Ruth are played by a real set of twins.)

* CompositeCharacter: The plot functions, dialogue, and family history of George Peck and Nancy Ledingham are combined into a single character, George Ledingham.

* DeadPersonImpersonation: Brat impersonates Patrick Ashby, who the family assumed committed suicide years earlier.

* IdentificationByDentalRecords: Discussed but averted. Brat doesn't have to deal with matching Patrick's dental history, as the dentist who could have recognized him died along with Patrick's parents, and his records were lost in a fire.

* ImaginaryLoveTriangle: Brat becomes jealous of one of Eleanor's friends after one of the twins tells Brat he and Eleanor are going to be married; it turns out she was just romancing, and not only is there nothing going on between them, the friend is already married to someone else.

Brat Farrar is an orphan who has been persuaded to pretend to be Patrick Ashby, the missing heir to the Ashby family, who was presumed to have committed suicide years before. While living with the Ashbys, Brat develops suspicions regarding Patrick's disappearance, and begins trying to solve the mystery of what happened to him.

* IdenticalStranger: Brat's DeadPersonImpersonation is inspired by the discovery that he bears a remarkable resemblance to Patrick Ashby. [[spoiler:The orphan Brat discovers at the end of the novel that he's a lost relative, the son of the black sheep of the Ashby family.]]

* DidYouSeeThatToo:
-->Astride the farther lion was a small boy clad in a leopard-skin rug with green baize edging, a seaside pail worn helmet-wise, and nothing else that was visible. A very long brass poker stood up lance-wise from its rest on his bare foot.\\
'It's all right,' Eleanor said. 'You did see it.'\\
'That comforts me quite a bit.'

* LongLostRelative

'''Brat Farrar''' is a mystery novel by {{Josephine Tey}}, written in 1949.

* {{Dead Person Impersonation}}: Brat impersonates Patrick Ashby, who the family assumed committed suicide years earlier.
* {{Long-Lost Relative}}
* {{Orphanage of Love}}: Brat spent his childhood in one.
* {{Tomboy and Girly Girl}}: Twin sisters Jane and Ruth.