Autumn Term is the first in the series of novels for children about the exploits of the Marlow family, written by Antonia Forest and published in 1948.

Forest claimed she aspired to write adult fiction and that she wrote Autumn Term to improve her chances of being published, hoping that a school story for children might meet with greater success.

Hence, the heroines, Nicola and Lawrie (Lawrence), are often unsuccessful in their endeavours and are at times unsympathetic, whilst the antagonist Lois Sanger is portrayed as having redeeming traits.

Nicola makes an inauspicious start to her career at Kingscote School when she drops her leaving present, a penknife, out of the train and pulls the communication cord so that she can jump out to retrieve it.

Tim (Thalia) Keith, niece of the Headmistress, writes a version of The Prince and the Pauper so that Nicola can be Edward VI and Lawrie can play Tom Canty, the beggar boy who looks just like the king.

The play is saved by Lois Sanger who agrees to read the narration for them, in an attempt to atone for her actions in the Guide company.

The books are set in a mythical landscape taking in elements from all over southern Britain, from Sussex to Pembrokeshire, and Forest said that she had based Wade Minster itself on Chichester Cathedral.