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Barbara Willard

3.7/5 ( ratings)
Born
December 31 1908
Died
3131 12 19931993
Barbara Mary Willard was born in Brighton, Sussex in 1909, and was educated at a convent school in Southampton. Her father was a Shakespearean actor; she absorbed Shakespeare from childhood and language was always important to her. Before the war she worked briefly as an actress and a playreader, before starting to write fiction. Barbara Willard wrote many adult novels before venturing into children's fiction; late in her writing career came the historical series known as the Mantlemass novels, and it is for these that she is now chiefly remembered. In 1967 she published A Grove of Green Holly about a group of 17th century travelling players, hiding from Cromwell's soldiers in Ashdown Forest in Sussex, encountering iron workers and forest ways. From this root came the idea of writing about the same place and its development and change through earlier periods of history; a concept which was to evolve into the Mantlemass books. This series has received much critical acclaim and has ensured Barbara Willard a place in the mainstream of children's historical fiction, along with writers such as Geoffrey Trease, Rosemary Sutcliff and Cynthia Harnett. Two early volumes were runners up for the Guardian award for children's fiction, which she won with The Iron Lily in 1974.

Barbara Willard

3.7/5 ( ratings)
Born
December 31 1908
Died
3131 12 19931993
Barbara Mary Willard was born in Brighton, Sussex in 1909, and was educated at a convent school in Southampton. Her father was a Shakespearean actor; she absorbed Shakespeare from childhood and language was always important to her. Before the war she worked briefly as an actress and a playreader, before starting to write fiction. Barbara Willard wrote many adult novels before venturing into children's fiction; late in her writing career came the historical series known as the Mantlemass novels, and it is for these that she is now chiefly remembered. In 1967 she published A Grove of Green Holly about a group of 17th century travelling players, hiding from Cromwell's soldiers in Ashdown Forest in Sussex, encountering iron workers and forest ways. From this root came the idea of writing about the same place and its development and change through earlier periods of history; a concept which was to evolve into the Mantlemass books. This series has received much critical acclaim and has ensured Barbara Willard a place in the mainstream of children's historical fiction, along with writers such as Geoffrey Trease, Rosemary Sutcliff and Cynthia Harnett. Two early volumes were runners up for the Guardian award for children's fiction, which she won with The Iron Lily in 1974.

Books from Barbara Willard

Son of Charlemagne

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Augustine Came to Kent

3.6/5 ( ratings)

The Lark and the Laurel

4/5 ( ratings)

The Sprig of Broom

4.2/5 ( ratings)

A Cold Wind Blowing

4.1/5 ( ratings)

The Iron Lily

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Harrow and Harvest

4/5 ( ratings)

A Flight of Swans

4.1/5 ( ratings)

The Battle of Wednesday Week

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Farmer's Boy

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Ranger's Daughters

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Snail and the Pennithornes

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Jubilee!

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Richleighs of Tantamount

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Family Tower

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Snail and the Pennithornes Next Time

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Queen of the Pharisees' Children

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Miller's Boy

3.5/5 ( ratings)

If All the Swords in England: A Story of Thomas Becket

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Country Maid

3.5/5 ( ratings)
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