Barbara Mary Willard (12 March 1909 – 18 February 1994) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

novelist best known for

children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

. Her "Mantlemass Chronicles" is a

family saga The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. In novels (or sometimes sequences of novels) with a serious intent, this is often ...

set in 15th to 17th-century England. For one chronicle, ''The Iron Lily'' (1973), she won the annual

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annually recognised one fiction book written for Children's literature, children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conf ...

, a book award judged by panel of British children's writers.

Life

Willard was born in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

on 12 March 1909, the daughter of the

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

an actor Edmund Willard and Mabel Theresa Tebbs. She was also the great-niece of Victorian-era actor Edward Smith Willard. The young Willard was educated at a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

school in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Because of her family connections, Willard originally went on the stage as an actress and also worked as a playreader, but she was unsuccessful and abandoned acting in her early twenties. She wrote numerous books for adults before she turned to

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

. Folly Magazine obituary by Lance Salway. Very little about the author was written during her lifetime, because of her private nature. She died at a nursing home in Wivelsfield Green, East Sussex, on 18 February 1994.

Writing career

''The Grove of Green Holly'' (1967), which was a story about a group of 17th century travelling players who were hiding in a forest in Sussex from

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

's soldiers, spawned her most famous work, the Mantlemass series (1970–1981) including her Guardian Prize-winning book. Some other books were ''Hetty'' (1956), ''Storm from the West'' (1963), ''Three and One to Carry'' (1964), and ''Charity at Home'' (1965). One of her last books, ''The Forest - Ashdown in East Sussex'', published by Sweethaws Press in 1989, gives a detailed account of Ashdown Forest. In the introduction to the book, Christopher Robin Milne notes that Willard had moved from her home on the Sussex Downs to the edge of Ashdown Forest in 1956 and that her new surroundings had provided the inspiration and setting for ten of her children's historical novels (eight in the ''Mantlemass'' series and two others). It is evident by her own account in her book that she actively involved herself in the affairs of the forest. She was a representative of the forest Commoners elected to the forest's Board of Conservators in 1975, and she remained in that capacity for ten years. She tells how she was later heavily involved in the fundraising campaign which enabled East Sussex County Council to purchase the forest in 1988, enabling it to remain as a place of beauty and tranquility open to the public.

List of selected works

Children's fiction

;Mantlemass Chronicles # ''The Miller's Boy'', 1976 . # ''The Lark and the Laurel'', 1970 # ''The Sprig of Broom'', 1971 # ''A Cold Wind Blowing'', 1972 # ''The Eldest Son'', 1977 # ''The Iron Lily'', 1973 # ''A Flight of Swans'', 1980 # ''Harrow and Harvest'', 1974 # ''The Keys of Mantlemass'', 1981 (a series of short stories that form bridges between the full-length books)

Adult fiction

* ''Love in Ambush'', 1930 (with Elizabeth Helen Devas) * ''Ballerina'', 1932 * ''As Far as in me Lies'', 1936 * ''The Dogs Do Bark'', 1948 * ''Portrait of Philip'', 1950 * ''Celia Scarfe'', 1951 ;Other children's fiction * ''Hetty'', 1956 * ''Snail and the Pennithornes'', 1957 * ''The Penny Pony'', 1961 * ''Duck on a Pond'', 1962 * ''Storm from the West'', 1963 * ''The Battle of Wednesday Week'', 1963 * ''Three and One to Carry'', 1964 * ''A Dog and a Half'', 1964 * ''Charity at Home'', 1965 * ''Surprise Island'', 1966 * '' The Richleighs of Tantamount'', 1966 * ''The Grove of Green Holly'', 1967 * ''The Gardener's Grandchildren'', 1978 * ''Spell Me A Witch'', 1979 * ''Summer Season'', 1981

References

Other sources

* Belinda Copson, ''Folly Magazine'' No. 27 (1999)
Reprint
at Collecting Books & Magazines (collectingbooksandmagazines.com).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willard, Barbara English children's writers English historical novelists Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners Writers from Brighton 1909 births 1994 deaths Place of death missing English women novelists British women children's writers 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English novelists British women historical novelists People from Wivelsfield