Gillian Honorine Mary Herbert, Baroness Hemingford, (née Bliss; 29 April 1937 – 18 October 2020), known professionally as Jill Paton Walsh, was an English novelist and children's writer. She may be known best for her

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

-nominated novel '' Knowledge of Angels'' and for the Peter Wimsey– Harriet Vane mysteries that continued the work of Dorothy L. Sayers.

Personal life

Gillian Honorine Mary Bliss was born on 29 April 1937 to John Bliss, an engineer for the BBC who at his death had 363 patents to his name, and Patricia Paula DuBern, a homemaker. She went with her mother and siblings to live with grandparents in

St Ives, Cornwall St Ives (, meaning "Ia of Cornwall, St Ia's cove") is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times, it was comm ...

, when she was three years old because of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

bombings. In 1944, after the grandmother had died, Bliss returned to London to live with her mother and her younger siblings, who had returned to London earlier. Bliss was educated at St Michael's Convent, North Finchley, London. She studied English at St Anne's College, Oxford, graduating in 1959, and lived in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. After graduating, Bliss taught English at Enfield County Grammar School for Girls, but left her position in 1962, as she was expecting her first child. In the previous year she had married Antony Edmund Paton Walsh; they settled in Richmond, south-west London, and had one son and two daughters. In the early 1970s, Jill met John Rowe Townsend and they began an affair. She left her first husband only in 1986, when their youngest daughter turned 18. Antony did not want a divorce because of his Roman Catholic faith. Jill and Townsend were married only in 2004, after Antony's death on 30 December 2003. Townsend died in 2014. In February 2020, she met Nicholas Herbert, 3rd Baron Hemingford (1934−2022), whom she married in September of that year. She died three weeks later, in October, of

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

and

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

in hospital at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

Honours

In 1996, Paton Walsh received the CBE for services to literature and was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

. In 1998, she won the Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association, recognising ''A Chance Child'' as the best children's book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award.

On writing for children

In an essay on realism in children's literature, Paton Walsh stated that realism (like fantasy) is also metaphorical, and that she would like the relationship between the reader and her characters Bill and Julie in ''Fireweed'' to be as metaphorical as that between "dragons and the reader's greed or courage".

Works

'' Knowledge of Angels'' (1993), a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

philosophical novel Philosophical fiction is any fiction that devotes a significant portion of its content to the sort of questions addressed by philosophy. It might explore any facet of the human condition, including the function and role of society, the nature and ...

, was shortlisted for the 1994

. Other adult novels include: * ''Farewell, Great King'' (1972) * '' Lapsing'' (1986), about Catholic university students * ''A School for Lovers'' (1989), reworking of the plot of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's '' Cosi fan tutte'' * ''The Serpentine Cave'' (1997), based on a lifeboat disaster in St Ives * ''A Desert in Bohemia'' (2000), which follows a group of characters in England and in an imaginary Eastern European country through the years between World War II and 1989

Imogen Quy

Paton Walsh wrote four detective stories that featured part-time college nurse Imogen Quy, and were set in the fictional St Agatha's College,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

: * ''The Wyndham Case'' (1993) * ''A Piece of Justice'' (1995) * ''Debts of Dishonour'' (2006) * ''The Bad Quarto'' (2007)

Lord Peter Wimsey

In 1998, she completed Dorothy L. Sayers's unfinished

Lord Peter Wimsey Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey (later 17th Duke of Denver) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh). A amateur, dilettante who solves myst ...

– Harriet Vane novel, '' Thrones, Dominations''. In 2002, she followed this up with another Lord Peter novel, '' A Presumption of Death''. In 2010, she published a third, '' The Attenbury Emeralds''. Her last addition to the series, '' The Late Scholar'', was published 5 December 2013 in the UK, and 14 January 2014 in North America.

Children's books

* '' Hengest's Tale'' (St Martin's Press, 1966), fiction, illustrated by Janet MargrieHengest's tale
Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 26 August 2013. * ''The Dolphin Crossing'' (1967), adapted for the stage by Ed Viney (2012) * ''Word Hoard: Anglo-Saxon stories'' (1969?), by Paton Walsh and

Kevin Crossley-Holland Kevin John William Crossley-Holland (born 7 February 1941) is an English translator, children's author and poet. His best known work is probably the #Arthur trilogy, Arthur trilogy (2000–2003), for which he won the Guardian Children's Fiction ...

* ''Fireweed'' (1969) * ''Goldengrove'' (1972) * ''The Dawnstone'' (1973), published by Hamish Hamilton * ''Toolmaker'' (1973), picture book illus. Jeroo Roy * ''The Emperor's Winding Sheet'' —

Whitbread Prize The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...

for children's books, 1974 * ''The Butty Boy'' (1975), illus. Juliette Palmer * ''The Huffler'' (1975), illus. Palmer * ''The Island Sunrise: prehistoric Britain'' (1975); US subtitle, —nonfiction * ''Unleaving'' (1976), sequel to ''Goldengrove'' —

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award The ''Boston Globe''–''Horn'' Book Awards are a set of American literary awards conferred by ''The Boston Globe'' and ''The Horn Book Magazine'' annually from 1967. One book is recognized in each of four categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonficti ...

for fiction, 1976 * ''Crossing to Salamis'' (1977), picture book illus. David Smee * ''The Walls of Athens'' (1977), picture book illus. Smee * ''A Chance Child'' (1978) * ''Children of the Fox'' (1978), illus. Robin Eaton * ''The Green Book'' (1981), illus. Lloyd Bloom * ''Babylon'' (1982) * ''A Parcel of Patterns'' (1983) * ''Gaffer Samson's Luck'' (1984) — Smarties Prize, 1985 * ''Birdy and the Ghosties'' (1989) * ''Grace'' (1991) * ''When Grandma Came'' (1992), picture book illus. by Sophy Williams * ''Thomas and the Tinners'' (1995) — 1995 Carnegie Medal longlist

Bibliography

* With foreword by Jill Paton Walsh.

References

External links

* wit
biography
an

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paton Walsh, Jill 1937 births 2020 deaths English children's writers English mystery writers 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists Hemingford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at St. Michael's Catholic Grammar School Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford English women mystery writers English women novelists 21st-century English women writers 20th-century English women writers Writers from London People from St Ives, Cornwall