I wrote yesterday about a book I read as a child, ‘The Far Distant Oxus’, and then I began to think about other books I read… so long ago now! I am looking at a novel I wrote, the first of my ‘proper’ novels, and the opening paragraph describe someone picking chrysanthemums in the pouring rain, and the words ‘bronze chrysanthemums’ jumped into my head. Of course, it was a book from the 60’s! I couldn’t remember it but on looking it up found it was called just that and was written by Sheena Porter. It was published in 1961 when she was only twenty-six, another brilliant young author! I don’t remember the story of it, just the unusual title. Her most critically acclaimed book is ‘Nordy Bank’, set in Shropshire, which was published three years later but I didn’t read that; I guess by that time I had moved out of the children’s library and into the adult section! Sheena was born in 1935, and as far as I know, I’m glad to say she is still living in Ludlow.
A novel I do remember other than just the title is ‘Foxy-Boy’ by David Severn, which is a ‘Jungle Book’ story about a boy brought up by foxes; David was the son of Sir Stanley Unwin of the publishing group, and he only died three years ago in 2010, aged 92. He wrote thirty books for children and three for adults under his own name of David Unwin. I don’t remember reading any of his other novels, but no doubt I did. His novels which now sound most interesting, and which I think I would have enjoyed as a child deal with time-travel and time-slip, such as ‘Drumbeats’ and ‘Dream Gold ‘, a novel set in the future ‘The Future Took Us’ and ‘The Girl in the Grove’ which is described as “a psychological ghost story”.
My third remembered child-hood author is the French writer, René Guillot; I pronounced his name as Reen Gilleeot… not having started learning French yet. he was born in 1900 and lived for more than twenty years in Senegal, which is reflected in what he wrote about, ‘Kpo the Leopard’, ‘The 397th White Elephant’, ‘Grishka And The Bear’ and ‘Master of the Elephants’ for example. I can’t now remember which ones I read, but I very soon grew out of them, although I always thought of them fondly as I scanned the library shelves trying to find something I hadn’t read. I wonder if they are still on library shelves now? I somehow doubt it!
Lois Elsden 