Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
May 1, 1994/in Obituary /by Angie Hill
This article is featured in BfK 86 May 1994
This article is in the Obituary Category

Obituary: Barbara Willard

Author: Chris Powling

BARBARA WILLARD

12 March 1909 – 18 February 1994

Though not confined to historical novels, Barbara Willard’s best fiction tended to be located in the past – in particular the Mantlemass sequence, set in her beloved Ashdown Forest, which traces the fortunes of two families, the Mallorys and the Medleys, between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Margaret Meek wrote that `her characters … are not cast in the heroic mould of Rosemary Sutcliff’s heroes. Instead their very frailty makes them human, rounded.’ Many would regard her as Sutcliff’s equal as a writer and some, at least in respect of dialogue, Sutcliff’s superior.

She came late to children’s literature. Born in Brighton, Sussex, of an acting family, she was herself an actress before becoming a novelist for adults. Her first children’s book, Portrait of Philip (1954), was revised from an earlier adult novel … and led to 60 more books for young people. She won the Guardian Award in 1974 for The Iron Lily and the Whitbread 10 years later for The Queen of the Pharisees’ Children. Newcomers to her work should perhaps begin with A Cold Wind Blowing (1972), the third of the Mantlemass novels and arguably the best. Of her two `intermingled families’. she remarks, `I have tried to imagine how they would have lived, and how they would have been affected by the events in the outside world – the change of dynasty from Plantagenet to Tudor, the Reformation, the Civil War. Because these people have come to seem so real to me, living as I do on their ground, I think perhaps they have some reality for readers.’ They have indeed.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill1994-05-01 09:10:402021-12-09 12:22:41Obituary: Barbara Willard
Download BfK Issue Bfk 272 May 2025
Skip to an Issue:

Related Articles

Obituary: Morag Styles 1947-2024
Bfk 270 January 2025
Obituary Niki Daly
Bfk 265 March 2024
Obituary: Benjamin Zephaniah
BfK 264 January 2024
Obituary: K M Peyton
BfK 264 January 2024
Marcus Sedgwick
BfK 259 March 2023
Obituary: Joan Lingard
BfK 256 September 2022
Obituary: Shirley Hughes
BfK 253 March 2022
Obituary: Victor Ambrus
BfK 247 March 2021

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Choice and reading relevant to their interests = reading for pleasure

June 11, 2025

Ross Montgomery wins the 2025 FCBG Children’s Book Award

June 7, 2025

Michael Rosen and Emily Gravett IBBY UK nominations for Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2026

June 4, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
New (-ish) Tales for Old BfK News: May 1994
Scroll to top