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
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
. She may be known best for her
Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
-nominated novel ''
Knowledge of Angels'' and for the
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 dilettante who solves mysteries for ...
–
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 ( kw, Porth Ia, meaning " St Ia's cove") is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent ...
, when she was three years old because of the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
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 attended
St. Anne's College, Oxford, graduating in 1959, and lived in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
.
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.
The year before, in 1961, 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
John Rowe Townsend (19 May 1922 – 24 March 2014) was a British children's writer and children's literature scholar. His best-known children's novel is ''The Intruder'', which won a 1971 Edgar Award. His best-known academic work is a reference s ...
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
Dennis Nicholas Herbert Herbert, 3rd Baron Hemingford, (25 July 1934 – 17 December 2022), known professionally as Nick Herbert, was a British peer and journalist who collaborated with publications such as ''The Times'' and the ''Cambridge Eve ...
, and they married in September of that year.
She died a month later, in October, of
kidney
The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...
and
heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...
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 600 Fellows, ele ...
. In 1998, she won the
Phoenix Award
The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the ...
from the
Children's Literature Association
The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman- ...
, 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 late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
philosophical novel
Philosophical fiction refers to the class of works of fiction which devote a significant portion of their content to the sort of questions normally addressed in philosophy. These might explore any facet of the human condition, including the funct ...
, was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
. 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 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
's ''Cosi fan tutte
Cosi, COSI or CoSi may refer to:
* '' Così'', a 1992 play by Louis Nowra
** ''Cosi'' (film), 1996, based on the play
* Così (restaurant), an American fast-casual restaurant chain
* Compton Spectrometer and Imager, or COSI, a NASA telescope to ...
''
* ''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
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
:
* ''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 dilettante who solves mysteries fo ...
– Harriet Vane novel, '' Thrones, Dominations''. In 2002, she followed this up with another Lord Peter novel, ''A Presumption of Death
''A Presumption of Death'' is a 2002 Lord Peter Wimsey–Harriet Vane mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on '' The Wimsey Papers'' by Dorothy L. Sayers. The novel is Walsh's first original Lord Peter Wimsey novel, following ''T ...
''. In 2010, she published a third, ''The Attenbury Emeralds
''The Attenbury Emeralds'' is the third Lord Peter Wimsey- Harriet Vane detective novel written by Jill Paton Walsh. Featuring characters created by Dorothy L. Sayers, it was written with the co-operation and approval of Sayers' estate. It wa ...
''. Her last addition to the series, ''The Late Scholar
''The Late Scholar'' is the fourth Lord Peter Wimsey- Harriet Vane detective novel written by Jill Paton Walsh. Featuring characters created by Dorothy L. Sayers, it was written with the co-operation and approval of Sayers' estate. It was pu ...
'', was published 5 December 2013 in the UK, and 14 January 2014 in North America. A fifth novel was reportedly incomplete at the time of her death.
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 (2000–2003), for which he won the Guardian Prize and other recognition.
Cros ...
* ''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 UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...
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, Nonfiction, and P ...
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
Smarties are colour-varied sugar-coated chocolate confectionery. They have been manufactured since 1937, originally by H.I. Rowntree & Company in the United Kingdom, and now by Nestlé.
Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of abou ...
, 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
biographyan
*
*
{{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
Women mystery writers
English women novelists
21st-century English women writers
20th-century English women writers
Writers from London