I have to rave about another children's writer that's really for all ages. Lucy Maria Boston (1892-1990), most famous for her "Green Knowe" books. These are seamlessly woven fantasies where the main character is the property of Green Knowe, about 40 mile north east of London...which the author bought when she was 47 and fell in love with. It has a history going back over 900 years. You can still visit the estate. If anyone wants to know where I get some of my imagination from...look here... I've always felt like a late bloomer, so she is especially inspiring. Her first book, "The Children of Green Knowe" was published when she was in her early sixties. The quote below is from a different book called "The Guardians of the House" (1974), at age 82, with perfect illustrations from her son Peter Boston...
If all this had been a dream, it was hard to shake
off, and indeed Tom was very much shaken. Fresh air was
what he needed, so he opened a door that gave onto a
balcony, and looked out. He was high up, and below
him was an enclosed garden he had not seen before.
It was closely surrounded and overhung by yew trees,
which gave the air a greenish tinge like sea water. You
could imagine it as a garden under the sea or as an
enlarged rock pool. The yew tree fingers could easily
be imagined as wrackweed waving under the tide, the
shadowed geraniums as sea anemonies opening under
the fresh flow after a dry day. The walls of the house
could be seen as a dry cliff and the birds passing
beneath him as fishes. Cool, after the steamy jungle.
page 26
I recommend starting with her first book, "The Children of Green Knowe"(1954). You'll soon be hooked under the sea garden of her spell.
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