Elinor Lyon

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Elinor Lyon (17 August 1921 - 28 May 2008) was an English children's author.

Lyon was born in Guisborough, Yorkshire and educated at Oxford.^[1] After living for a time in Switzerland, she returned to Oxford to read English at Lady Margaret Hall just as World War II began. She completed four terms, but then joined the WRNS because 'with many...friends being killed, I couldn't stay there reading Milton'.^[2] She served two and half years as a radar operator.^[3]

Her father was headmaster at Rugby School; she met her future husband Peter Wright there when he was a temporary Classics and English teacher. They became engaged in 1943. He returned to teaching when he was demobbed in 1946, and though Lyon's father retired in 1948 they remained there until 1975, when they retired to Harlech.^[4] They had four children and now have twelve grandchildren.

From 1948 to 1976 Lyon wrote over twenty books for children. She found they 'came much more easily'; than writing for adults and believes her inspiration came from 'ominvorous reading'.^[5] She began The House in Hiding, for example, after reading Swallows and Amazons, because she disliked the characters within it (they were too good at everything!).^[6] In response, the children in The House in Hiding get things wrong, but still manage to succeed eventually. The main characters in The House in Hiding, Ian and Sovra, reappear in many of her later books.

She died at Harlech, Gwynedd on 28 May 2008.^[7]

[edit] References

1. ^ Robertson, Fidra Books website; Tucker (2008).
2. ^ Lyon, ii
3. ^ Lyon, ii
4. ^ Lyon, v
5. ^ Lyon, iii
6. ^ Lyon, iv
7. ^ Tucker (2008).

• The House in Hiding, Introduction by Elinor Lyon, Edinburgh: Fidra Books, 2006
• Nicholas Tucker, "Elinor Lyon", obituary in the Independent, Friday, 6 June 2008.

[edit] Bibliography

• • Hilary's island 1948 Hodder & Stoughton
  • Wishing watergate 1949 Hodder & Stoughton
  • The house in hiding 1950 Hodder & Stoughton
  • We daren't go a-hunting 1951 Hodder & Stoughton
  • Run away home 1953 Hodder & Stoughton
  • Sea treasure 1955 Hodder & Stoughton
  • Dragon Castle 1956 Hodder & Stoughton
  • The golden shore 1957 Hodder & Stoughton
  • Daughters of Aradale 1957 Hodder & Stoughton
  • Rider's rock 1958 Hodder & Stoughton
  • Cathie runs wild 1960 Hodder & Stoughton
  • Carver’s journey 1962 Hodder & Stoughton
  • The secret of Hermit’s Bay (Carvers Journey)1962 Follet Publishing Co
  • Green grow the rushes 1964 Brockhampton Press
  • Echo valley 1965 Brockhampton Press
  • The dream hunters 1966 Brockhampton Press
  • Strangers at the door 1967 Brockhampton Press
  • The day that got lost. 1968 Hodder & Stoughton
  • The wishing pool 1970 Brockhampton Press
  • The king of Grey Corrie 1975 Brockhampton Press
  • The floodmakers 1976 Brockhampton Press
  • Hugh Lyon - A Memoir 1993 Laurence Vinney