Eva Ibbotson
Encyclopedia
Eva Ibbotson was an Austrian-born British novel
ist, known for her award-winning children's books as well as her novels for adults - several of which have been successfully reissued for the young adult readership in recent years.
, Austria
in 1925 to non-practising Jewish parents. Her father, Berthold Wiesner, was a physiologist, her mother, Anna Gmeyner
, a successful novelist and playwright who had worked with Bertolt Brecht
and written film scripts for G. W. Pabst
. Ibbotson's parents separated in 1928 and what followed was a " very cosmopolitan, sophisticated and quite interesting, but also very unhappy childhood, always on some train and wishing to have a home" as Eva Ibbotson would recall later. Her father took up a university lectureship in Edinburgh, while her mother, who had moved from Berlin to Paris in 1933, eventually settled in Belsize Park in North London in 1934, when her work was banned by Hitler
, putting a sudden end to her successful writing career. Eva Ibbotson joined her mother in Belsize Park and other family members from Vienna followed and escaped the worst of the Nazi regime, which had already affected the family.
The experience of fleeing Vienna was a strong thread throughout Ibbotson's life and work.
Eva Ibbotson attended Dartington Hall School which she later fictionalised as Delderton Hall in her novel The Dragonfly Pool
(2008). Originally she intended to become a physiologist like her father, earning an undergraduate degree from Bedford College, London in 1945 before studying at Cambridge University. But the thought of spending her life conducting experiments on animals appalled her. Instead she met her future husband, Alan Ibbotson, a university professor and entomologist at Cambridge University. They married in 1947 and Eva Ibbotson turned her back on science with some relief.
They moved to Jesmond/Newcastle where they raised their family, before Ibbotson gratuated with a diploma in education in 1965 from the University of Durham. She briefly became a teacher in the 1960s before embarking on her writing career.
Ibbotson was widowed with three sons and a daughter. She died at her home in Newcastle on 20 October 2010, during post-production of a film based on her novel The Great Ghost Rescue
and the film development of her bestselling novel The Morning Gift
.
Children's Books
Ibbotson authored numerous books including The Secret of Platform 13
, The Star of Kazan, Journey to the River Sea
, Which Witch?
, Island of the Aunts
, and Dial-a-Ghost
. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize
for Journey to the River Sea, and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature. The books are imaginative and humorous, and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite the fact that she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things. Some of the books, particularly Journey to the River Sea, also reflect Ibbotson's love of nature. Ibbotson wrote this book in honor of her husband (who had died just before she wrote it), a former naturalist. The book had been in her head for years before she actually wrote it. Ibbotson had said she disliked "financial greed and a lust for power" and often created antagonists in her books who have these characteristics.
Her love of Austria is evident in works such as The Star of Kazan, A Song For Summer & Magic Flutes / The Reluctant Heiress. These books, set primarily in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love of nature and all things natural.
Novels
Although she will be most remembered for her children's books, Ibbotson was also famous for several works of fiction for adults that have recently been successfully republished for young adults. This was to Eva Ibbotson's surprise, as she referred to them as adult books, even though they are now also incredibly popular with teenage audiences.
Several of these books have been published in other languages with different titles.
Dramas
Ibbotson's writing took a new direction in 1992, when she began to move away from romantic novels to write two acclaimed dramas, which are set in Europe at the time of WWII and reflect her own experience of the time.
The first book The Morning Gift
(1993) became a Bestseller, followed by Ibbotson's last novel for adults A Song For Summer
(1997).
Her books for adults/young adults include:
books to Ibbotson's The Secret of Platform 13, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book, has been commented on. Amanda Craig is one example of a journalist who has written about the similarities: "Ibbotson would seem to have at least as good a case for claiming plagiarism as the American author currently suing J. K. Rowling[ Nancy Stouffer] , but unlike her, Ibbotson says she would 'like to shake her by the hand. I think we all borrow from each other as writers'." See Harry Potter influences and analogues.
shortlist, British Library Association, 1978, for Which Witch?, and 2001, for Journey to the River Sea;
Best Romantic Novel of the Year Published in England, Romantic Novelists Association, 1983, for Magic Flutes;
Smarties Prize Shortlist, and Best Books designation, School Library Journal, 1998, for The Secret of Platform 13;
Guardian Children's Fiction Award runner-up, and Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award shortlist, and Smarties Prize shortlist, all 2001, all for Journey to the River Sea.
The Star of Kazan was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2005.
Nestle Children's Book Prize Silver Award for Star of Kazan.
Nestle Children's Book Prize Golden Award for Journey to River Sea
Currently, Enda Walsh
is adapting Island of the Aunts
for a feature film. An adaptation of The Great Ghost Rescue
is also in production, and Gail Gilchriest is adapting The Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood.
The bestselling drama The Morning Gift
is currently being developed.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist, known for her award-winning children's books as well as her novels for adults - several of which have been successfully reissued for the young adult readership in recent years.
Personal life
Eva Ibbotson was born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1925 to non-practising Jewish parents. Her father, Berthold Wiesner, was a physiologist, her mother, Anna Gmeyner
Anna Gmeyner
Anna Wilhelmine Gmeyner was an exiled German and Austrian author, playwright and scriptwriter, who is now best known for her novel Manja . She also wrote under the names Anna Reiner, and Anna Morduch...
, a successful novelist and playwright who had worked with Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
and written film scripts for G. W. Pabst
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
-Biography:Pabst was born in Raudnitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary , the son of a railroad employee.Returning from the United States, he was in France when World War I began...
. Ibbotson's parents separated in 1928 and what followed was a " very cosmopolitan, sophisticated and quite interesting, but also very unhappy childhood, always on some train and wishing to have a home" as Eva Ibbotson would recall later. Her father took up a university lectureship in Edinburgh, while her mother, who had moved from Berlin to Paris in 1933, eventually settled in Belsize Park in North London in 1934, when her work was banned by Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, putting a sudden end to her successful writing career. Eva Ibbotson joined her mother in Belsize Park and other family members from Vienna followed and escaped the worst of the Nazi regime, which had already affected the family.
The experience of fleeing Vienna was a strong thread throughout Ibbotson's life and work.
Eva Ibbotson attended Dartington Hall School which she later fictionalised as Delderton Hall in her novel The Dragonfly Pool
The Dragonfly Pool
The Dragonfly Pool is a children's novel by award-winning author Eva Ibbotson. It is illustrated by Kevin Hawkes.-Plot:Tally Hamilton is the daughter of the town's beloved dentist. Tally loves her life; she is popular and gets along with everyone. So Tally is very upset when she is sent to a...
(2008). Originally she intended to become a physiologist like her father, earning an undergraduate degree from Bedford College, London in 1945 before studying at Cambridge University. But the thought of spending her life conducting experiments on animals appalled her. Instead she met her future husband, Alan Ibbotson, a university professor and entomologist at Cambridge University. They married in 1947 and Eva Ibbotson turned her back on science with some relief.
They moved to Jesmond/Newcastle where they raised their family, before Ibbotson gratuated with a diploma in education in 1965 from the University of Durham. She briefly became a teacher in the 1960s before embarking on her writing career.
Ibbotson was widowed with three sons and a daughter. She died at her home in Newcastle on 20 October 2010, during post-production of a film based on her novel The Great Ghost Rescue
The Great Ghost Rescue
The Great Ghost Rescue is a children's novel authored by Eva Ibbotson. It was published by Macmillan in 1975. The story deals with a ghost called Humphrey the Horrible.- Plot :...
and the film development of her bestselling novel The Morning Gift
The Morning Gift
The Morning Gift is a bestselling novel by the English author Eva Ibbotson, based on her own experience as a refugee.The story is set during the prelude and beginning of the Second World War and combines a picture of 1930s emigrant life with a love story....
.
Career
Ibbotson began writing with the television drama Linda Came Today (1962) and published her first novel, The Great Ghost Rescue in 1975.Children's Books
Ibbotson authored numerous books including The Secret of Platform 13
The Secret of Platform 13
The Secret of Platform 13 is a children's novel by Eva Ibbotson, and illustrated by Sue Porter, first published in 1994.The book has gained extra significance as many readers find it similar to the Harry Potter series by J.K...
, The Star of Kazan, Journey to the River Sea
Journey to the River Sea
Journey to the River Sea is an adventure novel written by Eva Ibbotson in an attempt to share her vision of the Amazon River. It is set mainly in Brazil early in the twentieth century and was first published in 2001.- Maia :...
, Which Witch?
Which Witch?
Which Witch? is a children's novel written in 1979 by Eva Ibbotson.-Plot summary:The story begins when a wizard named Arriman the Awful decides to choose a wife from his hometown of Todcaster; his ulterior motive is a prophecy that foretells that another, darker wizard will take over Arriman's...
, Island of the Aunts
Island of the Aunts
Monster Mission is a children's book written by Eva Ibbotson. It was also published under the title Island of the Aunts...
, and Dial-a-Ghost
Dial-a-Ghost
Dial-a-Ghost is a 1996 children's novel written by Eva Ibbotson and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. It is centered around Frieda and Fulton Snodde-Brittle, who want to kill their cousin Oliver because he is the rightful owner of Helton Hall...
. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize
Nestlé Smarties Book Prize
The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, also known as the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, was an annual award given to children's books written in the previous year by a UK citizen or resident. The prize was administered by Booktrust, an independent charity which promotes books and reading, and sponsored by...
for Journey to the River Sea, and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature. The books are imaginative and humorous, and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite the fact that she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things. Some of the books, particularly Journey to the River Sea, also reflect Ibbotson's love of nature. Ibbotson wrote this book in honor of her husband (who had died just before she wrote it), a former naturalist. The book had been in her head for years before she actually wrote it. Ibbotson had said she disliked "financial greed and a lust for power" and often created antagonists in her books who have these characteristics.
Her love of Austria is evident in works such as The Star of Kazan, A Song For Summer & Magic Flutes / The Reluctant Heiress. These books, set primarily in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love of nature and all things natural.
Novels
Although she will be most remembered for her children's books, Ibbotson was also famous for several works of fiction for adults that have recently been successfully republished for young adults. This was to Eva Ibbotson's surprise, as she referred to them as adult books, even though they are now also incredibly popular with teenage audiences.
Several of these books have been published in other languages with different titles.
Dramas
Ibbotson's writing took a new direction in 1992, when she began to move away from romantic novels to write two acclaimed dramas, which are set in Europe at the time of WWII and reflect her own experience of the time.
The first book The Morning Gift
The Morning Gift
The Morning Gift is a bestselling novel by the English author Eva Ibbotson, based on her own experience as a refugee.The story is set during the prelude and beginning of the Second World War and combines a picture of 1930s emigrant life with a love story....
(1993) became a Bestseller, followed by Ibbotson's last novel for adults A Song For Summer
A Song for Summer
A Song for Summer is a romance novel by British author Eva Ibbotson, first published in 1997. Eva Ibbotson is possibly best known as an award-winning and prolific author of children's books, but she also wrote many beloved romance novels for the adult market, of which A Song for Summer was the last...
(1997).
Her books for adults/young adults include:
- The Secret Countess (originally published as 'A Countess Below Stairs')
- The Morning Gift
- A Company of Swans
- A Song For Summer
- Magic Flutes (in some editions published as 'The Reluctant Heiress')
The Secret of Platform 13
The similarity of "Platform 9 3/4" in J.K. Rowling's Harry PotterHarry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
books to Ibbotson's The Secret of Platform 13, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book, has been commented on. Amanda Craig is one example of a journalist who has written about the similarities: "Ibbotson would seem to have at least as good a case for claiming plagiarism as the American author currently suing J. K. Rowling
Children's fiction
- The Great Ghost RescueThe Great Ghost RescueThe Great Ghost Rescue is a children's novel authored by Eva Ibbotson. It was published by Macmillan in 1975. The story deals with a ghost called Humphrey the Horrible.- Plot :...
(1975) - Which Witch?Which Witch?Which Witch? is a children's novel written in 1979 by Eva Ibbotson.-Plot summary:The story begins when a wizard named Arriman the Awful decides to choose a wife from his hometown of Todcaster; his ulterior motive is a prophecy that foretells that another, darker wizard will take over Arriman's...
(1979) - The Worm & the Toffee Nosed Princess (1983)
- The Haunting of Hiram C. HopgoodThe Haunting of Hiram C. HopgoodThe Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood is a children's novel written in 1987 by Eva Ibbotson....
(1987) - Not Just a Witch (1989)
- The Secret of Platform 13The Secret of Platform 13The Secret of Platform 13 is a children's novel by Eva Ibbotson, and illustrated by Sue Porter, first published in 1994.The book has gained extra significance as many readers find it similar to the Harry Potter series by J.K...
(1994) - Dial-a-GhostDial-a-GhostDial-a-Ghost is a 1996 children's novel written by Eva Ibbotson and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. It is centered around Frieda and Fulton Snodde-Brittle, who want to kill their cousin Oliver because he is the rightful owner of Helton Hall...
(1996) - Monster Mission (1999)
- Island of the AuntsIsland of the AuntsMonster Mission is a children's book written by Eva Ibbotson. It was also published under the title Island of the Aunts...
(2000 - a re-titling of Monster Mission) - Journey to the River SeaJourney to the River SeaJourney to the River Sea is an adventure novel written by Eva Ibbotson in an attempt to share her vision of the Amazon River. It is set mainly in Brazil early in the twentieth century and was first published in 2001.- Maia :...
(2001) - The Haunting of Granite Falls (2004 - a re-titling of The Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood)
- The Star of KazanThe Star of KazanThe Star of Kazan is a novel written by Eva Ibbotson. It is about a child called Annika who was left as a baby just days old in a church...
(2004) - The Beasts of Clawstone CastleThe Beasts of Clawstone CastleThe Beasts of Clawstone Castle is a 2005 book by Eva Ibbotson.-Plot:Madlyn and Rollo live with their parents in a ground-floor flat in south London. Mrs Hamilton runs a theatre where the plays kept running out of money, Mr Hamilton is a designer and helps people with their houses. Madlyn is very...
(2005) - The Haunting of Hiram (2008)
- The Dragonfly PoolThe Dragonfly PoolThe Dragonfly Pool is a children's novel by award-winning author Eva Ibbotson. It is illustrated by Kevin Hawkes.-Plot:Tally Hamilton is the daughter of the town's beloved dentist. Tally loves her life; she is popular and gets along with everyone. So Tally is very upset when she is sent to a...
(2008) - The Ogre of Oglefort (2010)
- One Dog and his Boy (2010)
Other fiction
- A Countess Below StairsA Countess Below StairsA Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson is a historical romance novel which follows the story of Anna Grazinsky, a Russian countess after World War I. It was first published in 1981...
(1981, reissued as The Secret Countess in 2007) - Magic Flutes (1982, reissued as The Reluctant Heiress in May 2009)
- A Company of SwansA Company of SwansA Company of Swans is a historical romance novel published in 1985 by Eva Ibbotson. The book is dedicated to Patricia Veryan. Critically well received, the young adult novel is starting to be obliquely referred to in reviews, as reviewers attempt to compliment a new work by comparing it to another,...
(1985) - Madensky Square (1988)
- A Glove Shop in Vienna and other Stories (1992)
Awards
Carnegie MedalCarnegie Medal
The Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
shortlist, British Library Association, 1978, for Which Witch?, and 2001, for Journey to the River Sea;
Best Romantic Novel of the Year Published in England, Romantic Novelists Association, 1983, for Magic Flutes;
Smarties Prize Shortlist, and Best Books designation, School Library Journal, 1998, for The Secret of Platform 13;
Guardian Children's Fiction Award runner-up, and Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award shortlist, and Smarties Prize shortlist, all 2001, all for Journey to the River Sea.
The Star of Kazan was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2005.
Nestle Children's Book Prize Silver Award for Star of Kazan.
Nestle Children's Book Prize Golden Award for Journey to River Sea
Film and television
In 1962, Ibbotson wrote Linda Came Today for television; in 1978, she also wrote Der Große Karpfen Ferdinand und andere Weihnachtsgeschichten for German television.Currently, Enda Walsh
Enda Walsh
Enda Walsh is an Irish playwright born in Dublin and currently living in London. Walsh attended the same secondary school where both Roddy Doyle and Paul Mercier taught. Having written for the Dublin Youth Theatre, he moved to Cork where he wrote Fishy Tales for the Graffiti Theatre Company,...
is adapting Island of the Aunts
Island of the Aunts
Monster Mission is a children's book written by Eva Ibbotson. It was also published under the title Island of the Aunts...
for a feature film. An adaptation of The Great Ghost Rescue
The Great Ghost Rescue
The Great Ghost Rescue is a children's novel authored by Eva Ibbotson. It was published by Macmillan in 1975. The story deals with a ghost called Humphrey the Horrible.- Plot :...
is also in production, and Gail Gilchriest is adapting The Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood.
The bestselling drama The Morning Gift
The Morning Gift
The Morning Gift is a bestselling novel by the English author Eva Ibbotson, based on her own experience as a refugee.The story is set during the prelude and beginning of the Second World War and combines a picture of 1930s emigrant life with a love story....
is currently being developed.
