Barbara Willard
Barbara Mary Willard was a British author born on March 12, 1909, in Hove, Sussex, England. Growing up in a family where her father was a touring actor, Willard developed a passion for theater at an early age, making her acting debut in Shakespeare's *Macbeth* at just eleven years old. She pursued education in the arts and later attended a convent boarding school, where she decided to become a writer, crafting numerous romantic stories and poems. Willard published her first novel, *Love in Ambush*, at the age of twenty-one and went on to write several adult novels throughout the 1930s.
After World War II, she shifted her focus to children's literature, achieving significant success with her historical novels, particularly the Mantlemass series set in Ashdown Forest. Willard's work was characterized by extensive research and vivid storytelling, earning her several awards, including the Whitbread Award. She enjoyed a quiet life with her pets in Sussex, away from public attention, until her death on February 18, 1994. Her contributions to literature remain notable, particularly in the realms of historical and children's fiction.
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Barbara Willard
Author
- Born: March 12, 1909
- Birthplace: Hove, Sussex, England
- Died: February 18, 1994
Biography
Barbara Mary Willard was born on March 12, 1909, in Hove, Sussex, England. She had one brother who was twelve years younger. Willard always wished she were part of a larger family. Her father was a touring actor, and from an early age she loved the theater. She had her first acting role—playing a boy in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606)—when she was eleven. She also enjoyed reading and writing stories and plays.
When her father’s career enabled the family to settle in London, Willard was educated at a small school that emphasized the arts. At fifteen she entered a convent boarding school, the Convent of La Sainte Union in Southampton. At the convent school, Willard decided to become a writer, and she wrote dozens of romantic stories and poems. After school, she worked for a short time as an actor, but when she was twenty she bought an old typewriter and began to write again.
Willard published her first book, Love in Ambush, written with Elizabeth H. Devas, in 1930, when she was twenty- one. Love in Ambush, a novel for adults, was followed by seven more adult novels in the 1930’s. Now a full-time writer, Willard supported herself with these novels, as well as by writing magazine articles and screenplays. When World War II was over, she and her partner, a journalist named Frances, bought a small house in Willard’s birthplace, Sussex. There, she was able to keep four cats and a dog, and to live out of the public spotlight.
In 1954, she published her first historical novel for young readers, He Fought for His Queen: The Story of Sir Philip Sidney, which had been adapted from her 1950 adult book Portrait of Philip. She had tried for years to write a children’s novel, but had been unable to get one published. With another children’s novel, The House with Roots, she found a style and a plot that worked. The House with Roots was a popular and critical success, and led to many more books for children.
In the early 1960’s, Willard moved again, to a house in rural Ashdown Forest. Ashdown Forest became the setting for eight of Willard’s most popular novels, the Mantlemass series, about generations of two families living in a large manor house called Mantlemass between 1485 and the 1640’s.
For her historical novels, her greatest achievements, Willard did extensive research, reading enough books about a given time period that she had a solid feel for the time before she began writing. Her children’s novels, which have won several awards, feature children from large families leading ordinary but interesting lives. The Iron Lily, the fourth volume in the Mantlemass series, was named an American Library Association Notable Book. She won the Whitbread Award for The Queen of the Pharisees’ Children.
Willard died on February 18, 1994.