Date de naissance: 1921-08-17
Date de décès: 2008-05-28
Sexe: female
Nationalité: UK
Lieu de naissance: Guisborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
Études: Headington School
Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall)
Professions: children's book author
Relations: Lyon, P.H.B. (father)
Courte biographie: Elinor Lyon was a daughter of P.H.B. Lyon, a poet and headmaster of Rugby School. She lived in Switzerland for a while and then studied at Oxford University, but dropped out during World War II to serve in the WRENS (Women's Royal Naval Service) as a radio operator. In 1943, she met her future husband Peter Wright at Rugby, where he was a temporary teacher of classics and English; the couple had four children. Over a period of 25 years, Elinor Lyon published almost two dozen books for children, beginning with Hilary's Island in 1948. She and her husband retired to Harlech in Wales.

Membres

Critiques

Sea Treasure par Elinor Lyon

Twelve-year-old Mary Thorne, having just learned that her widowed father plans to remarry, is packed off for a summer holiday at her Aunt Corinna's house on the west coast of Scotland in this engaging mid-twentieth-century children's novel. Although she is unaware of it, her two fellow guests, Neil and Janet Rowan, are to be her new step-siblings - her father and future step-mother, believing that they would stand a better chance of becoming friends without the pressure of knowing about their future familial relationship, had kept them all in the dark - and the three gradually build a bond of mutual respect and friendship. Discovering the key to the tower room at Lios, Aunt Corinna's house on an isolated headland overlooking the sea, the children uncover the previous resident's hobby of model ship building, and his efforts to find a passage through Ard Shona, the rocky headland beyond Lios. Their effort to find the passage themselves leads to a series of adventures in which their bravery, and their newfound friendships, are put to the test.

Sea Treasure was my first foray into the work of Elinor Lyon, and although I would not describe it as a particularly brilliant or memorable book, I did find it solidly enjoyable. It felt very much in the tradition of Arthur Ransome to me, with its holiday adventure/outdoor exploits theme, and its tale of children working together to accomplish a common goal. I liked all the characters, from goodhearted Mary, who doesn't realize at first that she has been missing having siblings to play with, to Neil, so ashamed of his perceived shortcomings that he doesn't see a way (at first) of changing them. The outdoor adventures are pleasant enough, but it is the evolving relationship between the children that is most appealing. I also appreciated the setting - I've always wanted to visit the western coast and islands of Scotland! - and some of the cultural details, from the fact that Una and Robert speak Gaelic to one another, to the local place-names. Of course, since Aunt Corinna is researching Gaelic place names, I did think it might have been nice to give the meanings for those used in the story. I would guess, for instance, based on my knowledge of Irish, that Ard Shona means "The Height of Shona."

Leaving that one quibble aside, this was a pleasing little tale, one I would recommend to young readers who enjoy Arthur Ransome's work, or who are looking for entertaining seaside holiday stories.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

AbigailAdams26 | 1 autre critique | Mar 31, 2013 |

Echo Valley par Elinor Lyon

Jenny Ash and Rowena Meredith, two young girls living near the small Welsh village of Llangower, are caught up in a mystery involving a lost emerald necklace, and a tragically thwarted love affair from many year before, in this engaging story from Elinor Lyon. When the two girls discover a dusty old painting in the attic of Pensarn House, the grim mansion where Jenny lives with her caretaker mother, they set about restoring it, discovering an odd series of musical notations along its borders that turn out to be an important clue in solving the mystery. As they slowly become acquainted with the neighbor, old Miss Russell - Anne Russell, who once taught school in the village, and who was engaged to Rowena's great-uncle David Meredith, before he was lost at sea - they learn that her story is connected to the mystery as well...

This second novel I have read from Elinor Lyon, a mid-twentieth-century English children's writer whose work seems today to be mostly out-of-print - the first was Sea Treasure - reminded me a bit of the work of Ruth M. Arthur, which (from me) is high praise indeed. Echo Valley is aptly named, not just because music plays an integral role in the story, but because echoes of the past also crop up throughout the book. It is this quality that reminded me of Arthur, and which gave the story a certain poignancy that was missing from Sea Treasure. Even the artwork here, done by Mary Dinsdale, reminded me a bit of the illustrations by Margery Gill, to be found in almost every Arthur title. All in all, this was a solidly engaging book, with an engaging cast - I particularly liked wild young David, with his good heart, and stern Miss Russell, with her unexpected kindness - an interesting setting, and a few moments of real emotional power. More than enough to convince me to give Elinor Lyon another try!… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

AbigailAdams26 | Mar 31, 2013 |

Wishing Water-Gate par Elinor Lyon

When Robin and Alison Caldecott come to spend their holidays in the small village beneath Black Mountain, in the old house that once belonged to their Great Aunt Jane, and which had been left to their mother as an inheritance, the two children find themselves caught up in an exciting adventure involving the Mad Baronet Breck, a nobleman who, in the early 19th century, diverted the local stream from its natural course, with disastrous results for the entire community. With the Wissan Water now flowing out by old Breck Manor, and slowly undermining its foundations - not to mention also pulling down some of the local villagers' cottages - and nasty businessman Mr. Painter in the vicinity, working out a deal to buy the land, in order to put up a sawmill (and possibly more, from the hints he throws out to Robin), things don't look rosy for the little village. The Caldecott children, after a brief period of rivalry, join forces with their distant cousins June and Dicky Breck, who are determined to save their family home, and the four children, aided by hints left in two antique samplers from 1819 and 1820, search frantically for the old mining tunnels where mad Sir Richard Breck was said to have diverted the Wissan Water. But can they find the entrance, the "Wishing Water Gate" spoken of in the rhyming samplers, in time to do anything about the impending sale to Mr. Painter...?

Published in 1949, the year after her debut in Hilary's Island, this second children's novel from English author Elinor Lyon features the same kind of outdoor adventures as the first, as well as the same kind of tolerant parental/authority figures whose laissez-faire attitude makes such adventures possible. The elements involving the lost iron mine, and the children's climb down into the mountain reminded me a bit of certain passages in Ruth M. Arthur's My Daughter, Nicola, although the two books are not particularly similar in other respects. I wouldn't describe this story as especially suspenseful - I was able to guess most of the developments well ahead of time - but Wishing Water Gate was an engaging enough read all the same, and young readers will cheer when the Wissan Water is returned to its proper course. I did think that the conclusion, in which everyone (even Mr. Painter!) got what they wanted, was a little too convenient, but leaving that aside, this was a pleasant little adventure story.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

AbigailAdams26 | 1 autre critique | Mar 31, 2013 |

Hilary's Island par Elinor Lyon

When Jane and her younger sister Judy come to spend the holidays at their Uncle John's home in the mountains, the two girls initially regret the loss of their usual seaside visit, and wonder whether there will be anything to amuse them in the small lakeside village. No sooner do they arrive, however, than they are catapulted into a local mystery involving a wild prank-pulling young boy who has become the terror of the neighborhood. When a lost sling-shot gives them the opportunity to become acquainted with the boy, named Hilary, they find themselves having many good times on the lake and its islands. But Hilary is not what he seems, and when his connection to the demure Amaryllis Arkwright - an insipidly ladylike girl living near Uncle John, whom the sisters have nicknamed the "China Doll" - Jane and Judy find themselves involved in an exciting adventure with significant consequences for all involved...

Published in 1948, Hilary's Island was the first of English children's author Elinor Lyon's twenty stories for young readers, and one can definitely see some of the themes - outdoor adventures, children off on their own, (mostly) non-interfering adults - that would become hallmarks of her work. She seemed still to be finding her feet as a storyteller here, and it occurred to me, at a number of points, that the young characters' perspectives didn't always ring true. Jane, for instance, sometimes felt a little too mature for her thirteen years to me. I also found it interesting that Lyon had her characters comment disparagingly on "girls' stories" - Judy scornfully asserts, at one point, that Amaryllis' books would all have titles like The Honour of the Lower Fourth; while Jane tells Judy that she has been "reading too many girls' books," when she makes a melodramatic suggestion - a number of times. The assumption, of both author and characters seems to be that boys are naturally more adventurous, and gravitate more toward leadership roles, and although Hilary is eventually revealed as a girl, it is her boy-like qualities that make her an exciting companion.

With the comments about stereotypical "girl" books, and the critical observations of "girly" behavior, Lyon seems to be consciously positioning herself more in the Arthur Ransome school of British children's literature, and distancing herself from the girls' school story world of Elinor M. Brent-Dyer and her compatriots. All of which is interesting, even if it felt a little too crudely done. Leaving all of this aside, Hilary's Island was quite engaging for a first effort, and I think I will continue on, in reading Lyon's work.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

AbigailAdams26 | Mar 31, 2013 |

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