Description
Book SynopsisRichmal Crompton, Author of Just William: A Literary Life celebrates the first two William books, Just William (1922) and More William (1922). As well as a study of her famous character William Brown, this book is an introduction to Richmal Crompton’s less well-known fiction and a story about her writing life. Her multifaceted identity—her deep knowledge of Classical Greek and Latin literature and languages, her life as a disabled writer, and her writing about domestic violence and disability—played a role in her literary persona. Jane McVeigh moves beyond Richmal Crompton’s impact on children’s literature and offers an appraisal of all her writing including her novels and short fiction, her media profile on radio and TV, her impact on her readers—both adults and children—and her international success. Particularly, McVeigh considers Crompton in the context of twentieth century woman writers and the development of crossover fiction for dual audiences. The book argues that as a woman writer pigeon-holed as a writer for children, Crompton’s other novels and short stories have been side-lined and overlooked. More than a century after the first book collection of Crompton’s William stories was published, this biography places Richmal Crompton among other twentieth century women writers.
Trade Review“Jane McVeigh has written an informative and comprehensive biography to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first two William novels, Just William and More William in 1922, now collector's items worth thousands of dollars. … McVeigh effectively documents the life of one of the best-selling female authors of the 20th century, who, in William Brown, created one of the immortals of children's literature.” (Colin Steele, The Canberra Times, canberratimes.com.au, December 23, 2022)
“The books alone were enormously popular, the adaptation of just William for radio, television and film have helped ensure this naughty schoolboy will forever be remembered in post-war British culture. By 1946 the BBC radio plays – many of them written by Crompton herself – were enjoying an audience of nine million.” (Dominic Bliss, Daily Express, express.co.uk, December 16, 2022)
“Jane McVeigh’s book celebrates the centenary of the first two William books – Just William and More William, both published in 1922. … The work is attractively produced with many illustrations, and its twenty chapters are extremely well researched with substantial notes and references. What it does, first of all, is to emphasise Richmal’s very rich and full life.” (Dennis Butts, Children’s Books History Society, Newsletter, Issue 133, August, 2022)
“This is a model biography for the way it delivers the facts about the life of its subject and analyses the attraction or magic of the stories for subsequent writers, as well as readers across generations. The best praise of this biography is that it will send many readers back to encounter the thrills of reading once more of William’s misadventures.” (Sarah Curtis, TLS The Times Literary Supplement, July 22, 2022)
Table of Contents1. Introduction
PART I (1890-19112
2. Edward Lamburn and a Classical Education
3. William and Mr Brown
4. Clara Crompton and her Family in Bury
5. William, Mrs Brown and Mothers in Crompton’s Fiction
PART II (1911-1923)
6. Royal Holloway College, the First World War and Women’s Suffrage
7. Birth of Auntie and the Story of a Marriage
8. Birth of Richmal Crompton and William Brown
9. More than Auntie Richmal, the Spinster
10. Polio in Summer 1923
PART III (1924-1938)
11. Birth of Violet Elizabeth and Introducing William-Lite Characters
12. Growing Up
13. On Stage and in Literary London
14. Richmal Crompton, the Wanderer
PART IV (1939-1945)
15. On the Home Front with William and Richmal
16. William, Flawed Hero
PART V (1946-1969)
17. William Becomes a Postwar Hero on TV and Radio
18. Richmal Crompton in Her Own Words
PART VI (Fans at Home and Abroad)
19. William, At Home and Abroad
20. Writers’ Homage to Crompton and William
