Jill Paton Walsh (1937–2020)
Author of Thrones, Dominations
About the Author
Jill Paton Walsh was born Gillian Bliss on April 29, 1937 in London. She graduated from St. Anne's College in Oxford. She taught at the Enfield Girls' Grammar School for three years and was a permanent visiting faculty member for the Center for Children's Literature at Simmons College in Boston, show more Massachusetts. She was also an adjunct British board member of Children's Literature New England. She has written more than 15 books for children. She has won numerous awards including the Book World Festival Award for Fireweed in 1970, the Whitbread Prize for The Emperor's Winding Sheet in1974, the Universe Prize for A Parcel of Patterns in 1984, and the Smarties Grand Prix for Gaffer Samson's Luck in 1984. She has also written adult novels, including completing an unfinished Dorothy Sayers manuscript. Her adult works include Knowledge of Angels, The Serpentine Cave, and A School for Lovers. She is the author of the Imogen Quy Mystery series and the Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery series. She was elected as fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1996. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Jill Paton Walsh
As my Wimsey takes me 1 copy
A Parcel Of Patters 1 copy
Set Piece [short fiction] 1 copy
Cosecha de guerra 1 copy
The Scold's Bridle 1 copy
Associated Works
Cricket Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 8, April 1981 — Contributor — 3 copies
Cricket Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 7, March 1981 — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Walsh, Jill Paton
- Legal name
- Paton Walsh, Gillian
- Other names
- Bliss, Gillian Honorine Mary (birth name)
- Birthdate
- 1937-04-29
- Date of death
- 2020-10-18
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- North Finchley, London, England, UK
- Place of death
- Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Richmond, Surrey, England, UK
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Education
- St. Michael's Convent, North Finchley
University of Oxford (St Anne's College) - Occupations
- author
teacher - Relationships
- Townsend, John Rowe (husband)
Paton Walsh, Anthony (former husband)
Bliss, Christopher (brother) - Organizations
- Simmons College
- Awards and honors
- Order of the British Empire (Commander ∙ 1996)
Fellow, Royal Society of Literature - Short biography
- Born Gillian Bliss in London on 25 April 1937. Educated at St. Michael's Convent, North Finchley, and at St. Anne's College, Oxford. In 1961 she married Anthony Paton Walsh, who died in 2003. In 2004 she married writer John Rowe Townsend, who died in 2014. Her books included fiction for children and teenagers, crime fiction (including additional books about Dorothy L Sayers' character Lord Peter Wimsey) and other novels. She was a 'permanent visiting faculty member' of the Centre for Children's Literature, Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts from 1978 to 1986. In 1996 she received the CBE for services to literature, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She died in October 2020.
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Discussions
Found: YA - Earth dying, girl on spaceship to settle new planet in Name that Book (October 2023)
Found: 1970s Book about Homeless Children in London Blitz in Name that Book (April 2021)
Children's book, journey to new planet, butterfly-like aliens in Name that Book (October 2011)
Reviews
The Wyndham Case by Jill Paton Walsh
Hardcover
The strongest praise I can give this novel is that I found it a pleasurable page-turner. Walsh gets the period details just right and does a good job capturing some of the nuance of Sayers' characters, as well as the cultural shifts taking place in post-war Britain.
AND YET THE PLOT. The Attenbury Emeralds is lively and dramatic, but plotted more like an episode of Sherlock than a Golden Age detective story, with a mystery held together by coincidence and fuzzy thinking. While Sayers was not above the odd coincidence (Peter Wimsey is, after all, a Mystery Magnet), she is known for intellectual rigor. We just don't get that complexity in these fan sequels.
Don't get me wrong, the next time I'm in need of a cozy read I will certainly consider picking up another of these books, but the weak plotting means I find them simultaneously enjoyable and frustrating.
ETA: While I'm referencing TV Tropes, I forgot to complain about Walsh's hat tip to the Celebrity Paradox - it's silly, but it really bothered me! A world where Dorothy L. Sayers existed and wrote detective novels that aren't about Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane is a world I'd rather not contemplate.… (more)
AND YET THE PLOT. The Attenbury Emeralds is lively and dramatic, but plotted more like an episode of Sherlock than a Golden Age detective story, with a mystery held together by coincidence and fuzzy thinking. While Sayers was not above the odd coincidence (Peter Wimsey is, after all, a Mystery Magnet), she is known for intellectual rigor. We just don't get that complexity in these fan sequels.
Don't get me wrong, the next time I'm in need of a cozy read I will certainly consider picking up another of these books, but the weak plotting means I find them simultaneously enjoyable and frustrating.
ETA: While I'm referencing TV Tropes, I forgot to complain about Walsh's hat tip to the Celebrity Paradox - it's silly, but it really bothered me! A world where Dorothy L. Sayers existed and wrote detective novels that aren't about Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane is a world I'd rather not contemplate.… (more)
A novel of the life of Themistocles, told in the first person, as Themistocles looks back on his whole life. Full of politics and the details of life in the nascent Athenian democracy. Many an ostrakon with the name of Themistocles has been dug up in the modern era. According to the novel, every year or so between the first and second Persian Wars somebody would decide to try to ostracize him, and his supporters would then have to campaign to ostracize someone else instead. He was the runner up four times, but never the first choice selected then. Lucky, as he points out, for Athens.
Looking back, he sees how the Greek cities have cruelly persecuted the ones who have served them most ably. The story of Miltiades is harsher than his own: the hero of Marathon, succumbing to gangrene, is fined an horrendous sum, then dies, and his son is forced into penury. All this happens just one year after the battle.
The details of life in Athens: the bathing, the technical details of vote collection, the exhausting march back to Athens after the battle of Marathon, the evacuation of Athens before the battle of Salamis, etc., are well realized.… (more)
Looking back, he sees how the Greek cities have cruelly persecuted the ones who have served them most ably. The story of Miltiades is harsher than his own: the hero of Marathon, succumbing to gangrene, is fined an horrendous sum, then dies, and his son is forced into penury. All this happens just one year after the battle.
The details of life in Athens: the bathing, the technical details of vote collection, the exhausting march back to Athens after the battle of Marathon, the evacuation of Athens before the battle of Salamis, etc., are well realized.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 60
- Also by
- 19
- Members
- 7,638
- Popularity
- #3,196
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 238
- ISBNs
- 348
- Languages
- 11
- Favorited
- 10