Mary Norton

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Norton, Mary (1903–92), English writer of fantasy books for children and creator of the Borrowers, minuscule beings who live by ‘borrowing’ items that humans leave around. Her first book, The Magic Bed‐Knob, was published in New York in 1943 while she and her four children were living in America. Subtitled ‘How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons’, it shows the genteel Miss Price struggling to master the black arts, and a bed‐knob which through her spells will take a bed and its occupants on magic travels. The comic misadventures that follow were clearly inspired by E. Nesbit, as was the sequel, Bonfires and Broomsticks, published in London in 1947. Here the bed is used to travel back to the past, where Miss Price eventually elects to stay. A combined version of the two, Bed‐Knob and Broomstick, appeared in 1957.

The Borrowers (1952) and the five subsequent books about them, can be read at different levels. Children are fascinated by a perspective of the world observed at six inches from the ground, and by the wealth of practical details; for adults it is a poignant parable of the struggle for survival of the stateless, displaced, and homeless. The three Borrowers, the parents Pod and Homily, and their daughter Arrietty (even their names are borrowed and have become transmuted in the process) are among the handful of their kind who have survived. They are not fairies, but miniature people; symbionts, dependent on humankind for all the essentials of existence. They search for stability and permanence and they echo the follies and delusions of the upper world. The last chapter of The Borrowers sees them driven out of the big old house where they have lived under the floorboards, and fleeing across the fields. The Borrowers Afield (1955) describes their Robinson Crusoe existence in the open air, enjoyed by Arrietty alone—she has always longed to escape from houses. In The Borrowers Afloat (1959) they are forced out of the gamekeeper's cottage where they have sheltered during the winter, and voyage downstream in an old kettle. The Borrowers Aloft (1961) sees them captured by rapacious humans who want to exhibit them. Imprisoned in an attic, they use all their borrower ingenuity to construct a balloon in which they can float out of the window. Offered a comfortable house in a model village by a sympathetic human with whom Arrietty—to her parents' horror—has fraternized, Pod insists that they must move on—humans can never be trusted. ‘“Where are we going to?” asked Homily, in a tone of blank bewilderment. How many times, she wondered now, had she heard herself ask this question?’ The Borrowers Avenged (1982) takes up the story for the last time; they are leaving this house with all its comforts in search of a new resting‐place away from human eyes. They find one, behind a grate in an old rectory, but we know, as do the Borrowers, that inevitably they will have to move on.

— Gillian Avery

This article is about the British author. For American author born Alice Mary Norton, see Andre Norton. For other uses, see Mary Norton.

Mary Norton
Born	(1903-12-10)10 December 1903 London, United Kingdom
Died	29 August 1992(1992-08-29) (aged 88) Bideford, Devon, United Kingdom
Occupation	Author
Nationality	British
Genres	Children's literature
Notable work(s)	The Borrowers Bedknobs and Broomsticks

The Cedars, Norton's house until 1921 and reportedly the setting of The Borrowers

(Kathleen) Mary Norton, née Pearson, (10 December 1903 – 29 August 1992)^[1] was an English children's author. Her books include The Borrowers series.

Contents 1 Background 2 Works 3 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 4 References 5 External links

Background

Norton was the daughter of a physician, and was raised in a Georgian house at the end of the High Street in Leighton Buzzard. The house now consists of part of Leighton Middle School, known within the school as The Old House, and was reportedly the setting of her novel The Borrowers. She married Robert Charles Norton on 4 September 1946 and had four children, two boys and two girls. Her second husband was Lionel Boncey, whom she married in 1970.^[1] She began working for the War Office in 1940 before the family moved temporarily to the United States. She began writing while working for the British Purchasing Commission in New York during the Second World War. Her first book was The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons published in 1943, which, together with the sequel Bonfires and Broomsticks, was re-issued as Bed-Knob and Broomstick illustrated by Erik Blegvad, in 1957, and later became the basis for the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Norton died of a heart attack in Bideford, Devon, England on 29 August 1992.

Works

• The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons (1943)
• Bonfires and Broomsticks (1945)
• The Borrowers (1952)
• The Borrowers Afield (1955)
• The Borrowers Afloat (1959)
• The Borrowers Aloft (1961)
• Are All the Giants Dead? (1975)
• The Borrowers Avenged (1982)

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Norton's novels The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons and Bonfires and Broomsticks were adapted into the 1971 Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks, starring Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson.

There have been several screen adaptations of The Borrowers:

• The Borrowers: a 1973 American made-for-TV movie.
• The Borrowers: a 1992 BBC TV series and its 1993 sequel The Return of the Borrowers, both starring Ian Holm and Penelope Wilton.
• The Borrowers: a 1997 film with a British/American cast including Tom Felton, John Goodman, Jim Broadbent, Celia Imrie and Mark Williams.
• The Secret World of Arrietty: a 2010 Japanese animated film from Studio Ghibli.
• The Borrowers: a 2011 British film starring Stephen Fry, Victoria Wood and Christopher Eccleston.

There have also been numerous theatrical adaptations of The Borrowers.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Mary Norton." St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th ed. St. James Press, 1999.
2. ^ Anne Hopper (03 December 2007). "The Borrowers". TheStage.co.uk. http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/19009/the-borrowers. Retrieved 2011-08-22. 
3. ^ Kelly Rowles (05 November 2010). "Philly’s Arden Theatre Brings The Borrowers to the Stage this December!". CultureMob. http://culturemob.com/phillys-arden-theatre-brings-the-borrowers-to-the-stage-this-december. Retrieved 2011-08-22. 

External links

• Mary Norton at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

v t e British children's and young adults' literature (1900–1949) Authors Representative titles Illustrators Magazines and Annuals

v t e The Borrowers by Mary Norton Novels The Borrowers • The Borrowers Afield • The Borrowers Afloat • The Borrowers Aloft • The Borrowers Avenged Adaptations The Borrowers (1973) • The Borrowers (TV) (1992) • The Return of the Borrowers (1993)• The Borrowers (1997) • Arrietty (2010)• The Borrowers (2011)

Persondata
Name	Norton, Mary
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	10 December 1903
Place of birth	United Kingdom
Date of death	29 August 1992
Place of death	Devon

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