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Fair's Fair
Jackson and Lillipolly, two kindhearted orphans from the London slums, are led by a strange dog to a great mansion where their compassion and honesty impress an old man who decides to adopt them
- GenresChristmasPicture Books
32 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1983
8 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
About the author
Leon Garfield
123 books50 followersLeon Garfield FRSL (14 July 1921 – 2 June 1996) was a British writer of fiction. He is best known for children's historical novels, though he also wrote for adults. He wrote more than thirty books and scripted Shakespeare: The Animated Tales for television.
Garfield attended Brighton Grammar School (1932-1938) and went on to study art at Regent Street Polytechnic, but his studies were interrupted first by lack of funds for fees, then by the outbreak of World War II. He married Lena Leah Davies in April, 1941, at Golders Green Synagogue but they separated after only a few months. For his service in the war he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. While posted in Belgium he met Vivien Alcock, then an ambulance driver, who would go on to become his second wife (in 1948) and a well-known children's author. She would also greatly influence Garfield's writing, giving him suggestions for his writing, including the original idea for Smith. After the war Garfield worked as a biochemical laboratory technician at the Whittington Hospital in Islington, writing in his spare time until the 1960s, when he was successful enough to write full-time. In 1964, the couple adopted a baby girl, called Jane after Jane Austen, a favourite writer of both parents.
Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel Jack Holborn, for adult readers but a Constable & Co. editor saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded him to adapt it for a younger audience. In that form it was published by Constable in 1964. His second book, Devil-in-the-Fog (1966), won the first annual Guardian Prize and was serialised for television, as were several later works (below). Devil was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins (in this case a boy from a family of traveling actors) pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Another was Smith (1967), with the eponymous hero a young pickpocket accepted into a wealthy household; it won the Phoenix Award in 1987. Yet another was Black Jack (1968), in which a young apprentice is forced by accident and his conscience to accompany a murderous criminal.
In 1970, Garfield's work started to move in new directions with The God Beneath the Sea, a re-telling of numerous Greek myths in one narrative, written by Garfield and Edward Blishen and illustrated by Charles Keeping. It won the annual Carnegie Medal for British children's books. Garfield, Blishen, and Keeping collaborated again on a sequel, The Golden Shadow (1973). The Drummer Boy (1970) was another adventure story, but concerned more with a central moral problem, and apparently aimed at somewhat older readers, a trend continued in The Prisoners of September (1975) republished in 1989 by Lions Tracks, under the title Revolution!, The Pleasure Garden (1976) and The Confidence Man (1978). The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1972) was a black comedy in which two boys decide to test the plausibility of Romulus and Remus using one of the boys' baby sister. Most notable at the time was a series of linked long short stories about apprentices, published separately between 1976 and 1978, and then as a collection, The Apprentices. The more adult themed books of the mid-1970s met with a mixed reception and Garfield returned to the model of his earlier books with John Diamond, which won a Whitbread Award in 1980, and The December Rose (1986). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished at the 1870 death of Dickens, an author who had been a major influence on Garfield's own style.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked.
Garfield attended Brighton Grammar School (1932-1938) and went on to study art at Regent Street Polytechnic, but his studies were interrupted first by lack of funds for fees, then by the outbreak of World War II. He married Lena Leah Davies in April, 1941, at Golders Green Synagogue but they separated after only a few months. For his service in the war he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. While posted in Belgium he met Vivien Alcock, then an ambulance driver, who would go on to become his second wife (in 1948) and a well-known children's author. She would also greatly influence Garfield's writing, giving him suggestions for his writing, including the original idea for Smith. After the war Garfield worked as a biochemical laboratory technician at the Whittington Hospital in Islington, writing in his spare time until the 1960s, when he was successful enough to write full-time. In 1964, the couple adopted a baby girl, called Jane after Jane Austen, a favourite writer of both parents.
Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel Jack Holborn, for adult readers but a Constable & Co. editor saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded him to adapt it for a younger audience. In that form it was published by Constable in 1964. His second book, Devil-in-the-Fog (1966), won the first annual Guardian Prize and was serialised for television, as were several later works (below). Devil was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins (in this case a boy from a family of traveling actors) pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Another was Smith (1967), with the eponymous hero a young pickpocket accepted into a wealthy household; it won the Phoenix Award in 1987. Yet another was Black Jack (1968), in which a young apprentice is forced by accident and his conscience to accompany a murderous criminal.
In 1970, Garfield's work started to move in new directions with The God Beneath the Sea, a re-telling of numerous Greek myths in one narrative, written by Garfield and Edward Blishen and illustrated by Charles Keeping. It won the annual Carnegie Medal for British children's books. Garfield, Blishen, and Keeping collaborated again on a sequel, The Golden Shadow (1973). The Drummer Boy (1970) was another adventure story, but concerned more with a central moral problem, and apparently aimed at somewhat older readers, a trend continued in The Prisoners of September (1975) republished in 1989 by Lions Tracks, under the title Revolution!, The Pleasure Garden (1976) and The Confidence Man (1978). The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1972) was a black comedy in which two boys decide to test the plausibility of Romulus and Remus using one of the boys' baby sister. Most notable at the time was a series of linked long short stories about apprentices, published separately between 1976 and 1978, and then as a collection, The Apprentices. The more adult themed books of the mid-1970s met with a mixed reception and Garfield returned to the model of his earlier books with John Diamond, which won a Whitbread Award in 1980, and The December Rose (1986). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished at the 1870 death of Dickens, an author who had been a major influence on Garfield's own style.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 8, 2014
When a street child generously shares his meager food with a stray dog, he is led into a strange mystery.
November 8, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. It is full of wonder and mystery, and the storyline is very inspiring - how two street children find themselves a new life through being kind, courageous and patient. There are lots of surprises along the way too. The illustrations are also very interesting, especially the illustrators use of lines and hatching.
December 29, 2016
I love this book!! One of my favorite Christmas stories;Garfield's stories are so piquant, earthy, whimsical, and full of adventurous adventures. Jackson, Lillipolly, and Growler are some of my favorite characters in any literature and I've read lots and lots of books.
September 6, 2018
This is another of Garfield’s rare excursions into writing a children’s book definitely written for children. It’s also one of his books that drifts into the nineteenth century and the area of fairytale. It’s about Jackson, a homeless orphan who shares a warm pie with a large, threatening dog. The dog has a key around his neck so Jackson follows the dog to it’s home. It’s an empty mansion with another orphan called Lollipolly, who finds food being left every day for them. There’s a twist ending but it’s pretty clear.
Despite it’s simple story and far simpler telling, Leon still knocks a few stylistic balls out the park. Snowflakes are described as ‘fighting in the wind’ and the steam of Jackson’s warm pie is described as not ‘being his soul going to heaven’. It’s also the only Leon Garfield book I can think of that is told in the present tense.
This isn’t vital Garfield but it’s a nice little curiosity in his work.
Despite it’s simple story and far simpler telling, Leon still knocks a few stylistic balls out the park. Snowflakes are described as ‘fighting in the wind’ and the steam of Jackson’s warm pie is described as not ‘being his soul going to heaven’. It’s also the only Leon Garfield book I can think of that is told in the present tense.
This isn’t vital Garfield but it’s a nice little curiosity in his work.
January 10, 2018
Very wordy for a picture book. Nice story though.
September 23, 2020
Good book i wish there was more of this
December 2, 2025
3.5 Stars
September 8, 2013
Fair's Fair
by Leon garfield
The story is about a homeless orphan named Jackson who unknowingly embarks on an adventure after meeting a black dog who has a mysterious key around his neck. They search the streets for the door that fits this key and meet other interesting characters and surprises along the way.
Fair's Fair is a creepy and adventurous read. It consists of humour and has a good story line.
The book is set in victorian England and is an excellent book to read aloud in a class of 7-9 year olds. The illustrations in this book enable the children to get a real taste of what children and adults in the Victorian times looked like. It is an ideal read if children are learning about victorian times.
Safia Munir
by Leon garfield
The story is about a homeless orphan named Jackson who unknowingly embarks on an adventure after meeting a black dog who has a mysterious key around his neck. They search the streets for the door that fits this key and meet other interesting characters and surprises along the way.
Fair's Fair is a creepy and adventurous read. It consists of humour and has a good story line.
The book is set in victorian England and is an excellent book to read aloud in a class of 7-9 year olds. The illustrations in this book enable the children to get a real taste of what children and adults in the Victorian times looked like. It is an ideal read if children are learning about victorian times.
Safia Munir
April 13, 2013
brilliant book, good moral message in it
Read
May 27, 2016nice book
April 23, 2026
This is a great Christmastime read!
January 16, 2013
A lovely book, a quick read, beautifully written & a great heart warming story line
Want to Read
December 8, 2016I love this book and I love reading it
Read
April 26, 2018a creepy but delightful fairy tale, for anyone who likes Neil Gaimon.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews