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The Mantlemass Chronicles #6
The Iron Lily
Orphaned fifteen-year-old Lilias Rowan searches for the key to her true ancestry as she wanders about sixteenth-century England
175 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
Barbara Willard
99 books24 followersBarbara Mary Willard was a British novelist best known for children's historical fiction. Her "Mantlemass Chronicles" is a family saga set in 15th to 17th-century England. For one chronicle, The Iron Lily (1973), she won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a book award judged by panel of British children's writers.
Willard was born in Brighton, Sussex on 12 March 1909, the daughter of the Shakespearean actor Edmund Willard and Mabel Theresa Tebbs. She was also the great-niece of Victorian-era actor Edward Smith Willard. The young Willard was educated at a convent school in Southampton.
Because of her family connections, Willard originally went on the stage as an actress and also worked as a playreader, but she was unsuccessful and abandoned acting in her early twenties. She wrote numerous books for adults before she turned to children's literature.
Very little about the author was written during her lifetime, because of her private nature. She died at a nursing home in Wivelsfield Green, East Sussex, on 18 February 1994.
The Grove of Green Holly (1967), which was a story about a group of 17th century travelling players who were hiding in a forest in Sussex from Oliver Cromwell's soldiers, spawned her most famous work, the Mantlemass series (1970–1981) including her Guardian Prize-winning book. Some other books were Hetty (1956), Storm from the West (1963), Three and One to Carry (1964), and Charity at Home (1965).
One of her last books, The Forest - Ashdown in East Sussex, published by Sweethaws Press in 1989, gives a detailed account of Ashdown Forest. In the introduction to the book, Christopher Milne notes that Willard had moved from her home on the Sussex Downs to the edge of Ashdown Forest in 1956 and that her new surroundings had provided the inspiration and setting for ten of her children's historical novels (eight in the Mantlemass series and two others). It is evident by her own account in her book that she actively involved herself in the affairs of the forest. She was a representative of the forest Commoners elected to the forest's Board of Conservators in 1975, and she remained in that capacity for ten years. She tells how she was later heavily involved in the fundraising campaign which enabled East Sussex County Council to purchase the forest in 1988, enabling it to remain as a place of beauty and tranquility open to the public.
Willard was born in Brighton, Sussex on 12 March 1909, the daughter of the Shakespearean actor Edmund Willard and Mabel Theresa Tebbs. She was also the great-niece of Victorian-era actor Edward Smith Willard. The young Willard was educated at a convent school in Southampton.
Because of her family connections, Willard originally went on the stage as an actress and also worked as a playreader, but she was unsuccessful and abandoned acting in her early twenties. She wrote numerous books for adults before she turned to children's literature.
Very little about the author was written during her lifetime, because of her private nature. She died at a nursing home in Wivelsfield Green, East Sussex, on 18 February 1994.
The Grove of Green Holly (1967), which was a story about a group of 17th century travelling players who were hiding in a forest in Sussex from Oliver Cromwell's soldiers, spawned her most famous work, the Mantlemass series (1970–1981) including her Guardian Prize-winning book. Some other books were Hetty (1956), Storm from the West (1963), Three and One to Carry (1964), and Charity at Home (1965).
One of her last books, The Forest - Ashdown in East Sussex, published by Sweethaws Press in 1989, gives a detailed account of Ashdown Forest. In the introduction to the book, Christopher Milne notes that Willard had moved from her home on the Sussex Downs to the edge of Ashdown Forest in 1956 and that her new surroundings had provided the inspiration and setting for ten of her children's historical novels (eight in the Mantlemass series and two others). It is evident by her own account in her book that she actively involved herself in the affairs of the forest. She was a representative of the forest Commoners elected to the forest's Board of Conservators in 1975, and she remained in that capacity for ten years. She tells how she was later heavily involved in the fundraising campaign which enabled East Sussex County Council to purchase the forest in 1988, enabling it to remain as a place of beauty and tranquility open to the public.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 5, 2025
So I started reading this without actually knowing what it was about and I hadn't read any of the previous books in this series - luckily reading the other books wasn't necessary to enjoy this one. Very quickly I got caught up in the world that Lilias was living in. And things very quickly go sour for her when the plaque kill her family members. Faced with suddenly becoming a servant in her own house, she takes fate into her own hands and decides to run away. The story is mainly about her life and it takes place from when she is 15 to into her 30s. It's somewhat dry and does include a lot of historical details but it's not exactly a page turner. It is entertaining enough that I read it in one sitting. There is a minor plot mystery about a ring but that part didn't hold my attention. In some ways I think the story focused too much on her dreams of grandeur for my tastes. I also read somewhere recently that the author is good at "bringing the forests to life" but I didn't see that in here at all - the trees were mainly described as being needed as fuel for the foundry. That is the opposite of how I see trees and the forest.
I found Lilias to be a very strong character. She's her own master in a time when women were not allowed to be that way. There was a sudden time jump that surprised me but after that the story continues pretty much as normal. I'm uncertain if I like Lilias though, which is maybe a tad weird. She's very bossy and in real life I don't like bossy people. But her priorities seem to be business.
The story was entertaining. It did keep me turning the pages.
I do think the cover image is kind of weird, with the fire-like stuff coming out of those chimneys. I do find that a tad confusing.
The talk about foundries and how they are built around lots of trees was eye opening. I guess I just never realized that they needed forests years ago for them to work the foundry. And my brain these days wants to say that putting a place like a foundry in the middle of the woods is a bad idea because of forest fires, because we hear so much about forest fires these days. Maybe they didn't have that problem back then.
I never heard of a stillroom until I read this book so I had to go look the word up. There were a few other terms I had to Google as well, like "bluv" which means "believe".
The only issue I have about this story is that I think Lilias had some unreasonable expectations for Ursula - but than it's part of the plot. I suppose sometimes people can be blind to things right in front of their face.
I found Lilias to be a very strong character. She's her own master in a time when women were not allowed to be that way. There was a sudden time jump that surprised me but after that the story continues pretty much as normal. I'm uncertain if I like Lilias though, which is maybe a tad weird. She's very bossy and in real life I don't like bossy people. But her priorities seem to be business.
The story was entertaining. It did keep me turning the pages.
I do think the cover image is kind of weird, with the fire-like stuff coming out of those chimneys. I do find that a tad confusing.
The talk about foundries and how they are built around lots of trees was eye opening. I guess I just never realized that they needed forests years ago for them to work the foundry. And my brain these days wants to say that putting a place like a foundry in the middle of the woods is a bad idea because of forest fires, because we hear so much about forest fires these days. Maybe they didn't have that problem back then.
I never heard of a stillroom until I read this book so I had to go look the word up. There were a few other terms I had to Google as well, like "bluv" which means "believe".
The only issue I have about this story is that I think Lilias had some unreasonable expectations for Ursula - but than it's part of the plot. I suppose sometimes people can be blind to things right in front of their face.
November 8, 2025
Kept this one aside for a very long time. All of a sudden saw it sitting in my shelf and felt that its time to pick it back.. Well not disappointed.. A pretty decent read.... Though we won't feel connected to the characters... Its one good quick read...
February 21, 2026
I loved this series of historical novels as a teen. 1557 Lillias is orphaned by the plague and disowned by her brother's widow who claims she is not true kin to the family, fifteen-year-old Lilias begins a life-long attempt to identify her true parentage.
When her mother dies suddenly, Lilias learns that she has no true place in the household in which she was brought up. She turns her back on all she has known, hiding herself as a servant in a manor house. She marries a rough ironworker, who sets his foundry in the Weald - the forest of the southeast. When he dies, Lilias takes over his work and becomes one of the richest women in the forest, It is a time when guns and gunstones can make fortunes, for England's is threatened by Spanish ships.
Long before she has achieved her deepest ambitions, finding her true family, Lilias has learned to survive in a tough world and forged her own identity. She will leave her daughter, Ursula - whose happiness could be destroyed by her mother's ruthlessness - heiress to far more than riches - the amazing secret of Mantlemass, which is already generations old.
When her mother dies suddenly, Lilias learns that she has no true place in the household in which she was brought up. She turns her back on all she has known, hiding herself as a servant in a manor house. She marries a rough ironworker, who sets his foundry in the Weald - the forest of the southeast. When he dies, Lilias takes over his work and becomes one of the richest women in the forest, It is a time when guns and gunstones can make fortunes, for England's is threatened by Spanish ships.
Long before she has achieved her deepest ambitions, finding her true family, Lilias has learned to survive in a tough world and forged her own identity. She will leave her daughter, Ursula - whose happiness could be destroyed by her mother's ruthlessness - heiress to far more than riches - the amazing secret of Mantlemass, which is already generations old.
July 16, 2013
Better than I expected, after such a slow start. 3 stars, as wording laborious. Not as good as Lark & Laurel, but it did have a decent ending, and I' m glad I stuck it out reading it, but wouldn't be in a hurry to re-read it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews