Frank Showell Styles was a Welsh writer and mountaineer.
Showell Styles was born in Four Oaks, Birmingham and was educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield. Known to his friends as 'Pip', Showell Styles' childhood was spent in the hills of North Wales where he became an avid mountaineer and explorer. During the Second World War, Styles joined the Royal Navy and was posted in the Mediterranean, but even there he walked and climbed as much as he could.
An aspiring writer, Styles already had articles published in Punch, before setting out to make his living as an author. His first novel, Traitor’s Mountain, was a murder mystery set on and around Tryfan in Wales. He became a prolific writer with over 160 books published for children as well as adults. In addition to historic naval adventure fiction such as the Midshipman Quinn and Lieutenant Michael Fitton series set during the Napoleonic Wars, and non-fiction works on mountains and such as The Mountaineer’s Weekend Book, he wrote detective fiction under the pseudonym of Glyn Carr, and humorous pieces as C.L. Inker.
For walkers visiting Snowdonia for the first time, Styles' The Mountains of North Wales is monumentally inspirational, written by a sure hand and with a firm conviction and love of these mountains.
I first read this scholastic book in the 5th grade. It started my love for mysteries, my favorite genre ever since. I read it every few years, and it’s just as good, and includes maps. I also still love maps to this day. What an impact scholastic books can have on a person!
A reread of a childhood book, I enjoy stories of children who are brave and able to problem solve without the aid of adults. I remember wishing I could go on an adventure without adults.