Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished! discussion

Nina Beachcroft is a British fantasy author (born in 1931 - she's currently 91 years old) who wrote 9 books for children:

Well Met By Witchlight*
Under the Enchanter*
Cold Christmas: A Ghost Story*
A Spell of Sleep*
A Visit to Folly Castle
A Farthing for the Fair (Heinemann, 1978)
The Wishing People*
The Genie and Her Bottle*
Beyond World's End
*available on Archive.org and OpenLibrary

I've recently acquired and read Well Met by Witchlight and thought so well of it I purchased A Visit to Folly Castle and Beyond World's End, the latter of which I have yet to read.

What I have read, I have heartily enjoyed! A Visit to Folly Castle I bought based on the glowing reviews - I wasn't so drawn in by the sumary. But I'm really glad I did. I thought it was a roller coaster packed into a hundred and 30 or so pages, and it was well-developed and plotted and imaginative. I really get the impression that she has a very clear vision of her characters in her mind, and they are very vivid on the page as a result.

There isn't a GR entry yet for A Farthing for the Fair (which is so rare, Bookfinder can't even cough it up), and it, like A Visit to Folly Castle is sadly not yet digitized.

I'm really surprised that this author isn't better known - some cracking little fantasies!

I just wanted to update this thread, as I read A Visit to Folly Castle and absolutely loved it. It was interesting, unusual, the characters were complex, the social situations realistic (or at least, credible), and there wasn't a pat happy ending while it resolved well. I really wish that one was easier to come by - the imagination on display there was praiseworthy, I thought.

Similarly, I have just finished Beyond World's End and thought it as good or better (depending on personal tastes) than the former. It IS available on OpenLibrary, and is certainly worth a go. It's also short - only 123 pages, and yet she packs in quite a lot of action and interesting character work. I really don't get why she isn't better known. I even bought a second hard copy of this one to pass onto relatives, in spite of the free online access. It was that good. :)

I'm so taken with this lady's work that I think I'll prioritize her other works (there's a Christmas one, too, though it isn't so highly rated). Well Met By Witchlight isn't as phenomenal as the other two, though. But I stand by my rating that it was a solid bit of witchy fiction. Again, Beachcroft likes the bittersweet/realistic relationships, and so do I. I don't think giving kids a sugar-coated happy end (all the time) sets them up with realistic expectations for our crooked and disappointing reality. ;)

...and because I like this sort of thing, here's a list of advertised books in the back of my edition of Beyond World's End:

Fiction in paperback from Dragon Books

Ann Jungman
Vlad the Drac:
Vlad the Drac Returns

Thomas Meehan
Annie

Michael Denton
The Eggbox Brontosaurus
Glitter City
Fantastic

Marika Hanbury-Tenison
Princess and the Unicorn

Alan Davidson
A Friend Like Annabel
Just Like Anabel

T.R. Burch
Ben and Blackbeard
Ben on Cole's Hill

Jonathan Rumbold
The Adventures of Niko

Marcus Crouch
The Ivory City And Other Stories From India And Pakistan

Lynne Reid Banks
The Indian in the Cupboard

Nina Beachcroft
A Spell of Sleep
Cold Christmas

Graham Marks
The Finding of Stoby Binder

(second page)

Peter Glidewell
Schoolgirl Chums
St. Ursula's in Danger
Miss Prosser's Passion

Gerald Frow
Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House
Young Sherlock - the adventure at Ferryman's creek

Frank Richards
Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School
Billy Bunter's Double
Billy Bunter Comes for Christmas
Billy Bunter Does His Best
Billy Bunter's Benefit
Billy Bunter's Postal Order

Dale Carlson
Jenny Dean Mysteries
The Mystery of the Shining Children
The Mystery of the Hidden Trap
The Secret of the Third Eye

Marlene Fanta Shyer
My Brother, the Thief

David Rees
Exeter Blitz

Caroline Akrill
Eventer's Dream
A Hoof in the Door
Ticket To Ride

Michael Parry (ed.)
Superheroes

(third page)

Richard Dubleman
Le avventure di Holly Hobbie (The Adventures of Holly Hobbie - no English ed. on GR, I guess)

Anne Digby
First Term at Trebizon
Second Term at Trebizon
Summer Term at Trebizon
Boy Trouble at Trebizon
More Trouble at Trebizon
The Tennis Term at Trebizon
Summer Camp at Trebizon
Into the Fourth at Trebizon
The Hockey Term at Trebizon
The Big Swim of the Summer
Me, Jill Robinson and the Television Quiz
Me, Jill Robinson and the Seaside Mystery
Me, Jill Robinson and the Christmas Pantomime
Me, Jill Robinson, and the School Camp Adventure

Elyne Mitchell
Silver Brumby Kingdom
Silver Brumbies of the South
The Silver Brumby
Silver Brumby's Daughter
Silver Brumby Whirlwind

Mary O'Hara
My Friend Flicka
My Friend Flicka: Pt. 2

I added A Farthing for the Fair. It had a superb illustrator and I'd love to see the cover.

Thanks, Sem! :) I hope to see it some day, too! :S Seems unlikely..

Capn wrote: "Thanks, Sem! :) I hope to see it some day, too! :S Seems unlikely.."
I searched WorldCat and two of my old libraries have it (including UBC). I'm not about to pop over there and check it out though. Maybe ILLO at some point. Beachcroft is another of those many great writers of middle grade fiction in the 70s and 80s who've more or less disappeared. I keep kicking myself for not buying their books at the time but one can't buy everything.

Pity, isn't it? :)

(Thanks again so much for encouraging me to join OpenLibrary! Wonderful resource!!!)

Capn wrote: "Pity, isn't it? :)

(Thanks again so much for encouraging me to join OpenLibrary! Wonderful resource!!!)"
Yes, it is. It's even better when I can make it cough up an epub when it doesn't want to. I hate reading on my laptop.

So do I. Ooh, is there a trick, or are you just lucky to stumble on the file format?

Capn wrote: "So do I. Ooh, is there a trick, or are you just lucky to stumble on the file format?"
There's a trick but sometimes there's only a PDF available and those won't convert properly to other formats. But, erm, I'd rather read a PDF in my browser at my leisure than in one hour allotments on OL. I won't/can't say more than that here. *shifty eyes*

Ha ha, alright! Keep your secrets! ;) I'll have a go at it later. :)

Capn wrote: "Ha ha, alright! Keep your secrets! ;) I'll have a go at it later. :)"
I can tell you how to do it if you message me but it wouldn't be a great idea to share it in a comment. And I couldn't anyway since I'd have to give you a link or two.

Ha ha, thanks Sem, I figured! I'll give you a shout if I need help. :) Very kind!

Capn wrote: "Ha ha, thanks Sem, I figured! I'll give you a shout if I need help. :) Very kind!"
OL is being difficult. There's no reason at all why 1 hour books shouldn't have download links. And many of the 2 week loans that offer only PDF have epubs but no link to get them. But then OL/IA has never done anything to improve conversion to epubs so I'm not surprised. It didn't work properly fifteen years ago and still doesn't. Even so, I'm infinitely grateful for the site. I mean - free!

I can recommend all the horse books you shared!

Clare wrote: "I can recommend all the horse books you shared!"

Caroline Akrill, right? :) They seem highly regarded! I added them to the YA Horse books, etc. :)

The Eventer books are good and practical. Another called Flying Changes is for a slightly older readership and okay, not great for me.

So back to Nina Beachcroft - I recently read A Spell of Sleep and it was pretty dreadful. As bad as Cold Christmas, actually.

It has temporarily put me off her. I think I'll have to come across her remaining books rather competitively priced to even consider them. Shame, really, because there are 3 of hers that I really rather enjoyed!

Can't all be winners, I suppose. ;)