Nina Bawden

Rediscover the brilliance of Tortoise by Candlelight in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. Pre-order this gorgeous edition now. Set just outside London in the early 1960s, this is a charming novel about a family living on the edge of society in their dilapidated Victorian house following the departure of their mother - and the upheaval when a new couple moves in next door . . . With a foreword by Eve Chase ‘Birds don’t love. They only feed their babies because they gape . . .’ Fourteen-year-old Emmie Bean loves her family. But she worries about them too. Her mother is gone (no one will say where). Her father drinks instead of writing. Her younger brother Oliver has started stealing. And older sister Alice disappears on illicit dates. Then there is their isolated house’s menagerie of birds and animals, including Mo the squirrel and Murgatroyd the tortoise, all of which require Emmie’s love and attention. When the Sargents, a childless couple, move in next door, Emmie and the Beans find themselves drawn to this welcoming but aimless husband and wife. Emmie fears the darkness and chaos surrounding them all. But perhaps love burns bright . . . Praise for Nina Bawden: ‘An exceptional picture of disorganised family life’ Observer ‘Bawden is noted too for the sharp sense of humour that edges her tales of middle-class manners and mores towards satire, particularly when it all goes wrong’ Guardian

Written in 1973, Carrie’s War is an exciting and very moving account of the lives of children sent away from home during the war, based on Nina Bawden’s own childhood experience.Carrie’s War is part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, pocket-sized classics bound in cloth with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover.To escape the bombs falling on London, Carrie and her younger brother Nick are evacuated from their home to a small Welsh village where they are taken in by the village grocer, Mr Evans, who’s mean and unfriendly, and his timid sister, Lou. The children befriend another evacuee, Albert, who seems to have had more luck. He lives at a mysterious house called Druid’s Bottom where he’s looked after by the housekeeper, Hepzibah Green. Hepzibah welcomes Carrie and Nick into the warmth of her kitchen where she feeds them delicious food. The children love their visits and they are entranced by Hepzibah’s magical stories, including one about the curse of the screaming skull. And it’s this story that leads Carrie to do something she regrets for the rest of her life.

Keeping Henry is a heartwarming story about a cheeky squirrel set during WW2 by Nina Bawden, the beloved author of Carrie's War. Perfect for animal lovers of all ages.'one of Nina Bawden's best' - The Observer‘The hay stirred. There was a small nibbling sound. A furry head poked out . . . his eyes seemed alert and inquisitive, as if he were as interested in us as we were in him’Henry is only three inches long when he is catapulted out of his nest – a poor baby red squirrel. He is too young to survive being released into the wild, but can a squirrel be a pet?Henry's new human family, fleeing from London during the Blitz, have made their home on a farm in Wales. Can Henry, who makes nests out of their clothes and runs up the children like they are trees, help them to settle into their new life?

'Warm and funny, this tale of a pint-size pig and the family he saves will take up a giant space in your heart' - Kiran Millwood Hargrave‘What a consummate storymaker Nina Bawden is’ Michael MorpurgoWinner of The Guardian's Prize for Children's Fiction, The Peppermint Pig is a modern classic by Nina Bawden, beloved author of Carrie's War. Perfect for children aged 9+.‘D’ya want a peppermint pig, Mrs Greengrass?’ Poll looked at the milkman, thinking of sweets, but there was a real pig poking its snout out of the milkman’s coat pocket. It was the tiniest pig she had ever seen.'It is a difficult year for the Greengrasses. Poll’s father has gone overseas for work and the family has to rely on the generosity of two aunts. After moving to a small country town, Poll struggles to settle into her new life and she just can’t seem to keep out of trouble! Everything changes when a clever, mischievous pig arrives. Can he bring joy and laughter back into their lives?

'A poignant and realistic picture of what the second world war was like for a child' - Shirley Hughes, The Guardian‘A touching, utterly convincing book’ Jaqueline WilsonCarrie's War offers a window into a life of evacuees, full of Nina Bawden's award-winning humour and heart. Perfect for ages 9+.Carrie and her little brother Nick are evacuated from wartime London to the Welsh hills. Their new home with strict Mr Evans and his kind but timid sister, Auntie Lou, offers little comfort.But then Carrie and Nick visit Albert, another evacuee, and Hepzibah Green welcomes them into her warm kitchen. People say that she is a witch, but Hepzibah’s delicious cooking and enthralling stories are impossible to resist.With the help of Albert, Hepzibah, and even Auntie Lou, Carrie and Nick begin to settle in. But before long, Carrie’s loyalty is tested. Will she be persuaded to betray her new friends?

Rose has news for Celia she is due to have a baby by Celia's husband, Humphrey. Soon after, the seeds of scandal bear a criminal fruit when a body is discovered in Little Venice along with Rose's handbag. Celia drafts in an old flame, Will, to root out the truth from suspicions of murder and blackmail, as the evidence starts to converge on the patrons and strange goings-on of the seedy Chelsea club, 'The Odd Flamingo'. First published in 1954, this was one of two gritty and atmospheric crime novels written by the accomplished children's author Nina Bawden.

WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY EMMA CARROLL'A touching, utterly convincing book' JACQUELINE WILSON 'What a deep, dark, deceptively simple, brilliant novel it is' EMMA CARROLL 'Poignant and realistic . . . Carrie's War captures the true reality of war for a child, and it doesn't sentimentalise war' SHIRLEY HUGHES, GUARDIAN 'I did a dreadful thing, the worst thing of my life, when I was twelve and a half years old, and nothing can change it'When the bombs rain down on London, Carrie and her little brother Nick are evacuated to a small town in the Welsh hills. Without their mother, and away from anything familiar, they must take refuge among strangers. Reluctantly, Mr Evans, the grocer, takes them in, with his kind, timid sister, Aunt Lou. But the children find little comfort in his austere home.Their fellow evacuee, Albert, is luckier, living in a rambling old mansion with Hepzibah Green and Mister Johnny. Hepzibah is rumoured to be a witch, but the children feel safe in her warm kitchen and are spellbound by her stories. Just as Carrie and Nick begin to settle into their new life, something happens that tests their loyalties: will they be persuaded to betray their friends?ILLUSTRATED BY ALAN MARKS

One of the most loved and enduring wartime novels, Carrie's War is a modern classic. Published for the first time as a Virago Modern Classic, with a foreword by Michael Morpurgo.

This is Virago's first publication of one of Nina Bawden's most famous books for children. The Peppermint Pig, which won the Guardian Award for Children's Fiction, has been a great favourite since it was first published, over forty years ago.

An enchanting story for children who love animals, by the beloved author of Carrie's War.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE LOST MAN BOOKER PRIZE'Nina Bawden gets inside the skins of all her people and shows them as paradoxical, crotchety, adulterous, ambitious and completely human . . . A beautifully sustained impression of the impossibility of family life' INDEPENDENT'A story about a middle-class family in crisis, which is so good, and so true' GUARDIAN The expulsion from school of their eldest son shatters the middle-class security of Maggie, a writer, and Charlie, a journalist. Since childhood, Toby has been diffident and self-absorbed, but the threat of drug-taking and his refusal - or inability - to discuss his evident unhappiness, disturbs them sufficiently to seek professional help. Veering between private agony and public cheerfulness, Maggie and Charlie struggle to support their son and cope with the reactions- and advice- of friends and relatives. Noted for the acuity with which she reaches into the heart of relationships, Nina Bawden here excels in revealing the painful, intimate truths of a family in crisis. Toby's situation is explored with great tenderness, while Maggie's grief and self-recrimination are rigorously, if compassionately, observed.

Ben, eleven years old and the youngest of the Mallory children, has left his aunt and siblings to come to London where his widower father wishes to introduce him to his young future step-mother.Unable to return home when his brother and sister become ill, Ben is left on his own to explore the maze of walled gardens which surround his new home. Soon he meets Thomas, the son of an exiled East African Prime Minister, and Lil, a fatherless cockney waif. All three children, troubled and contending with the dislocation of their new lives, become entwined in each others' journeys of self-discovery and adventure.In Nina Bawden's much-praised second novel for young readers, the lessons and pains of childhood are evinced with characteristic deftness, combining sympathy, affection and timeless wit.

'I am an outside child. That is what Plato Jones calls me.'Jane Tucker is thirteen years old when she discovers she has a half-brother and sister, a revelation which promises to bring both excitement and succour to her ordinary life.But obstacles lie in her path when, for unknown reasons, she is prevented from meeting them. Aided by her friend Plato, Jane tracks down her brother and sister to their home in the East End of London. There she finds still more surprises lie in store for her.Can Jane at last be part of a 'proper' family, or must she always remain the outside child?This is the story of a girl and her family and the secrets they keep from one another. Both funny and poignant, The Outside Child is a beautifully drawn study of adolescence from one of Britain's most skilled writers for children.

Determined to find the ex-lodger who stole his grandmother's savings, Fred McAlpine and his friends Sid, Rosie, Algy and Clio launch on a series of sleuthing activities to trace the thief. Unfortunately their detective work leads them nowhere fast and very soon they decide the best way to track a thief might just be by acting like one themselves.Resorting to cunning of their own, the children find their doings attracting the attention of the police. Can they - a handful of well-meaning thieves - find the criminal and vindicate themselves in the process?Pacy and suspenseful, A Handful of Thieves is another vivid and colourful novel from one of Britain's most inventive children's authors.

Lonely and forlorn after their mother's death and their sudden arrival at Aunt Mabel's seaside boarding-house, John, Mary and Ben Mallory are unimpressed with their new life in England. But there are wonderful surprises in store for them when they discover a secret way into the grand and empty house next door. Soon all sorts of unexpected events will unfold as the siblings encounter a whole host of eccentric characters and happenings.Completed in 1963, The Secret Passage is Nina Bawden's first children's novel and was written especially for her own three children after they had discovered a secret passage in the cellar of their house. It beautifully reflects her own inquisitive nature - as she herself has said: 'I was a keyhole child, fearsomely curious' - wedded to her subtly innovative ability to empathise with the child's view.

Deeply unhappy at the recent divorce of her parents, Mary is sent away to live by the sea with her distant grandfather and the detestable Aunt Alice. Feeling abandoned, without even the company of her beloved pet cat Noakes, the summer looks set to become one long stretch of unendurable loneliness. But suddenly she is dragged, half unwittingly, into a situation that will force her to come to the aid of others more vulnerable than herself. So begins her runaway summer, as she sets about helping Simon, the son of a local policeman, and a young illegal immigrant boy arrived from Kenya, frightened and all alone.The Runaway Summer was first published in 1969 to typically universal acclaim. It is, in the words of the Times Educational Supplement, an 'unputdownable gem of a book. The tale is beautifully constructed in diamond-hard language.'

On the Scottish island of Skua, friendship develops between the lonely and mysterious Perdita and a blind girl, Janey. Both possess a kind of second sight - Janey's is the ability to hear, feel and remember more than others, and Perdita's is the ominous legacy of her being a witch's daughter. When Janey's brother, Tom, starts investigating a cluster of mysterious events and suspicious characters, all three become entwined in an adventure of hidden jewels, desperate criminals and dangerous detection.Written in 1963, The Witch's Daughter showcases Nina Bawden's innate regard for the integrity of her young characters. As she has said: 'I like writing for children. It seems to me that most people underestimate their understanding and the strength of their feelings and in my books for them I try to put this right.' Hugely admired on publication by both reviewers and readers, it was described as 'thrilling' by the Times Literary Supplement.

Presents an ordinary tale about the destruction of a happy marriage.

Carrie Willow and her brother Nick are evacuees transported to the safety of the countryside in the 1940s. There they stay with mean Mr Evans; but there's also kind Auntie Lou, and brilliant young Albert Sandwich and Mr Johnny, who speaks his own language, and Hepzibah, the witch at Druid's Grove who makes perfect mince pies. And then there's the ancient skull with its terrifying curse...