![]() ![]() She was popular and successful as a teller of stories for the very young, with titles such as A Lion in the Meadow (1969, her first book), The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate (1972) and The Boy Who Was Followed Home (1975). She won the UK's Carnegie medal twice, for The Haunting (1982) and The Changeover (1984), both for readers of 10 and above. Mahy's international reputation was equally great. There are enough "rules" from the real world to keep the stories grounded, but the unexpected can, and frequently does, happen.Ī Lion in the Meadow (1969), Margaret Mahy's first book ![]() In Mahy's hands, this makes for vivid and exhilarating fiction. The supernatural is never far away, and is always credible. Her characters passed easily and unselfconsciously between these worlds. What others might see as boundaries between real and imaginary worlds were effortlessly blurred. Whether in short picture books or witty and enticing short stories, which included The Great Piratical Rumbustification (1978) or complex novels for teenagers, such as The Catalogue of the Universe (1985) or The Magician of Hoad (2008), Mahy held her readers spellbound.Īlthough diverse in some respects, Mahy's books had distinctive characteristics in common. And despite the quantity, the quality never dimmed. Her output was large: 40 novels, 20 collections of short stories and more than 100 picture books. Margaret Mahy, who has died of cancer aged 76, was an original and versatile writer for children of all ages. ![]()
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