Mary Norton (author)

This article is about the British author. For American author born Alice Mary Norton, see Andre Norton. For other uses, see Mary Norton.

Mary Norton
Born	10 December 1903(1903-12-10) United Kingdom
Died	29 August 1992(1992-08-29) (aged 88) Devon
Occupation	Author
Nationality	British
Genres	Children's literature
Notable work(s)	The Borrowers Bedknobs and Broomsticks

The Cedars, Norton's house until 1921 and reportedly the setting of The Borrowers

(Kathleen) Mary Norton, née Pearson, (10 December 1903 – 29 August 1992) was an English children's author. Her books include The Borrowers series.

Background

Norton was the daughter of a physician, and was raised in a Georgian house at the end of the High Street in Leighton Buzzard. The house now consists of part of Leighton Middle School, known within the school as The Old House, and was reportedly the setting of her novel The Borrowers. She married Robert Charles Norton on 4 September 1946 and had four children, two boys and two girls. Her second husband was Lionel Boncey, whom she married in 1970. She began working for the War Office in 1940 before the family moved temporarily to the United States.

She began writing while working for the British Purchasing Commission in New York during the Second World War. Her first book was The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons published in 1943, which, together with the sequel Bonfires and Broomsticks, became the basis for the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Norton died of a heart attack in Bideford, Devon, England on 29 August 1992.

Works

• The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons (1943)
• Bonfires and Broomsticks (1945)
• The Borrowers (1952)
• The Borrowers Afield (1955)
• The Borrowers Afloat (1959)
• The Borrowers Aloft (1961)
• Are All the Giants Dead? (1975)
• The Borrowers Avenged (1982)

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Norton's novels The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons and Bonfires and Broomsticks were adapted into the 1971 Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks, starring Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson.

There have been several screen adaptations of The Borrowers:

• The Borrowers: a 1973 American made-for-TV movie.
• The Borrowers: a 1992 BBC TV series and its 1993 sequel The Return of the Borrowers, both starring Ian Holm and Penelope Wilton.
• The Borrowers: a 1997 film with a British/American cast including Tom Felton, John Goodman, Jim Broadbent, Celia Imrie and Mark Williams.
• The Secret World of Arrietty: a 2010 Japanese animated film from Studio Ghibli.
• The Borrowers: a 2011 British film starring Stephen Fry, Victoria Wood and Christopher Eccleston.

There have also been numerous theatrical adaptations of The Borrowers.

External links

• Mary Norton at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database