On 18 Dec 2018 at 10:07pm Ferret wrote:
Does anyone remember Eve Garnett? She was a children's author and illustrator who wrote "The Family from One End Street" which is set in Lewes (called Otwell in the book). She died in 1991, and lived in Lewes for many years. A friend whose daughter recently read the book asked me if I had heard of her.
On 18 Dec 2018 at 11:16pm Bert wrote:
I remember Alf well.
On 19 Dec 2018 at 6:10am Yellow Sleeves wrote:
No.
On 19 Dec 2018 at 8:16am Pink Sleeves wrote:
Me neither. Will see if it's on Amazon.
On 19 Dec 2018 at 8:32am dairyman wrote:
I recall there being a article about her in the Sussex Express a while ago, but I'm sure that her book is available.
I don't know whether the Express has a searchable archive, but there's always the Keep at Falmer.
On 19 Dec 2018 at 9:20am Meic wrote:
Published by Puffin, available from Amazon.
According to the recently published "The Sun Street Story", One End Street is based on Sun Street.
Eve Garnett died in Lewes i 1991, so there must be some people around who remember her.
On 19 Dec 2018 at 9:24am Meic wrote:
The book can also be reserved on the East Sussex Libraries on-line catalogue, but that does not show the location of any copies.
On 19 Dec 2018 at 9:46am Ferret wrote:
Thanks, Meic. I've got the book on order now, and, after a quick glance through it on Amazon, I had thought that One End Street was in Cliffe, as it mentions being near to Woolworth's and the town cinemas. As an ex-resident of a little house in Sun Street though, I can relate to the description of the house. Apparently Eve lived in Keere Street, and there is a plaque on her house. There was a article on Eve and another forgotten Lewes author in the Eastbourne Herald:
Check it out here »
On 19 Dec 2018 at 9:49am Ferret wrote:
Apologies to dairyman, my "a article" was not making fun of yours! It was the same mistake: not pressing the n key properly between two a's.
On 19 Dec 2018 at 7:45pm Stephen Watson wrote:
Have read and enjoyed both her books set in a barely disguised Lewes - The Family from One End Street and Further Adventures of the Family from One End Street. Lovely children's books, very evocative of their pre-war era.
On 21 Dec 2018 at 11:31am Fairmeadow wrote:
What an interesting thread.
Eve Garnett arrived in this area with her parents in the late 1930s, living on Kingstonridge by 1938. Her father, a retired Lt.Col., died there in 1942 and her mother died at Chiddingly in 1944. She was from a genteel background but during her studies at the Royal Academy school in the 1920s spent a lot of time drawing children from the East End.
She had moved to Lewes by 1951 but was then at 83 High Street, according to the local street directory, which I think was the first one published after the war.
She was an artist as well as a writer and illustrator of children's books, and her painting of the Cliffe gas works from South Street is in the Barbican House collection.
As she died only 27 years ago, surely someone on this forum remembers her? She was said to be a bit of a recluse in her later years. She carried on publishing, but none of her later works had quite the impact of The Family from One End Street, which won her a prize in 1938 and was serialised on Children's Hour in 1939, and is still widely available.
On 21 Dec 2018 at 11:41am Ferret wrote:
Thanks for all that, Fairmeadow. I'll pass it on to my friend who first asked me about Eve. it seems her books might be coming into fashion again, perhaps because of the return of child poverty on a grand scale. The family from One End Street is available, and the sequels are apparently being republished next year by Puffin.
On 21 Dec 2018 at 1:11pm Hyena wrote:
@Ferrett, given that bit of logic I’ll keep my eye out for an upsurge in sales of Down and out in Paris and London and Autobiography of a Super -Tramp.