Mary Norton

Mary Norton, or Kathleen Mary Norton née Pearson (10 December 1903 - 29 August 1992), was an English author of children's books. She is best known for the The Borrowers series of low fantasy novels (1952 to 1982), which is named for its first book and, in turn, for the tiny people who live secretly in the midst of contemporary human civilisation. Norton won the 1952 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising The Borrowers as the year's outstanding children's book by a British subject. For the 70th anniversary of the Medal in 2007 it was named one of the top ten winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. Kathleen Mary Pearson 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 forms 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 1927 and had four children, two boys and two girls. Her second husband was Lionel Bonsey, 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 by J. M. Dent in 1943. Its sequel Bonfires and Broomsticks followed two years later and they were re-issued jointly as Bed-Knob and Broomstick in 1957. The stories became the basis for the 1971 Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Norton died of a stroke in Bideford, Devon, England on 29 August 1992.