Geoffrey Trease
(1909 - 1998)
(Robert) Geoffrey Trease (11 August 1909 – 27 January 1998) was a prolific British writer, publishing 113 books between 1934 (Bows Against the Barons) and 1997 (Cloak for a Spy). His work has been translated into 20 languages.
He is best known for writing children’s historical novels, whose content reflects his insistence on historically correct backgrounds, which he meticulously researched. However, with his ground-breaking study Tales Out of School (1949), he was also a pioneer of the idea that children’s literature should be a serious subject for study and debate. When he began his career, his radical viewpoint was a change from the conventional and often jingoistic tone of most children’s literature of the time, and he was one of the first authors who deliberately set out to appeal to both boys and girls and to feature strong leading characters of both sexes.
Bibliography
Bows Against the Barons (1966)
When he unthinkingly kills one of the King's deer, a peasant boy flees home and goes into Sherwood Forest where he joins Robin Hood and his band.
Cue for Treason (1940)
The novel is set in Elizabethan England at the end of the 16th century. Two young runaways become boy actors, at first on the road and later in London. Later, they are befriended by William Shakespeare, and become aware of a plot against Queen Elizabeth's life and attempt to prevent it.
Read online at archive.org.
A Thousand for Sicily (1964)
A young British journalist follows Garibaldi on his Sicilian campaign.