Overview
A.A. Milne is one of the most successful English writers ever. His heart-warming creations—Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet—have become some of the best-loved children’s characters of all time, and readers the world over are familiar with the stories from the Hundred Acre Wood. Yet the man himself has remained an enigma. Although in many ways his behaviour was that of a typical golf-playing, pipe-smok-ing Englishman, Milne refused to be typecast, and his publishers despaired when he turned from writing popular columns for Punch to writing detective stories. They complained again when the detective writer presented them with a set of children’s verse, but when When We Were Very Young became one of the best-selling books of all time, Milne’s credibility as one of the world’s favorite authors was sealed.
Synopsis
A.A. Milne is one of the most successful English writers ever. His heart-warming creations—Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet—have become some of the best-loved children’s characters of all time, and readers the world over are familiar with the stories from the Hundred Acre Wood. Yet the man himself has remained an enigma. Although in many ways his behaviour was that of a typical golf-playing, pipe-smok-ing Englishman, Milne refused to be typecast, and his publishers despaired when he turned from writing popular columns for Punch to writing detective stories. They complained again when the detective writer presented them with a set of children’s verse, but when When We Were Very Young became one of the best-selling books of all time, Milne’s credibility as one of the world’s favorite authors was sealed.
Publishers Weekly
In this overly detailed life of Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956), Thwaite ( Edmund Gosse ) chronicles the British writer's childhood, spent with devoted parents and his two older brothers; his schooling under his father, a progressive headmaster; the fame and frustrations that attended his early adulthood. The book includes quotes from the memoirs of Milne's son Christopher, H. G. Wells, P. G. Wodehouse and other contemporaries, both friends and critics. Milne was a successful playwright when, during the 1920s, he created the Pooh books, international bestsellers. Bitter over waning interest in his adult works, he resented the popularity of his tender, witty children's classics. Thwaite emphasizes Milne's touchiness, among other of his character traits, as she describes this uniquely gifted writer's changing relationships with family members. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)