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Officiële naam: Needham, Amy Violet
Geboortedatum: 1876-06-05
Overlijdensdatum: 1967-06-08
Graflocatie: St. James the Elder's Churchyard, Horton, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Geslacht: female
Nationaliteit: UK
Geboorteplaats: Mayfair, London, England, UK
Plaats van overlijden: Horton, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Woonplaatsen: London, England, UK
Windsor, England, UK
Rome, Provincia di Roma, Lazio, Italië
Tylehurst Lodge, Forest Row, Sussex, England, UK
Horton, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Beroepen: Schrijfster van kinderboeken
Korte biografie: Violet Needham was born in London to a British army officer on the fringes of the aristocracy and his Dutch wife, a wealthy heiress. Violet's father, who taught his daughters to ride and drive horses and to love poetry, was a compulsive gambler, and his family veered between affluence and relative poverty depending on his luck. According to the Violet Needham Society, "Perhaps it is little wonder that so many of Violet’s young heroines are rescued from precarious financial situations." When she was 19, she accompanied her father on a six-year posting as a military attaché to Rome. She learned to speak French, German, and Italian. She created adventurous bedtime stories for her nephews, which she eventually wrote down and submitted for publication, without success. In 1939, when she was 63, her first book, The Black Riders, was finally published; for the next 18 years she published a new children's novel each year. They were enormously popular in her lifetime and still have a devoted following. Many of the books were illustrated by Joyce Bruce, a Gloucestershire neighbor.

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The Emerald Crown door Violet Needham

The young Countess Christine Trollac, known to all as Pixie, wasn't sure at first that she would take to the boy who was visiting her family's historic castle home of Trollsgarde one Christmas season, but she needn't have worried. Although raised in England, Alexander was fluent in Flavonian, and made a pleasant but by no means quiescent companion. Despite the differences in age—Alexander was fourteen, and some years older than Pixie—the two became good friends, and had many adventures together. It was in the course of those adventures that they discovered some startling facts about Alexander's true identity. But would he be willing to follow his "destined way?" And how could he do so, without first finding the Emerald Crown...?

Originally published in 1940, The Emerald Crown was the second in Violet Needham's Stormy Petrel series, in which young people have rousing adventures in a Ruritanian setting. The first book, The Black Riders was set in a fictional central European country known only as The Empire, and concerned the doings of one Dick Fauconbois; whereas this follow-up switches focus, moving to the kingdom of Flavonia, a small country on the border of the Empire. There are no shared characters between the two books, although I understand they come together in later installments of the series. In any case, this was an immensely engaging and entertaining follow-up to The Black Riders, which I greatly enjoyed, and which set a high bar. Needham has something of a cult following, and is considered the master of the Ruritanian romance for young readers. Reading these two books, it is not difficult to see why. I read the Girls Gone By reprint of this from 2005, and enjoyed the introduction by Hilary Clare, particularly the exploration of the significance of the Emerald Crown itself. I thought the parallels to Hungary's Crown of St. Stephen were fascinating, particularly as I had recently watched the second season of the television show Sisi, about the Austrian Empress Elisabeth, and there was an episode in which she and Count Andrássy recovered the lost crown. One of those happy cases of serendipity, in my reading and viewing life! In any case, I would strongly recommend this one to readers who enjoy Ruritanian tales. It is not necessary to have read The Black Riders first, I do not think, although one should read that earlier title before proceeding to the third in the series.… (meer)

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AbigailAdams26 | 4 andere besprekingen | Mar 6, 2024 |

The Black Riders door Violet Needham

Looking down from his cliffside house at the road and the river and the forest one day, eleven-year-old Dick—otherwise known as Richard Otho Fauconbois—sees the fabled Black Riders passing, and shortly thereafter, a man in a cart with a lame horse. Stopping the cart, he meets its owner, Far Away Moses—so named because when his enemies sought him, he was always far away—and becomes caught up in an adventure beyond his imagining. For this new friend and master is the leader of an underground political movement within the Empire—the Confederation—and is always on the move, always one step ahead of the police, and of Jasper the Terrible: Governor, leader of the Black Riders, and right-hand-man of the Emperor. Soon an errand boy for Far Away Moses, Dick undergoes many hair-raising adventures, and remains true to his chief and to his word, even when all seems lost, and both he and his leader are imprisoned. Have the adventures of the Stormy Petrel—Dick's nickname in certain circles—come to an end, or is there more yet to come...?

I have been aware of the work of British author Violet Needham for many years, but have only recently come into possession of her books, mostly in editions reprinted by the wonderful Girls Gone By Publisher. Said to be a master of the Ruritanian romance for younger readers, she is particularly known for The Black Riders, the first of the eight-book Stormy Petrel series, as well as such books as The Woods of Windri and its sequel (also Ruritanian tales), and a number of others. I found this one a marvelous introduction to her work, and mourn the fact that it is out of print, and mostly unavailable to today's young readers. A rousing adventure story, it is also beautifully written, and features a cast of wonderful characters. Faithful Dick—so true, so loyal, so moral—makes an outstanding young hero, and the people around him are always interesting. I appreciated the fact that, while there are clear factions here, and our hero cleaves strongly to his side, the opposition is not evil, and neither is their leader, in the form of Count Jasper. Indeed, while in some ways the story here is quite naive—the way in which Far Away Moses and Dick are treated, while in captivity, for instance, or the role of Jasper's young daughter Judith in winning a last-minute pardon for Far Away Moses from the Emperor—in other ways, it is a very sophisticated book, addressing complex moral questions in an intelligent way, and never talking down to its young audience. This is apparent very early on, when Dick has just met Far Away Moses, and asks him whether Count Jasper is a bad man. Far Away responds by saying: "No, not bad; he is a great man and I ask for no better enemy." When he asks Dick if he understands, the boy nods and replies "I think so... You mean it isn't you and it isn't he that are fighting—it's your ideas." This is not an outlook one meets with much today, to our grave detriment, I fear!

As much as I mourn that this book is not currently in print, I also regret that it does not appear to have been published here in the states—our loss, I am sorry to say—and that I did not encounter it in childhood, as I suspect it would have been a favorite. In some ways, it reminded me of the Dutch childhood classic from Tonke Dragt, The Letter for the King, which also featured made-up kingdoms and a young boy flung headfirst into adventure as a messenger of sorts, although the hero there was somewhat older than here. In any case, I strongly recommend this one to young readers who enjoy that sort of adventure story, or intelligent, well-written and entertaining tales in general.… (meer)

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AbigailAdams26 | 4 andere besprekingen | Sep 7, 2023 |

The Black Riders door Violet Needham

I happen to have a copy of this analysis of Needham's work:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/81064541

which I don't need any more. If anybody would like it, please leave a comment.

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bringbackbooks | 4 andere besprekingen | Jun 16, 2020 |

The Horn of Merlyns door Violet Needham

The story is about eleven-year-old twins who are sent to stay with their aunt and uncle in an old country house called Merylns. It’s a lovely place, but not a happy one; their uncle suffered a terrible tragedy, and their Aunt is disabled/

Jack spends most of the year in school; Gill slowly settles in, and gets to know an eclectic mixture of local people, as well as learning about the history of the house, which includes a missing horn and a strange curse...

Violet Needham’s writing flows effortlessly; I found myself quickly drawn into the story, feeling for Gill as she explored her new environment nervously, expecting constant reproofs or worse, puzzled when she is shown kindness. I liked Julian and Elfrida too, and was intrigued by the adventure part of the story. I found it quite difficult to stop once I had got into it, and overall enjoyed it very much.

It’s a children’s book, so it was evidently going to have a happy ending, but it was still quite tense in many places; there’s an oddly mystical element too - a ragged old man plays quite a large part in the story, and Gill sometimes wonders exactly who he might be...

All in all, a very enjoyable book. Written as contemporary fiction in 1943, it gives a nice picture of everyday life in the countryside in the war years.

Recommended to older children or teens who like a good story with likeable characters, set in the past.
… (meer)

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SueinCyprus | Jan 26, 2016 |

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