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Cue for Treason, Bows against the Barons, The Crown of Violet, No Boats on Bannermere, Word to Caesar
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(Robert) Geoffrey Trease FRSL (11 August 1909 in Nottingham – 27 January 1998 in Bath) was a prolific British writer who published 113 books, mainly for children, between 1934 (Bows Against the Barons) and 1997 (Cloak for a Spy). His work has been translated into 20 languages. His grandfather was a historian, and was one of the main influences in his work. He is best known for the children's novel Cue for Treason (1940).
Trease is best known for writing children's historical novels, whose content reflects his insistence on historically correct backgrounds, which he meticulously researched. His ground-breaking study Tales Out of School (1949) pioneered 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.
Life and work
Trease was born in Nottingham in 1909. His family were wine merchants, but from an early age he decided to become a writer. During his school days at Nottingham High School he wrote stories, poems, and a three-act play which the school performed. He won a Classics scholarship to Oxford University and, although he loved university life, he found the tuition dull. After a year he resigned his scholarship and left Oxford for London, intent on becoming a writer. In London, Trease worked at helping slum children. He also joined a left-wing group called the "Promethean Society" whose other members included Hugh Gordon Porteus and Desmond Hawkins.
Trease started to fulfil his ambition to be a writer with the publication of the children’s book Bows Against the Barons in 1934. This was the first of his many historical novels and heralded an approach to writing for young people that was quite radical. Through exciting plots, strong characters (female as well as male), and meticulous attention to detail, he introduced his readers to a historical event or period, enabling them to absorb history effortlessly. His sense of fairness and belief in equality for all is a theme explored in many of his books and, within their historical settings, the discerning reader will recognize many parallels with contemporary issues.
Trease's stories range from Ancient Greece (The Crown of Violet) to more recent times and cover (amongst others) the Middle Ages: (The Red Towers of Granada); Elizabethan England: (Cue for Treason and Cloak for a Spy); Restoration: London (Fire on the Wind and Popinjay Stairs); the French Revolution: (Thunder of Valmy); the Bolshevik Revolution (The White Nights of St Petersburg); and World War II: (Tomorrow Is a Stranger and The Arpino Assignment). Other exciting historical events of the 20th century are covered in Bring Out the Banners, Shadow Under the Sea, Calabrian Quest and Song for a Tattered Flag.
Trease also wrote modern school stories, e.g., the five Black Banner novels set in the Lake District: (the first was No Boats on Bannermere), adult novels, history, plays for radio and television, and biographies. Trease authored a guide aimed at teaching creative writing to young adults, The Young Writer: A Practical Handbook. He wrote three books of autobiography: A Whiff of Burnt Boats (1971), Laughter at the Door (1974), and in the last year of his life, the final part, Farewell the Hills. This was written for his family and friends, and published privately after his death.
Trease published 113 books before "deciding to call it a day" at the age of 88 because of illness. Many were translated for foreign markets, including Asia and Europe. In the United States he won the New York Herald Tribune Book Award for the Children’s Spring Festival 1966 for This is Your Century.
In 1933 Geoffrey married Marian Boyer and they had one daughter, Jocelyn. Geoffrey and Marian lived in Colwall, very near the Downs School, Great Malvern, but moved to Bath shortly before Marian's death.
Junior novels
Bows Against the Barons (Lawrence) (1934)
Comrades for the Charter (Lawrence) (1934)
The New House at Hardale (Boys Own Paper - 2 installments) (1934)
Call to Arms (Lawrence) (1935)
Missing from Home (Lawrence & Wishart) (1937)
Mystery on the Moors (Black) (1937)
The Christmas Holiday Mystery (Black) (1937)
Detectives of the Dales (Black) (1938)
In the Land of the Mogul (Black) (1938)
Cue for Treason (Blackwell) (1940)
Running Deer (Harrap) (1941)
Grey Adventurer (Blackwell) (1942)
Black Night, Red Morning (Blackwell) (1944)
Trumpets in the West (Blackwell) Revised Edition 1994 (Piper) Paperback only (1947)
