Creating 'Tools For Thought'

“I think that novels are tools of thought. They are moral philosophy with the theory left out, with just the examples of the moral situations left standing.” – Jill Paton Walsh

Paton Walsh is the writing name of Gillian Bliss, born on April 29, 1937, near Oxford, England.  A novelist and children's book writer, she is perhaps best known for the Peter Wimsey–Harriet Vane mysteries that either completed or continued the work of renowned British crime writer and poet Dorothy Sayers.

Paton Walsh also has had considerable acclaim for her series featuring college nurse and part-time detective Imogine Quy, set at the fictional St. Agatha College in Cambridge.      But, while that is what many adults often cite about her work, it probably is her children’s book audience that should be consulted first, since she has penned more than two-dozen highly successful books for children and young adults, including the much honored titles A Chance Child and Grace.

“Being a writer usually entails a fairly quiet life,” she said when asked about her craft.  “However much travel one might do, however many tours and appearances, the job entails solitude: long hours in libraries, long hours at a desk.”

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