When I was small my mother used to get cross with me for forgetting the authors of the books I liked. (A stance not entirely unrelated to the fact she is a professional author herself). Now I am older and have achieved memory skills better than than the average goldfish I do remember authors and titles , which is why I share these enviable skills on what’s that book
But I do pity Monica Hughes who seems to be the most forgotten of all authors. Today yet another of her books was listed by someone who’d forgotten author and title. It is, of course, Keeper of the Isis Light. Monica Hughes died in 2003 and her wikipedia page lists 37 published titles from the 1970s to the turn of the century. I have read five of those: Keeper of the Isis Light, The Guardian of Isis, Devil on My Back, The Dream Catcher and Sandwriter. I’ve read each of those several times and still have copies of the last two. But there are 32 more books of hers to read and I am determined to acquire more of them – if only to prove that someone remembers her and rates her work high enough to recall.
Eva Ibbotson is another who seems to linger in obscurity although she is very much alive and published two new titles last year. Margaret Mahy doesn’t get remembered well either and at the height of the Harry Potter craze many of my friends bewailed the fact that Diana Wynne Jones wasn’t getting more notice.
What are other people’s candidates for forgotten authors who deserve better of their readers? And which are the books I should immediately order?