 Covers of the original editions | |
| Author | Mary Norton |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Diana L. Stanley Pauline Baynes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children’sfantasy novels |
| Publisher | J. M. Dent Viking Kestrel |
| Published | 1952–1982 |
| No. of books | 5 |
The Borrowers is achildren’sfantasy book series by English authorMary Norton, published between 1952 and 1982.
It features a family oftiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of an English house and "borrow" from the big people in order to survive.[1]
There have been several adaptations ofThe Borrowers in television, on film and on stage.
All fiveBorrowers novels feature the Clock family; Pod, Homily and Arrietty. In the first book they live in a house reportedly based onThe Cedars where Norton was raised.[2]
The primary cause of trouble and source of plot is the interaction between the minuscule Borrowers and the "human beans", whether the human motives are kind or selfish. The main character is teenage Arrietty, who often begins relationships with Big People that have chaotic effects on the lives of herself and her family, causing her parents to react with fear and worry.
The Borrowers areminiature people who live below a clock in a house located in England. Homily, Pod and Arrietty are their names. Pod goes 'Borrowing' for items, Homily does the usual motherhood jobs and Arrietty becomes even more curious about the human being life each and every day.
As a result of Arrietty's curiosity and friendships with Big People, her family are forced to move their home several times from one place to another, making their lives more adventurous than the average Borrower would prefer. After escaping from their home under the kitchen floorboards of anold English manor they finally settle down in the home of a caretaker on the grounds of an old church.
Along the way, they meet more characters: other Borrowers, including a young man around Arrietty's age who lives outdoors and whose only memory of his family is the descriptive phrase, "Dreadful Spiller", which he uses as a name (introduced inThe Borrowers Afield), the Harpsichord family who are relatives of the Clock family, and Peregrine ("Peagreen") Overmantel; and also Big People such as Mild Eye the gypsy, Tom Goodenough, the gardener's son, and Miss Menzies, a sweet but overly helpful woman. MostBorrower names are "borrowed" from human objects. Stainless is named after items in the kitchen cutlery drawer.
The Borrowers is a series of five novels includingThe Borrowers and four sequels that feature the same family after they leave "their" house.[1] The sequels are titledalliteratively and alphabetically:The Borrowers Afield (1955),The Borrowers Afloat (1959),The Borrowers Aloft (1961), andThe Borrowers Avenged (1982). The first four were originally published byJ. M. Dent inhardcover editions.[3]Puffin Books published a 700-pagetrade paperback omnibus edition in 1983,The Complete Borrowers Stories[4] with a short introduction by Norton.[1]
The short, separate bookPoor Stainless (1966) was revised as a novelette and re-published posthumously with a short author's note in 1994.[5] The narrative, told by Homily to Arrietty, occurs before the first of the full-lengthBorrower novels, and concerns a small adventure Stainless has when he gets lost.
There have been severalscreen adaptations ofThe Borrowers:
An animated film byAardman Animations directed byPeter Lord was in project in 1989 but cancelled[10]. A new feature film tentatively written byPatrick Burleigh and directed byConrad Vernon is in the works[11]. There have also been numerous theatrical adaptations ofThe Borrowers.[12][13]
