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Hilary McKayHilary McKay
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Critical perspective
BiographyHilary McKay was born in Boston, Lincolnshire where she grew up the eldest of four girls in a family devoted to books. She studied Botany, Zoology and English at St Andrew's University, and became a public protection scientist. She later gave up work to become a full-time writer and now lives in Derbyshire.
Hilary McKay also writes picture books for younger children, including a series of 'Charlie' books. Her latest book is a sequel to 'A Little Princess' - Wishing for Tomorrow (2009).
Genres (in alphabetical order)Children
BibliographyThe Exiles Orion Children's, 1991 The Exiles at Home Orion Children's, 1993 Dog Friday Orion Children's, 1994 Paradise House 1: Treasure in the Garden Hodder Children's Books, 1995 The Amber Cat Orion Children's, 1995 The Treasure in the Garden Orion Children's, 1995 The Zoo in the Attic Penguin, 1995 Happy and Glorious Hodder Children's Books, 1996 Paradise House 2: The Echo in the Chimney Hodder Children's Books, 1996 Paradise House 3: The Magic in the Mirror Hodder Children's Books, 1996 Practically Perfect Hodder Children's Books, 1996 The Echo in the Chimney Hodder Children's Books, 1996 The Exiles in Love Orion Children's, 1996 The Magic in the Mirror Orion Children's, 1996 Why Didn't You Tell Me? Piccadilly Press, 1996 Paradise House 4: Zoo in the Attic Hodder Children's Books, 1997 Dolphin Luck Hodder Children's Books, 1998 Pudding Bag School: A Birthday Wish Hodder Children's Books, 1998 Pudding Bag School: Cold Enough for Snow Hodder Children's Books, 1998 Strange Bear Hodder Children's Books, 1998 Pirates Ahoy Hodder Children's Books, 1999 Pudding Bag School: A Strong Smell of Magic Hodder Children's Books, 1999 Paradise House 5: The Surprise Party Hodder Children's Books, 2000 Paradise House 6: Keeping Cotton Tail Hodder Children's Books, 2000 Saffy's Angel Hodder Children's Books, 2001 Was That Christmas? Hodder Children's Books, 2001 Beetle and Lulu Scholastic Young Hippo, 2002 Beetle and the Bear Scholastic Young Hippo, 2002 Beetle and the Big Tree Scholastic Young Hippo, 2002 Beetle and the Hamster Scholastic Young Hippo, 2002 There's a Dragon Downstairs Hodder Children's Books, 2003 Indigo's Star Hodder Children's Books, 2004 Permanent Rose Hodder Children's Books, 2005 Rose's Flying Feeling Hodder Children's Books, 2005 Swop! Barrington Stoke, 2005 Caddy Ever After Hodder Children's Books, 2006 Dragon! Barrington Stoke, 2006 Forever Rose Hodder Children's Books, 2007 The Story of Bear Hodder Children's Books, 2007 Charlie and the Big Snow Scholastic, 2007 Charlie and the Great Escape Scholastic, 2007 Charlie and the Cat Flap Scholastic, 2007 Amazing! Barrington Stoke, 2008 Charlie and the Cheese and Onion Crisps Scholastic, 2008 Charlie and the Haunted Tent Scholastic, 2008 Charlie and the Rocket Boy Scholastic, 2008 Wishing for Tomorrow: The Sequel to A Little Princess Hodder Children's Books, 2009 Charlie and the Tooth Fairy (illustrated by Sam Hearn) Scholastic, 2009 Charlie and the Big Birthday Bash (illustrated by Sam Hearn) Scholastic, 2009
Prizes and awards1992 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Exiles 1994 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award) (9-11 years category and overall winner) The Exiles at Home 2002 Whitbread Children's Book Award Saffy's Angel 2005 Whitbread Children's Book Award (shortlist) Permanent Rose
Critical PerspectiveHilary McKay is most well-known for her novels for middle-childhood readers (approximately 9-13 years), particularly her two award-wining series, The Exiles and the Casson family series. The families she depicts are usually endearingly eccentric and chaotic, flawed but loveable, and she creates authentic and well-rounded child characters with whom young readers can easily identify. Critics often praise McKay’s talent for domestic comedy, which enables her to address serious issues (from everyday worries to bullying, adoption and family secrets) with lightness and humour. McKay writes with humanity and compassion and depicts her characters’ emotions acutely and perceptively, yet her comic touch, along with lively dialogue, maintains an upbeat tone throughout her stories, such as when Rose Casson suffers the ultimate humiliation at school:
'Someone grabbed my shoulder very hard and shouted “ROSE’S TURN!” (Caddy Ever After, 2006)
McKay’s first book, The Exiles (1991), was awarded the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. It tells the story of the four Conroy sisters, Ruth, Naomi, Rachel and Phoebe, and was followed by two more books about the same family, The Exiles At Home (1993) and The Exiles in Love (1996). The girls range in age from six to thirteen, and they enjoy a close yet unsentimental bond. Each one is a strong character, and together they create chaos and mischief, but they are never bad-hearted in their intentions. The Conroy parents, depicted as somewhat weak and ineffectual, are rather eccentric in their desire to create a quiet, old-fashioned existence - there is no television, no pet and no car in the family home. Their idealistic values, however, have been shattered by the intrusion into their lives of their four lively, chaotic girls:
'Ruth, Naomi and Rachel had been welcomed to their [parents’] quiet world with old-fashioned, gentle names, suitable to the natures their parents hoped they would develop. By the time that Phoebe was born, however, Mr and Mrs Conroy had become rather disillusioned. They did not give Phoebe a name that they hoped she would be like; they gave her the name they expected her to be like, for Ruth, Naomi and Rachel showed very few signs of old-fashioned gentleness.' (The Exiles)
The girls sometimes consider themselves deprived, but are outraged if anyone pities them. Moreover, their unusual home life enables the four of them to indulge their imaginations through reading and other creative activities and adventures, particularly as they are often left to their own devices. It is here that McKay is able to give her modern trilogy a traditional touch which recalls classic family stories such as Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Edith Nesbit’s stories about the Bastable children. The Exiles trilogy has also been compared with Helen Cresswell’s series about the eccentric Bagthorpe family.
Between 2001 and 2007 McKay wrote her highly-acclaimed and award-winning series about the Casson family: Saffy’s Angel (2001); Indigo’s Star (2004); Permanent Rose (2005); Caddy Ever After; and Forever Rose (2007). The Cassons are also eccentric, but while the Conroy parents are unusual in their excessive conservatism, the Cassons are artistic and bohemian. Eve and Bill are both professional artists, and have named each of their children after the names of paint colours: Cadmium (Caddy), Saffron, Indigo (the only boy) and, perhaps most bizarrely, Permanent Rose (Rose for short). Bill is a distant figure, usually away in London, while Eve, who spends much of her time painting in the shed, is not well-equipped for dealing with life’s practicalities. Even Bill is shocked to discover his youngest daughter’s name: ‘Rose could just remember the huge indignant fuss he had made when she was four years old and her father had finally discovered that her amusing pet name was not, as he had always supposed, an amusing pet name at all …’ (Permanent Rose). However, Eve’s explanation of the name she chose for her premature daughter who almost did not survive illustrates the way in which McKay skilfully combines delightful humour with poignant emotion:
'[Eve] had been thinking of the colour that painters use: Permanent Rose. A clear, warm colour that glows with its own lively brightness […] A colour that does not fade […] People had sent flowers to Eve, but not baby clothes or little toys. It did not seem that Rose intended to be around long enough to need such things […] That was why one afternoon, [Eve] had slipped out of hospital and gone all by herself across the town to register the latest Casson’s defiant name. Permanent Rose.' (Permanent Rose)
The Casson family stories span several years, starting when Rose is a baby and finishing when Caddy, the eldest, is grown-up and married. There is also quite a wide age-span between the four children, and the first three books each centre on the child named in the title. In Saffy’s Angel, which won the Whitbread Children’s Book Award, Saffron is the cynical realist who has always felt different and slightly out of place in this dreamy artistic family. Nonetheless, she is shocked to discover that she is actually an adopted cousin who came to live with the Cassons as a toddler when her own mother died. The mysterious ‘angel’ bequeathed to Saffy in her grandfather’s will introduces a magical, almost fairytale, element to this otherwise realist story, and marks the beginning of Saffy’s emotional journey (as well as an actual journey to Italy, where she had lived with her real mother). Her discovery of her past, particularly the story of her mother, is in fact a search for her own sense of self-identity and self-worth, and leads her to appreciate how much she really loves her adoptive family. As such, child readers from all walks of life can identify with the need to know who one is and where one belongs.
Indigo’s Star and Permanent Rose both explore, amongst other issues, sibling love, childhood friendships and bullying. In Indigo’s Star, both Indigo and Rose form a close friendship with Tom, an American boy who later returns to the US. Permanent Rose follows Rose’s heartbreak and eventual recovery as she pines for her American friend, while simultaneously feeling neglected by her scatty mother and much-older siblings. McKay therefore does not shy away from depicting flawed and chaotic families, but equally the love between the family members is apparent. The Casson children, along with McKay’s other young characters, always adjust to the challenges and difficulties that come along, and McKay emphasises the importance of meeting life with a sense of humour. The fourth book in the series, Caddy Ever After, is the only one in which each section is narrated by a different sibling, though McKay has said that she was disappointed with how it turned out. She completed the series with Forever Rose, which again centres on the youngest child, the author’s favourite character.
Elizabeth O’Reilly, 2008
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