Hester Burton

Hester Burton (née Wood-Hill; 6 December 1913 – 17 September 2000) was an English writer, mainly of historical fiction for children and young adults. She received the Carnegie Medal for her 1963 novel Time of Trial,

Early life Flood waters at Erith, 1953, part of the North Sea flood which also killed 41 people in Suffolk and inspired Burton's novel The Great Gale. She was born Hester Wood-Hill on 6 December 1913 in Beccles, Suffolk, where her father was elected town mayor three times. From 1925 to 1936, she attended Headington School, Oxford and then St Anne's College, Oxford, where she received an honours degree in English. and Tennyson in 1954. She worked as an assistant editor for the revised Oxford Junior Encyclopaedia, and Her First Ball.

In addition, Burton edited works by friends and colleagues, including Thomas Hardy: Distracted Preacher? Hardy's Religious Biography and its Influence on his Novels by Timothy R. Hands and Mike Esbester.

Fiction Burton's first children's novel was The Great Gale, published 1960 and inspired by the devastation of the North Sea flood of 1953 on her home county of Suffolk.

Rather than balancing divergent views, Burton presented her stories from the angles of individuals or groups, which she saw as more authentic. In a 1973 interview, she explained, "I am not all-wise or all-knowing... but neither were the people actually taking part.... It is a wise precaution for a writer of historical fiction to limit this range of vision... [and] also much better art."

Many of her books, such as No Beat of Drum and A Time of Trial, reflect the impact of social inequalities on her protagonists, their willingness to challenge them, and the value they placed on education as a promoter of change. Her biography of the Victorian feminist Barbara Bodichon shows her abiding interest in women's issues; her novels have strong, independent heroines, and many of Ambrus's cover illustrations emphasise female character.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature summarises her novels as "featuring heroines with strong opinions; class tensions and social justice are recurring themes. Her writing is unsentimental... and her books accounts of ordinary young people affected by national events."

In a letter of February 2006, one of Burton's daughters wrote, "I could always tell when Mum had another book on her mind, she would start to cook the meal while still wearing her overcoat and hat."

Death Hester Burton died on 17 September 2000 in Oxford, after a stroke suffered at the age of 86.