- Hardcover: 328 pages
- Publisher: Viking (6 May 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1846142008
- ISBN-13: 978-1846142000
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.2 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 362,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
So Much To Tell
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Kaye Webb, a journalist with no publishing experience, burst into the world of children's books in 1961 and changed the face of children's publishing forever. Her child-like enthusiasm and shrewd business mind led her to become Puffin's most successful editor and the genius behind the Puffin Club, which opened up the exciting world of authors and books to children across Britain.
But whilst Kaye's professional life had worked out beautifully, her private life had been the reverse. Kaye had two husbands before her marriage to the artist Ronald Searle, and the torment of his sudden and shocking departure never left her.
Yet to the outside world Kaye Webb remained passionate and unstoppable.
This is the unknown story of the woman who brought the joy of books to children everywhere whilst battling the emotional pain that plagued her private life.
About the Author
Valerie Grove writes a weekly column for The Times. As well as that of Laurie Lee, she has written a biography of the children's writer Dodie Smith, entitled Dear Dodie (Chatto, 1996) which was listed as one of the 12 finalists for the NCR Award. She is married to the journalist Trevor Grove, and lives in London. Her latest book is a biography of the author John Mortimer, A Voyage Around John Mortimer (Penguin, 2007).
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
So Much To Tell - Valerie Grove's wonderful biography of Kaye Webb - is a poignant tribute to the woman who gave us the Puffin Club and published more than 700 Puffin books. It is the story of a woman who turned emotional grief, at the break up of her marriage (to the national treasure Ronald Searle), into creating a lasting legacy we are all able to share. She invoked a love of children's literature past and present which changed the lives of so many children and goes on influencing publishing and the creative world today. Kaye was an eccentric and remarkable woman who channelled all her love and energy into the club. Valerie Grove's book is a perfect gem, which brings Kaye and her world to life. I was absolutely riveted by this beautifully written book, which reveals not only the story of Kaye's success in the literary halls of fame but also her turbulent emotional life and the struggle to juggle work with motherhood - `My business life has worked out beautifully. My private life has been the reverse.'
Valerie Grove is one of our most valued biographers and her books about the lives of Dodie Smith (Dear Dodie), Laurie Lee (Laurie Lee: The Well-loved Stranger) and John Mortimer (A Voyage Round John Mortimer) are also excellent!
Valerie Grove is one of our most valued biographers and her books about the lives of Dodie Smith (Dear Dodie), Laurie Lee (Laurie Lee: The Well-loved Stranger) and John Mortimer (A Voyage Round John Mortimer) are also excellent!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Many readers will recognise themselves in one Puffineer's story from page 187 of Valerie Grove's outstanding book. Like many children of the 70s, I owe most of my formative reading choices to Puffin, a trust which was never misplaced.
Kaye Webb created a phenomenon in children's books that sadly may never be replicated in these accountant-cynical times. A commercial company doing something `as much for the love as for the gain' is history; the story of how Penguin Books junior section did just that for over twenty years are the brightest burning chapters of this biography.
Before that insight, Grove deals with Kaye's parentage, early life, education and three marriages. The long list of influential and famous people who formed Kaye's social circle is catalogued with style and pace, The life of a female professional with a family in the 50s is subtly drawn, and striking in how closely it resembles the modern day, despite theoretical 'advances' in society.
The latter chapters, once Kaye joins Puffin, were the most gripping for this reader. It felt like a "behind the scenes" peek at the engineering of my childhood... a moving experience. All those authors' names, the Puffin Exhibitions, Puffin Post, Puffin Book Order Forms and shop. Waves of nostalgia; and some relief that there was no ulterior motive behind any of it. The whole set-up really was for the benefit of us youngsters, a joy to discover.
Valerie Grove is shrewd enough to end the book with little comment on the state of children's publishing today. Readers can draw their own conclusions, and for me it seemed clear enough. Kaye Webb's world made making the effort to read FUN. Her remarkable creativity, industriousness and rare gift for communication are a legacy well celebrated in this compelling work.
Kaye Webb created a phenomenon in children's books that sadly may never be replicated in these accountant-cynical times. A commercial company doing something `as much for the love as for the gain' is history; the story of how Penguin Books junior section did just that for over twenty years are the brightest burning chapters of this biography.
Before that insight, Grove deals with Kaye's parentage, early life, education and three marriages. The long list of influential and famous people who formed Kaye's social circle is catalogued with style and pace, The life of a female professional with a family in the 50s is subtly drawn, and striking in how closely it resembles the modern day, despite theoretical 'advances' in society.
The latter chapters, once Kaye joins Puffin, were the most gripping for this reader. It felt like a "behind the scenes" peek at the engineering of my childhood... a moving experience. All those authors' names, the Puffin Exhibitions, Puffin Post, Puffin Book Order Forms and shop. Waves of nostalgia; and some relief that there was no ulterior motive behind any of it. The whole set-up really was for the benefit of us youngsters, a joy to discover.
Valerie Grove is shrewd enough to end the book with little comment on the state of children's publishing today. Readers can draw their own conclusions, and for me it seemed clear enough. Kaye Webb's world made making the effort to read FUN. Her remarkable creativity, industriousness and rare gift for communication are a legacy well celebrated in this compelling work.
Format:Paperback
Valerie Grove is a very good biographer. I hadnt read her before. Found this a well written, fast paced and compelling read about the life of Kaye Webb, an enormously energetic woman, passionate about children's literature who established the Puffin Club and made it a crucial part of many children's lives in the late 50s, 60s and 70s. It was sad to see someone you come to know grow old and feel useless and discarded after such a busy, busy life. The biography works so well, not only to remind us of the vast number of children's authors there have been during the last century, many now forgotten, but to develop an understanding of Kaye's character. There are hints at how it was formed- an eccentric mother and a loving but largely absent journalist father. Kaye became a powerhouse, full of inpired ideas and drive always delivering for her employers. Nevertheless, she is overlooked and often sidelined in her work on magazines like Lilliput, in favour of men. She eventually found her niche in Penguin with the Puffin brand. She was generous, kind, overpowering and restless. She evolves as a woman driven by love, while undoubtedly also seeking it for herself. She never really got the kind of love that would make her contented. She probably seemed far too capable to need it. It is often these types of women who need it most as their drive arises from a lack of confidence about themselves. Her great, never forgotten sadness, was her lost love for the great illustrator and artist Ronald Searle, her husband of 10 years in the 50s. He abandoned her and their children. (He had been damaged by his terrible experiences in Changi during the War._ Kaye seemed unaware that he came to dislike the life she created for them, the 50s domesticity, the social whirl and perhaps her drive and dominance.
It's also great to have one's memory stirred about children's fiction that formed the baby boomer generation and to realise how dedicated a bunch, how hard working, were children's authors -most of whom (apart from a very few like Roald Dahl) only scraped a living. Also, a great insight into publishing of the period.
It's also great to have one's memory stirred about children's fiction that formed the baby boomer generation and to realise how dedicated a bunch, how hard working, were children's authors -most of whom (apart from a very few like Roald Dahl) only scraped a living. Also, a great insight into publishing of the period.
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