"Perhaps all the best books," wrote Robert Westall in Signal, "start by being written for only one child, and that child very close to you. They start when the child-within-the-author turns to the rea...
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Critical Essay by Margery Fisher
At a first reading I felt that the historical sources for The Devil on the Road were too obtrusive in the narrative, but a second reading made the careful structure o...
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Critical Essay by Margaret Meek
The only way to read Robert Westall is to give yourself up to the spell of his storytelling. When his tales are about various kinds of magic, good and bad, that lurk i...
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Critical Essay by Natalie Babbitt
There are always problems with time travels which involve real histories, and The Devil on the Road does not escape them, though Westall handles the transitions with...
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Critical Essay by R. Greggs
Set in both today's England and Civil War England, [The Devil on the Road] describes the experiences of John Webster in each time period. The author attempts to dev...
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Critical Essay by Margery Fisher
Robert Westall believes that he owes it to his readers (who will probably be twelve or over in the main) to be frank about adult frailty, allowing that children have ...
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Critical Essay by Lance Salway
Robert Westall [in The Wind Eye] is primarily concerned with his characters, with the conflict between them, and with the way in which their attitudes and behaviour are...
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Critical Essay by Robert Bell
The setting [for The Watch House] is again the north-east coast, again the 'feel' of this part of the country is marvellously well conveyed, and the native...
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Robert Westall
Critical Essay by Margery Fisher
