Fans of her novels in these genres may be surprised to find that she has also written several gothic novels, mysteries, action-adventure novels, and even a biography of her mother. In fact, Norton's writing career began not with science fiction, but with children's historical adventure stories, a genre for which her background would seem to have prepared her particularly well.
Born February 17, 1912, Alice Mary Norton was the daughter of Bertha Stemm and Adalbert Norton, both descendants of pioneers. Seventeen years younger than her sister, Alice tended to develop relationships with adults rather than her contemporaries, and undoubtedly benefited from the greater sophistication of ideas and verbal skills these relationships afforded her. Books and reading were important elements of the Norton family life, with weekly family trips to the library a regular routine. Norton's mother had a keen interest in American history in particular, and nurtured Norton's own fascination with, as Norton described it in her essay "On Writing Fantasy" (in The Many Worlds of Andre Norton), "the kind of history which deals with daily life, the beliefs and aspirations of people long since dust." In later years, Norton's mother was to prove a valuable sounding board for ideas and half-written manuscripts.
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