Eva Ibbotson (born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner, 1925, Vienna, Austria) is a British novelist specializing in juvenile fiction. She has written numerous books including The Secret of Platform 13, Journey to the River Sea, Which Witch?, Island of the Aunts, and Dial-a-Ghost. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for Journey to the River Sea, and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature. The books are imaginative and humorous, and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite the fact that she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things. Some of the books, particularly Journey to the River Sea, also reflect Ibbotson's love of nature. Ibbotson wrote this book in honor of her husband (who had died just before she wrote it), a former naturalist. The book had been in her head for years before she actually wrote it. Ibbotson said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics. Her book The Secret of Platform 13 is found by some very similar to the Harry Potter books' "Platform 9 3/4", although it is important to note that Ibbotson was writing before Rowling.She has 1 daughter and three sons Her love of Austria is evident in works such as The Star Of Kazan and A Song For Summer. These books, set primarily in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for nature and all things natural. She has always wanted to be on the Radio show "Desert Island Discs" and her fans hope she will someday fulfill her wish.
Books
Children's Fiction
- The Great Ghost Rescue (1975)
- Which Witch? (1979)
- The Worm & the Toffee Nosed Princess (1983)
- The Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood (1987)
- Not Just a Witch (1989)
- The Secret of Platform 13 (1994)
- Dial-a-Ghost (1996)
- Monster Mission (1999)
- Island of the Aunts (2000)
- Journey to the River Sea (2001)
- The Haunting of Granite Falls (2004)
- The Star of Kazan (2004)
- The Beasts of Clawstone Castle (2005)
Adult Fiction
- A Countess Below Stairs (1981, published as The Secret Countess in 2007)
- Magic Flutes (1982)
- A Company of Swans (1985)
- Madensky Square (1988)
- A Glove Shop in Vienna and other Stories (1992)
- The Morning Gift (1993)
- A Song for Summer (1997)
Several of these books have been published in other languages with different titles.
