It’s not all that long ago that I  was surprised to discover that the author Lynne Reid Banks was still alive, but news of her death was printed in today’s Guardian.  You can read her obituary here.

The first book by her that I read was The L-Shaped Room which was the first book in a trilogy.  It’s a great read and although it’s getting on for 50 years since I read it there are still parts of that book which are very vivid in my mind. I passed my copy of the book on to Jack who at that time read mainly Science Fiction, then my mother read it, she read mainly books of the family saga type, particularly Catherine Cookson who was hugely popular at that time. Both Jack and my mother really enjoyed The L-Shaped Room too, it was made into a film starring Leslie Caron. She later went on to write books for children, the most well known one being The Indian in the Cupboard.

Since then I’ve enjoyed several more books by her, but I still have a few to read. She was a fair old age though, 94 so she might have been ready to go, unlike some authors recently who popped off far too early.

If you haven’t read anything by Lynne Reid Banks you should give her a go.