Violet M. Methley (1882 – 1953) was an English writer of children’s adventure novels, short stories, and drama. Notable themes in her works are:
Biography. Methley was the author of Camille Desmoulins: A Biography (1915) and gave a 'Biography of Boots and Shoes' on Radio 4 in 1924.[1]
Drama. Methley wrote plays for young children to act out[2] and a guide to drama (Amateur Actor's Companion, 1915), noting that 'We are very far removed now from the century-old days when
Jane Austen's heroine considered it grossly indecent and immodest for young ladies to dream of acting a play with a love-scene.'[3]
Australia. It is speculated that Methley spent time living in Australia as many of her stories feature Australia or Australian people. For example, 'The Bunyip Patrol' (1926) features a patrol of schoolgirls who attempt to track down the creature of Aboriginal legend, the
bunyip.[4]
Horror. Methley is noted as an early woman writer of science fiction and horror.[5] Some of her stories ('Dread at Darracombe', 1930 and 'The Milk Carts', 1932) appear in Weird Tales under her own name.[6]
WWII. 'The Vackies' (1941) follows a family of
evacuated children and picks up on the themes of evacuated children’s attachment to animals.[7][8]
Select works
Fourteen Fourteens (1900)
Camille Desmoulins: A Biography (1914)
Girl Friday (1928)
The Windmill Guides (1930)
The Queer Island (1934)
Seeing the Empire (1935)
Cocky and Co. and Their Adventures (1937)
Dragon Island: An Adventure Story for Girls (1938)
Mystery Camp (1940)
Lydia Gaff (1941)
Great Galleon (1942)
Derry Down-Under: A Story of Adventure in Australia (1943)
Violet M. Methley (1882 – 1953) was an English writer of children’s adventure novels, short stories, and drama. Notable themes in her works are:
Biography. Methley was the author of Camille Desmoulins: A Biography (1915) and gave a 'Biography of Boots and Shoes' on Radio 4 in 1924.[1]
Drama. Methley wrote plays for young children to act out[2] and a guide to drama (Amateur Actor's Companion, 1915), noting that 'We are very far removed now from the century-old days when
Jane Austen's heroine considered it grossly indecent and immodest for young ladies to dream of acting a play with a love-scene.'[3]
Australia. It is speculated that Methley spent time living in Australia as many of her stories feature Australia or Australian people. For example, 'The Bunyip Patrol' (1926) features a patrol of schoolgirls who attempt to track down the creature of Aboriginal legend, the
bunyip.[4]
Horror. Methley is noted as an early woman writer of science fiction and horror.[5] Some of her stories ('Dread at Darracombe', 1930 and 'The Milk Carts', 1932) appear in Weird Tales under her own name.[6]
WWII. 'The Vackies' (1941) follows a family of
evacuated children and picks up on the themes of evacuated children’s attachment to animals.[7][8]
Select works
Fourteen Fourteens (1900)
Camille Desmoulins: A Biography (1914)
Girl Friday (1928)
The Windmill Guides (1930)
The Queer Island (1934)
Seeing the Empire (1935)
Cocky and Co. and Their Adventures (1937)
Dragon Island: An Adventure Story for Girls (1938)
Mystery Camp (1940)
Lydia Gaff (1941)
Great Galleon (1942)
Derry Down-Under: A Story of Adventure in Australia (1943)