If only I'd known

    I'm reading Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave just now and happened to look at the acknowledgements page last night. Among those thanked by the author is Robin Denniston, who through the 1960s and early '70s was editorial director and managing director of Lady Stewart's publisher Hodder & Stoughton.

    Robin, who died in 2012, was our next-door neighbour some years ago; he was a charming gentleman and an excellent pianist. Latterly he had been with Oxford University Press, and when we knew him he had given up publishing to become an Anglican priest, so I had no inkling then of his illustrious career at Hodder and it is only now that I have discovered his connection to Mary Stewart; had I known, I'd have asked him all about her, but this piece of his (which was published posthumously) does tell us a little.

Comments

[Darlene]

What a humble man he must have been but oh, the missed opportunity to share some wonderful stories. I'm sure he has been on your mind a fair bit lately.

[Lory @ Emerald City Book Review]

What a fascinating man he must have been. You are lucky to have known him, even if not to have known all about his history.

[Cornflower]

We were sorry when Robin and his wife moved back to the south as they were very pleasant neighbours.

[Cornflower]

I knew about his OUP position, and when he died his obituaries made reference to some of his famous authors at Hodder, but the Mary Stewart connection wasn't mentioned in anything I read at the time.