- Through the Magic Door: Ursula Moray Williams, Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse by Colin Davison
The name of Ursula Moray Williams may not strike a chord of instant recognition in the minds of many, despite the fact that she enjoyed one of the lengthiest and most successful careers as a children's author in the twentieth century. Colin Davison must therefore be commended for his efforts in shedding light on the little-known life and career of the author of some of the most beloved fairy tales and children's stories of the last seventy years. In his creation of a thoughtful, nuanced, and thorough biography of such an accomplished yet underappreciated children's author, Davison succeeds in giving Ursula Moray Williams the recognition she truly deserves and demonstrates the significance of her work within the canon of children's literature.
The biography unsurprisingly begins with Ursula's childhood, which pleasantly lends itself very well to the fairy tale-like descriptions which Davison effectively employs to draw comparisons between the author's own life and the fantasy of her stories. At this early stage of the narrative, the reader may be forgiven for forgetting the prolific status of Williams as a writer and instead allowing oneself to be enticed into a magical childhood world of identical twin sisters, ponies, and crumbling old mansions full of adventure. Davison has skillfully managed to capture the engaging quality of Williams's own storytelling in his portrayal of her young life, and has also succeeded in demonstrating the context and inspiration for her children's stories—twins and ponies are prominent features of many of her books. Davison continues to use this technique throughout the biography, naturally and seamlessly weaving the details of Williams's life and the content of her stories together with a masterful subtlety, thus striking a good balance in his discussion of her work and her personal life and how the two inevitably overlap and influence each other. As Davison writes, "[i]deas of faith, hope and home dominate the parallel worlds of fact and fiction" (205).
As he moves on to his depiction of Williams's professional life as a writer, Davison manages to achieve an objective stance, relating her literary failures and successes without passing too much personal judgment. In fact, throughout the entire biography he remains constructively critical about his subject's work and, despite his obvious respect for her, avoids the hagiographic bias which can easily afflict a biographer who is too subjective about the achievements of his muse. Not only does Davison succeed in composing a balanced, fair, and realistic account of the acclaim and criticism of Williams's work, but he also tempers his own praise of her writing with honest critique, suggesting a neutral and therefore reputable tone to the reader. He also provides rather fascinating insights into how the author wrote, both early in her career and later on, with evidence from interviews, conversations, and written accounts. The revelation of [End Page 259] an esteemed and successful author's writing process is always intriguing to behold, particularly when it's a little unorthodox—Williams's busy life required her to train herself "to write in trains, hotel bedrooms, against conversations, record players and the television" (179).
The biography sequentially proceeds to relate Williams's encounters with love, marriage, and family life. Some of these sections, particularly those relating to her initial experiences of marriage and motherhood, are unexpectedly brief and seem devoid of emotional motivations and responses on the part of the people involved. It is unclear, however, whether such information was simply unavailable to the biographer or whether he chose to omit such details in favor of others. For example, Davison has included a somewhat superfluous litany of the family's acquaintances killed in the Second World War, which seems to detract from the flow of the narrative. No doubt he is trying to provide a cultural context here, but the unnecessary detail seems misplaced and lacks direct relevance. Despite the misjudged treatment...