Yet as she leaned over the stone parapet of the bridge on which she stood, her face was pensive and her feet – and this was unusual in the daughter of a professor of classics in the year 1912 – were folded in the fifth position. To her right, the soaring towers of King’s College Chapel and the immaculate lawns sloping down to the river’s edge to her left, the blue and gold of the scillas and daffodils splashed in rich abundance between the trees of the Fellows’ Gardens.

There was no lovelier view in England, Harriet knew this. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases. Visit to read more about all our books and to buy them. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.Ī CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. The right of Eva Ibbotson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 978-8-4 in Adobe Digital Editions format This electronic edition published 2008 by Young PicadorĪ division of Macmillan Publishers LimitedĪssociated companies throughout the world This edition published 2008 by Young Picador Eva lives in Newcastle.įirst published in Great Britain 1985 by Century Publishing Co. The Star of Kazan won the Nestlé Silver Award and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Journey to the River Sea won the Nestlé Gold Award and was runner-up for the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year and the Guardian Fiction Award.

Her books have also won and been shortlisted for many prizes.

She became a writer while bringing up her four children, and her bestselling novels for both adults and children have been published around the world. She planned to become a physiologist, but hated doing experiments on animals, and was rescued from some fierce rabbits by her husband-to-be. Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, but when the Nazis came to power her family fed to England and she was sent to boarding school.

A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson