Joyce West

Joyce West

Joyce Tarlton West (1908–1985) was a New Zealand novelist and children's writer. She spent her childhood in remote country districts where her parents taught in Māori schools. Of herself she wrote: “We lived far from towns, in a world of bush roads and river crossings; we rode horseback everywhere, and kept a large menagerie of dogs, cats, kittens, ducks, turkeys, pet lambs, and goats. . . . When I began to write, it was with the wish that I might save a little of the charm and flavour of those times and places for the children of today.”

Joyce West is best known for her novel Drovers Road, a tale of family life on a New Zealand sheep station first published in London in 1953. She published two sequels to Drovers Road: The Golden Country and Cape Lost, which have been reprinted as the Drovers Road Collection. She has been described as the most distinguished author of rural fiction of her time, "delineating children growing to maturity with the warm acceptance of their families and communities". She illustrated several of her books with her own ink drawings. Her works include five thrillers written with New Zealand novelist and teacher Mary Edith Scott (1888–1979). She also contributed poetry and articles to the New Zealand Railways Magazine .

Her novel The Sea Islanders was turned into a five-part British TV series Jackanory (1971).

Read more about Joyce West:  Selected Works

Famous quotes containing the words joyce and/or west:

    In Ireland they try to make a cat cleanly by rubbing its nose in its own filth. Mr. Joyce has tried the same treatment on the human subject. I hope it may prove successful.
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

    For some reason a nation feels as shy about admitting that it ever went forth to war for the sake of more wealth as a man would about admitting that he had accepted an invitation just for the sake of the food. This is one of humanity’s most profound imbecilities, as perhaps the only justification for asking one’s fellowmen to endure the horrors of war would be the knowledge that if they did not fight they would starve.
    —Rebecca West (1892–1983)