Dorothy Gilman

14 years ago

On the current thread about re-reading old favorites, Freida G mentioned a book she liked called Witches Silver by Dorothy Gilman Butters. The name sounded familiar to me so I did a little research. I'm always doing a little research. I discovered that Dorothy Gilman Butters is the same Dorothy Gilman who wrote the popular Mrs Pollifax series among other novels. I also discovered that Dorothy Gilman died earlier this month on February 2 at the age of 88. Somehow I had completely missed this. While I certainly did not read everything she wrote, I read a number of her novels with pleasure. Rouan's and my mother was also a fan of hers.

Rosefolly

Here is a link that might be useful: Dorothy Gilman in the NY Times

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Comments (4)

lauramarie_gardener
14 years ago
What are her books like. Rosefolly?
rosefolly
Original Author
14 years ago
Light, humorous adventure stories, for the most part. The Mrs Pollifax series features a cheerful, resourceful grandmother who works for the CIA during the Cold War to escape suburban boredom. The series was immensely popular starting in the mid 1960's through the 1980's. Fluffy but clever, just the thing to amuse when you are not in the mood for deep reading but don't want your intelligence to be insulted. After a while they did become repetitive, but I find that is true with most series.

Rosefolly
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Romy, yes, we had the same initial reservations about Tom Cruise playing him, but agree that he actually did a good job. FUN: regarding Dorothy Gilman, I fell in love with her young adult books when I was a kid. They were written under her then-married name of Dorothy Gilman Butters. I eventually went on to read her Mrs. Pollifax series and many of her other books. I was totally shocked to find out that she was living in Albuquerque at the same time as we were in the 80's, as one of her sons lived there. I actually got a chance to meet her at a book reading and signing she did. I took along my very favorite of her young adult books, "A Calico Year" for her to sign. She was so surprised to see it and we had a wonderful chat. Lovely lady. She passed in 2008, I believe.
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friedag
14 years ago
Rosefolly, I didn't know, either, that Gilman had died. I did know that she had used her married name of Butters for her early YA/children's books.

My mother always liked the Mrs Pollifax books, but I preferred Gilman's historicals and nonseries adventures best. One of the last I read was Incident at Badamya, set in Burma right after World War II where a missionary's teenage daughter (the main character) and several other Americans and Europeans were taken hostage by insurgents.

I agree, Rosefolly, that Gilman's writing may not be the deepest but she never insults the reader's intelligence. I liked her YA books, particularly Witch's Silver, and have continued to enjoy them even though I'm long past the intended age.
rouan
14 years ago
Frieda, I liked Incident at Badamya too.

I'm sorry that she has died; I really liked the early Mrs. Pollifax novels as well as her non-seried books.

It's making me feel older all of a sudden; some of my favorite authors are passing away and it seems only yesterday that I discovered them for the first time. (Dorothy Gilman and Anne McCaffrey for example)

Dorothy Gilman

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Dorothy Gilman

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rosefolly
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