The Wool-Pack

The Wool-Pack

Front cover of the first edition
Author Cynthia Harnett
Illustrator Cynthia Harnett
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Children's historical novel
Publisher Methuen
Publication date
25 October 1951
Media type Print (hardcover)
Pages 184 pp (first edition)
OCLC 621582
LC Class PZ7.H228 Wo[1]
PZ7.H228 Ni[2]

The Wool-Pack is a children's historical novel written and illustrated by Cynthia Harnett, published by Methuen in 1951. It was the first published of four children's novels that Harnett set in 15th-century England. She won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising it as the year's best children's book by a British subject.[3]

G. P. Putnam's Sons published the first U.S. edition in 1953, entitled Nicholas and the Wool-Pack: an adventure story of the Middle Ages.[2] In 1984 it was reissued under yet another title, The Merchant's Mark (Minneapolis: Lerner). Both American editions retained Harnett's illustrations.

A television miniseries based on the story was broadcast by the BBC in 1970.[4]

Plot summary

Set in the Cotswolds near Burford, Oxfordshire, The Wool-Pack begins in 1493 when Nicholas Fetterlock, the twelve-year-old son of a rich wool merchant, learns from his father that he is betrothed to Cecily Bradshaw, the daughter of a rich cloth merchant. Nicholas discovers villainy within the guild: swindlers who may ruin his father's business, at least. Nicholas, Cecily, and a friend determine to stop them.[2][3][5]

Critical reception

Kirkus Reviews called the first U.S. edition (Putnam, 1953) "attractively bound and accurately illustrated". It credited the story with "the feeling of early renaissance unity".[5]

Adaptation

The Wool Pack was adapted by the BBC as a 90-minute film entitled A Stranger on the Hills, televised in 1970 as a three-part series for children. It starred Raymond Millross as Nicholas Fetterlock, with Godfrey Quigley and Thelma Barlow as his parents.[4]

The series was filmed by the BBC in Bristol. It was one of the last to be recorded in black and white.

See also

References

  1. "The wool-pack" (first edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  2. 1 2 3 "Nicholas and the wool-pack : an adventure story of the Middle Ages" (first U.S. edition). LCC record. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  3. 1 2 (Carnegie Winner 1951). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  4. 1 2 A Stranger on the Hills at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
  5. 1 2 "NICHOLAS AND THE WOOL PACK by Cynthia Harnett". Kirkus Reviews 20 February 1953. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
Awards
Preceded by
The Lark on the Wing
Carnegie Medal recipient
1951
Succeeded by
The Borrowers
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