Happy 100th, Dana Faralla! ("The Wooden Swallow," 1966)

[Lenona]

She was born in Renville, Minnesota.

In volume 9 of the "Something About the Author" encyclopedia series,
there's a painted portrait of her, plus a long article she wrote on
how she came to write all her children's books.

"Travel has been a motivation for my writing. More than 25 years of
residence abroad: Europe, the Middle East, East Africa, Bermuda,
Jamaica, Virgin Island, Haiti, Cyprus, Malta, Madeira, Baleric
Islands, Teneriffe. I have lived for long periods in Italy, Denmark,
England, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon."

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=dana+faralla&pics=on&sortby=7&x=0&y=0
(about ten different covers)

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=11857141
(brief bio)

Excerpts:

"The Magnificent Barb ( 1947), her first novel, is set in the hunting
country of Georgia. Kevin Fitzgerald's love of horses is inherited
from a reprobate old Irish grand­ father who has been a jockey in the
old coun­try, and his dream is of a superior horse, a Barb with a
legendary white foot. In the boy's faith there is the essence of
magic, for he finds a sore, ill-conditioned beast in a gipsy caravan,
nurses him to strength and vigor on the run-down plantation, and de­
velops a steeplechase winner. Tragedy is co­incident with the victory,
but the book ends on a note of hope."

Dream in the Stone ( 1948) is a story about a young boy and girl among
the fisherfolk of Jutland, and tells how they occasionally see a
splendid, wicked, heroic baron, a figure of three centuries before,
and the beautiful mis­tress who had left the court for love of him. It
is not quite a ghost story, nor yet quite a story of a shift in time;
but it is a tale in which everything, the Danish land and sea,
the baron's magnificent golden stallion, even a huge lump of sea
amber, all have a strong and profoundly haunting and arresting qual­
ity."

(end)

Mary Renault on "Children of Lucifer": "This is a humane, civilized
and accomplished novel, brilliantly evocative of place and time. Corfu
in the 1950's had an atmosphere so individual that one never imagined
it could be captured; this book does so with effortless--seeming
precision. I greatly enjoyed it."

WRITINGS:
Novels:

The Magnificent Barb: A Novel, Messner, 1947.

Dream in the Stone , Messner, 1948.

Black Renegade, Lippincott, 1954.

A Circle of Trees, Lippincott, 1955.

The Madstone, Lippincott, 1958.

Children of Lucifer: A Novel, Lippincott, 1963.

The Straw Umbrella , Gollancz, 1968.

Children's books:

The Willow in the Attic, Lippincott, 1960.
"Who would have dreamed that the leafless willow branch they planted
in the attic would bring such enchantment into the lives of the
family."

The Singing Cupboard, illus. Edward Ardizzone, Lippincott, 1963.
".....a charming fanciful story for which the Ardizzone illustrations
are exactly right. An elderly aunt comes visiting from Denmark and
brings Nils and Ulla a gift for their room: a tall cupboard. The
cupboard has a door-harp that makes sounds of singing, it has doors
covered with lovely painting, and it has a resident mouse. As the
children become acquainted with the mouse, there emerge family
chronicles, imaginative fantasy, bits of Danish folklore, and gently
humorous dialogues between mouse and men."

Swanhilda-of-the-Swans, Lippincott, 1964.
"The story about Swanhilda (a little sleigh shaped like a swan) and
the wild swans driven to rest on the pond of Grandfather's farm."
".....perceptive children and the touching story of a swan in the
kitchen."

The Wonderful Flying-Go-Round, World Publishing, 1965.
"Michael and Randa lived in Shanty town, and played on a dump yard."
"Two boys transform a local dump into a delightful playground with
helpful, magical balloon visitors."

The Wooden Swallow , illus. Shirley Hughes, World Publishing, 1966.
"Story of a Greek orphan & the children of a foreign artist who revive
an ancient festival celebrating Spring." "A lovely copy of a charming
story about an artist's family who come to live in the ancient village
of Lindros on the island of Rhodes, in a house that used to be
inhabited by swallows, and is still linked to the swallows of spring
in a very special way."

"Also author, under pseudonym Dana Wilma, of original screen story for
film, 'El Otro Soy Yo,' 1939; author of original story and
collaborator on screenplay, 'Papa Soltero,' 1939."

Lenona.