Elizabeth Arnold

December 15, 1944

Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

Her family moved several times during her childhood. She was the eldest of five sisters, including triplets. Having left school at 15, she later took a City and Guilds course for science technicians, and eventually gained an Open University degree in science and technology. Her own favourite children"s book is Lewis Carroll"s Alice in Wonderland. Having worked for many years as a school science technician and a quality control manager, Elizabeth Arnold came to write The Parsley Parcel, her first novel, out of a love of folklore, and originally with adults in mind rather than children. An audio version read by Nerys Hughes also appeared in 1998, and it formed the basis for the seven-part Gypsy Girl Independent Television series in 2001. The main character is Freya, a Romany girl with benign magic powers, played on television by Gemma Gregory, with Eleanor Bron as her great-grandmother. The Freya or Gypsy Girl Trilogy was completed with Gold and Silver Water, and A Riot of Red Ribbons. Arnold has written about how she came to name her character: "Freya was a Romany child, and in ancient Romany culture a child had three names. A formal name. A pet or nickname, and a secret name. I chose Freya as my heroine’s formal name. Freya, named after the goddess Freya born on Friday. This was important because in The Parsley Parcel, special magic would be worked on Good Friday. Her pet name was Chime. Why? Because she was a Chime-Child, a gypsy girl born with special powers to work special enchantments. Her secret name? lieutenant’s a secret, of course, that she and I will share forever.".

Elizabeth Arnold

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writer

Background

She was born in Leicester.

Career

Her family moved several times during her childhood. She was the eldest of five sisters, including triplets. Having left school at 15, she later took a City and Guilds course for science technicians, and eventually gained an Open University degree in science and technology.

Her own favourite children"s book is Lewis Carroll"s Alice in Wonderland.

Having worked for many years as a school science technician and a quality control manager, Elizabeth Arnold came to write The Parsley Parcel, her first novel, out of a love of folklore, and originally with adults in mind rather than children. An audio version read by Nerys Hughes also appeared in 1998, and it formed the basis for the seven-part Gypsy Girl Independent Television series in 2001.

The main character is Freya, a Romany girl with benign magic powers, played on television by Gemma Gregory, with Eleanor Bron as her great-grandmother. The Freya or Gypsy Girl Trilogy was completed with Gold and Silver Water, and A Riot of Red Ribbons.

Arnold has written about how she came to name her character: "Freya was a Romany child, and in ancient Romany culture a child had three names.

A formal name. A pet or nickname, and a secret name. I chose Freya as my heroine’s formal name.

Freya, named after the goddess Freya born on Friday.

This was important because in The Parsley Parcel, special magic would be worked on Good Friday. Her pet name was Chime. Why? Because she was a Chime-Child, a gypsy girl born with special powers to work special enchantments.

Her secret name? lieutenant’s a secret, of course, that she and I will share forever.".

Achievements

Secretariat among Gypsies in the New Forest, it was shortlisted for the Beefeater (Whitbread) Children"s Book Award in 1995, appeared in paperback in 1996, and was reissued in 1998. Other chapter books by Elizabeth Arnold have included The Gold-Spectre, and Spin of the Sunwheel, which was nominated for the Carnegie Medal in 1999—a young-adult fantasy novel from Mammoth Books of London (her regular publisher).

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Elizabeth Arnold

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Carnegie Medal; Book Award