My mother created many lifelong friendships during her time working for the OWI in New York, London and Paris. Three of them, among others, were her colleague Margaret McElderry, the Cornet family in Paris and Katherine Harding in London.
Margaret McElderry
A central character in the book, Elsa Sparks, is based on Margaret McElderry, a well-known children’s book editor and publisher. Marg, (with a hard “g”), as my mother called her, was a regular presence at our house. For many, many years, she would arrive with gifts of her newly published books for the five of us children. My sisters, who are a bit older than I am, received early copies of The Borrowers when Harcourt, Brace published the volume in the United States in 1953. All those books are still in our various library shelves.
Mom and Marg would meet for lunch or dinner a few times each year and when possible, enjoy a weekend visit at our family home. On top of all that, Marg and my mother exchanged Christmas gifts every year until Mom’s health started slipping. For several years Marg sent a beautiful, soft green oval Christmas table wreath which my mother displayed on one of her favorite Christmas plates. Little holly berries floated on the tiny leaves. Mom would delicately sprinkle the wreath with water every few days, and it adorned our breakfast table for well over a month.
In researching this book, one of the great joys for me was learning more deeply about Marg’s remarkable career. As a child, I was off playing and did not sit with them as they visited. But I knew she was an incredibly interesting person, as my mother talked about her a lot. I wish I had paid better attention in those days.
Rather than returning to work as a Children’s Librarian at the New York Public Library after the war, Marg instead began a long stint at Harcourt, Brace, as head of the Children’s Book Department. As an excellent New York Times interview from 1997 highlights, her career “was marked with firsts. . . . first to publish German and Japanese postwar novels for children . . . the first editor whose books won both the Newbery and the Caldecott Medals in the same year, 1952.”
In July 1972, after more than 25 years at Harcourt, Brace, she was told that the children’s publishing world had passed her by and was fired that very day. I remember when this happened because my mother and father were upset that she had been treated so disrespectfully. The topic was brought up at our dinner table, and over the years, my mother referred to that incident often, clearly demonstrating how much it ‘galled’ her, as Mom liked to say.
By the fall, Marg had accepted a position at Atheneum – and continuing her personal trailblazing brand – established the first ever children’s book imprint to be named for the editor, Margaret K. McElderry Books. She continued to publish about twenty-five books per year well into her 80’s, garnering many more awards.
One of the most significant initiatives she undertook was to publish international authors including Mary Norton, Susan Cooper, illustrator Helen Oxenberry, Patricia Wrightson, Yoshiko Uchida, John S. Goodall and many others. Here is a link to a Pinterest webpage, compiled by her longtime Simon & Schuster colleague, Emma D. Dryden, with cover illustrations of more than 200 books which she edited. The MKMB imprint continues today after Atheneum was bought by McMillan, and is now part of Simon & Schuster / Viacom.
She passed away in 2011 at the age of 98. Here is a link to her obit in the New York Times.
The Cornet Family
Mary Grace lived with the Cornet family during her Paris Study Group year abroad. The same family also hosted my mother at their apartment in early 1945, when she moved to Paris from London while working for the OWI and USIS. The Cornet family came to hold a special place in our life. My grandparents also had a great relationship with them and admired the Cornet’s for their courage during the war and their generosity to our family. I recall they had dinner together in Paris when my grandparents were on one of their trip’s abroad.
The Cornet’s daughter, named Monique in The French Desk, was about the same age as the Alden girls. In 1973, my mother, along with one of my sister’s, my brother and I went on a month-long bus tour of Europe, a spectacular trip. In Paris, we visited the beautiful Cornet apartment and had an afternoon tea visit with Monique. Mom was so happy to be back in Paris again. It was wonderful to be with her as she showed us around and her energy seemed unlimited in the City of Lights. Another blog post will detail the tea visit with Monique.
As mentioned in The French Desk, Monsieur Cornet was an illustrator. At the time of Gabrielle’s departure back to New York, he gave her the three panel illustration shown here. The first part depicts his portrayal of their life before Gabrielle moved in with them, then, secondly, as she moved in, and finally, after Gabrielle arrived.
Katherine Harding
My mother also maintained a correspondence with her London apartment charwoman Katherine Harding, whom I call Adele in The French Desk. After returning to the States, I have a letter written by Ms. Harding expressing her great hope that the two American girls – Gabrielle Alden and Elsa Sparks in the book – were enjoying their jobs back home and that they had an enjoyable Christmas holiday. Interestingly, Ms. Harding talked about how the food rations were continuing in London, and that the meat ration in January 1946 was about to be reduced. ‘People in London are trying to get by as best we can,’ she reported.
We would hear about these people all the years we grew up and it is fun to write about them today.