About this item
The world has long been captivated by the story of Peter Pan and the countless movies, plays, musicals, and books that retell the story of Peter, Wendy, and the Lost Boys. Now, in this revealing behind-the-scenes book, author Piers Dudgeon examines the fascinating and complex relationships among Peter Pan's creator, J.M. Barrie, and the family of boys who inspired his work. After meeting the Llewelyn Davies family in London's Kensington Garden, Barrie struck up an intense friendship with the children and their parents. The innocence of Michael, the fourth of five brothers, went on to influence the creation of Barrie's most famous character, Peter Pan. Barrie was so close to the Llewelyn Davies family that he became trustee and guardian to the boys following the deaths of their parents. Although the relationship between the boys and Barrie (and particularly between Barrie and Michael) was enduring, it was punctuated by the fiercest of tragedies. Throughout the heart-rending saga of Barrie's involvement with the Llewelyn Davies brothers, it is the figure of Michael, the most original and inspirational of their number, and yet also the one whose fate is most pitiable, that stands out. The Real Peter Pan is a captivating true story of childhood, friendship, war, love, and regret.
About the Author
Piers Dudgeon grew up in England, in a rambling old vicarage beside a bombed-out church in rural south Devon by the sea and watched his father re-build a largely working-class community which had lost its children and its spiritual centre in the bombing. This and the beauty of the surrounding area were formative. School and university worked out this fundamental experience in utterly different contexts, in particular in music, theatre and the whole Sixties culture.
Subsequently, he trained at Drama School and worked for ten years as an editor in London, helping launch a successful paperback imprint at 25, before starting his own publishing company, Pilot Productions, producing books with authors as diverse as John Fowles, Catherine Cookson, Peter Ackroyd, Daphne du Maurier, Shirley Conran, Ted Hughes and Susan Hill.
In 1993, he left London for the North York Moors, where he has written biographies of Catherine Cookson (a No. 1 best-seller) , the lateral thinker Edward de Bono, the composer Sir John Tavener, and the novelists Barbara Taylor Bradford, Josephine Cox, J M Barrie and Daphne du Maurier.
He is also known for a library of illustrated books evocative of the spirit of place, including 'Thomas Hardy's England', 'Dickens' London', 'The English Vicarage Garden', 'Village Voices', and 'The Spirit of Britain: A Guide to Literary Britain'.
Recent History
In 2008, Chatto & Windus published his biography of J.M. Barrie and the du Mauriers, 'Neverland', described by David Lodge as 'a fascinating account of the psychological web in which Barrie trapped the tragic du Maurier family', and Headline published his oral history of the East End of London, 'Our East End', the first in a series of oral histories of post-industrial communities in Britain.
In 2009, 'Our Glasgow' became a No. 4 bestseller in Scotland, Random House published the 2010 edition of his perennial 'Virgin Guide to British Universities'; and in New York in November, Pegasus-Dutton published 'Neverland', when it was nominated for the Theatre Library Association's Freedley Award. In 2010 his oral history of Liverpool was published in hardcover by Headline. In 2011 came the 2012 edition of the Virgin Guide, the US paperback edition of 'Neverland', the UK paperback edition of 'Our Liverpool' and the e-book edition of his classic 'Dickens London - An Imaginative Vision'.
This year sees publication of 'Our Kate: The Real Catherine Cookson' in hardcover and e-book editions (Pilot Productions) , e-book editions of the three oral histories (Headline) , and the launch of a new publishing venture that will bring, among much else, new translations of the hugely popular Don Camillo books by Giovanni Guareschi, unavailable for some twenty years.
