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Joyce Stranger


(Joyce Muriel Wilson)
UK flag (1924 - 2007)

Joyce Stranger trained as a biologist, specialising in animal behaviour, and tried her hand at dog training too. Not surprisingly, animal themes, especially relationships between human and animal feature in all of her books. She thought that the human-animal/human-nature relationship was extremely important and that a co-existence between the two could improve quality of life. She said "for many people an animal can provide a harmony lacking in day-to-day relationships with people."

Her books are not very anthropomorphic, deliberately so. She thought that many animal books, especially childrens were inaccurate or sentimental or humanised the animal and wanted her stories instead to "show how animals live in a world that is real to them"

They are definitely not sentimental either, many are quite downbeat. Disasters often strike her fictional worlds and her characters are often unhappy, guilt-stricken or remorseful. However they usually end on a more upbeat and optimistic note.

Ms. Stranger was one of the few authors to write horse stories aimed at adults. Most of her pony books are either adult or teenage stories.
 
 
Series
Hortonmere/Dai Evans
   1. The Running Foxes (1965)
   2. Lakeland vet (1972)
   3. Rex (1967)
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Animal Sanctuary
   Jason (1970)
   The Runaway (1992)
   Animal Park (1992)
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Anna Leigh
   1. Never Count Apples (1974)
   2. A Walk in the Dark (1978)
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Novels
   Wild Cat Island (1961)
   Circus All Alone (1965)
   Breed of Giants (1966)
   Born to Trouble (1968)
   Casey (1968)
   One for Sorrow (1969)
   Rusty (1969)
   The Wind On the Dragon (1969)
   Zara (1970)
   Chia, the Wildcat (1971)
   The Honeywell Badger (1971)
   Paddy Joe (1971)
   Trouble for Paddy Joe (1973)
   Walk a Lonely Road (1973)
   Hare at Dark Hollow (1973)
   Paddy Joe at Deep Hollow Farm (1975)
   Never Tell a Secret (1975)
   Wild Ponies (1976)
   Fox At Drummer's Darkness (1976)
   Flash (1976)
   Khazan (1977)
   Paddy Joe and Tomkin's Folly (1979)
   January Queen (1979)
   Curse of Seal Valley (1979)
   Double Trouble (1981)
   Vet on Call (1981)
   The Stallion (1981)
   Vet Riding High (1981)
   No More Horses (1982)
   Marooned! (1982)
   Dial V. E. T. (1982)
   Hound of Darkness (1983)
   Josse (1983)
   Shadows in the Dark (1984)
   The Family at Fool's Farm (1985)
   The Hounds of Hades (1985)
   Spy, the No-good Pup (1989)
   Midnight Magic (1991)
   The Hills Are Lonely (1993)
   Thursday's Child (1994)
   A Cry On the Wind (1995)
   Simon's Island (1996)
   The Guardians of Staghill (1997)
   Perilous Journey (1998)
   A Cherished Freedom (2000)
   Cry to the Moon (2001)
   The Call of the Sea (2002)
   A Guiding Star (2006)
   The Go-between (2009)
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Collections
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Non fiction show
 


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