Mark, Jan

(British, 1943– )

Jan Mark has won the Carnegie Medal twice: in 1977 for her first book Thunder and Lightnings (1976) and in 1984 for Handles (1983). The first is a moving novel with an unusual friendship between two boys at its heart, and the second is more picaresque, but is basically about families. Mark is good at families. She is good at a great many things: animals, science fiction, schools (and in particular conversations between young people), planes, and love. Her short stories, especially her ghost stories, are brilliant. Try In Black and White (1991). Her work is characterized by intelligence and originality, and she assumes intelligence in her readers. She can turn her hand to anything from an epic to a picture book. Her work is often very funny, and They do Things Differently There (1994) is a hilarious masterpiece of the surreal, in which two girls discover a more interesting place lurking beneath their dull home town. Her novel for adults, Zeno was Here (1987), is one of the most moving love-stories of recent years, while being also extremely funny.

J. D. Salinger, Russell Hoban.

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