She fell in love with Canada and her husband, Richard. She was born in Texas, lived in Vermont and New York, and stayed in Ontario after going to university there. No matter what field you’re in, if you work for kids, you’re at the bottom on the totem pole.” She observed “Children’s books are not treated as serious literature. She has 5 children: Eric, Jeff, Alec, Kate, John 10 Grandchildren and 10 Great-Grandchildren. She edited paranormal non-fiction, co-authored Canadian history, penned vibrant and unforgettable historical fiction, and is equally beloved for toddlers’ picture books. She was dedicated to the happiness and education of children and is an instant favourite of mine, discovered while collecting ghost stories recently in my 40s.

The incomparable, wondrously atmospheric Janet Lunn lived to be age 88 in 2017. Janet lives in Ottawa now in a small city house but, chances are, her stories will still reflect her love of the countryside and those old farmhouses. The stories I made up about the Vermont house have long since vanished but the ones I wrote about the Ontario-house families are The Root Cellar, Shadow in Hawthorn Bay and The Hollow Tree.' 'I loved that house, too, she says, 'and I began writing stories about it and the people who might once have lived in it.

Years later, in Canada, when her children were in their school years, the Lunn family went to live in an old farmhouse at the edge of a bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario. When I was in my teens and living far from that beloved home, I began writing stories with the sound of that tree still singing in my head.' The sound of the wind in the ancient pine tree outside my window in our old farmhouse accompanied all my childhood imaginings. Even before I could read I was dreaming up stories. The part that's interesting to readers has to do with reading, writing and daydreaming which are all, in my case, one and the same.' She calls herself a dedicated daydreamer and says she has been that, 'almost from the moment I was born. 'Those,' she says, 'are the bare bones of my life story. Janet has five children, ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. There she met and married Richard Lunn, a fellow student. She came to Canada in 1946 to go to Notre Dame College in Ottawa and then to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Janet was born Janet Louise Swoboda on Decemin Dallas, Texas, U.S.A, moved to Vermont when she was two and lived there until she was ten when the family moved to the outskirts of New York City.

Twin Spell by Janet Lunn