The childhood interests of Kitty Barne seemed as though they might well set her future career. From an early age she was interested in music, and by age eleven she was playing in an orchestra. At the same time, she was keen on writing dramas, producing one on Guy Fawkes in her elementary school and eventually starting a junior dramatic society. As a young adult she combined these interests while working at a hostel, as she studied music and started another dramatic society. But her real career began with the advent of World War I: she began to write children's books. It is no accident that many of her books focus on children of musical talent or on the production of plays by children. But it is her novels, and not her plays or musical abilities, that rank her among the significant artists of her time.

Though most...