Emma in Winter

Emma in Winter

Emma in Winter first edition (UK) cover, illustrated by Laszlo Acs
Author	Penelope Farmer
Illustrator	Laszlo Acs (Chatto & Windus edition); James J. Spanfeller (Harcourt edition)
Cover artist	Laszlo Acs (Chatto & Windus edition); James J. Spanfeller (Harcourt edition)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Children's novel
Publisher	Chatto & Windus (UK); Harcourt (USA)
Publication date	1966
Media type	Print
Pages	160 pp (Chatto & Windus first edition, hardback)
ISBN	(Chatto & Windus first edition, hardback)
Preceded by	The Summer Birds
Followed by	Charlotte Sometimes

Emma in Winter is a children's novel by British writer Penelope Farmer, published in 1966 by Chatto & Windus in the UK, and by Harcourt in the USA. It is the second of three books featuring the Makepeace sisters, Charlotte and Emma, These three books are sometimes known as the Aviary Hall books.[1]

At the age of twenty-one, Penelope Farmer was contracted for her first collection of short stories, The China People. One story originally intended for this collection proved too long to include. This was rewritten as the first chapter of The Summer Birds (1962), her first book featuring Charlotte and Emma Makepeace.The Summer Birds received a Carnegie Medal commendation in 1963. A second book, Emma in Winter, set roughly two years later, with Emma as the main character followed in 1966. The main settings of both these books are a small village school in the South Downs in southern England, and Aviary Hall, the girls' home. Charlotte Sometimes followed in 1969, set slightly before the events of Emma in Winter, which follows Charlotte's first term in a London boarding school.

According to Farmer, Charlotte and Emma, who grow up in their Grandfather Elijah's house, were originally based on her mother and her mother's sister as children, having no parents and "…having to be everything to each other," one being the responsible one, the other being rather difficult.

Penelope Farmer stated that while writing Emma in Winter, she did not realise that identity was such a predominant theme in the novel until she encountered Margery Fisher's comments in on the book in Growing Point. She had a similar realisation, this time on her own, while writing Charlotte Sometimes.

Emma in Winter is dedicated to Judy (1939‒1991), Penelope Farmer's older twin sister.

It is wintertime. Emma's older sister Charlotte leaves Aviary Hall to stay with a schoolfriend, and then to return to her second term at her London boarding school. Emma, along with her classmate Bobby Fumpkins, simultaneously begin a series of dreams of being able to fly again, as they were able to do in The Summer Birds. Bobby, being fat, is consistently teased by his classmates. Emma is also initial hostile towards Bobby, but realises that not only does Bobby appear in these dreams, but he is also having the same dreams. As the two oldest children in the school, Bobby and Emma are appointed head boy and head girl.