Geoffrey Trease (1909 - 1998) was a prolific writer with more than 100 books to his name. He is best known for his historical fiction for children although he also wrote modern children's fiction and books for adults. His books are recognised as having a strong social conscience, something more explicit in his earlier books which did particularly well in Russia. His characters tend to be ordinary boys and girls - he explicitly made sure he included both - presenting a meticulously researched bottom up view of history. His obituary states that "He came to believe it was wrong 'to press party politics on readers too immature to argue with him''', implying that he felt he had done this in earlier novels. He was an advocate for children's literature, publishing a survey in 1949, a time when little was written in this field. He had a keen interest in the theatre which is evident in many of his novels.