Leonard Wibberley
Leonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley, who also published under the name Patrick O'Connor, among others, was an Irish author who spent most of his life in the United States. Wibberley, who published more than 100 books, is perhaps best known for five satirical novels about an imaginary country Grand Fenwick, particularly The Mouse That Roared.
Wibberley's adult and juvenile publications cut across the categories of fictional novels, history, and biography. He also wrote short stories, plays and long verse poems. Some of his books are in series. Besides the 'Mouse' series, as Leonard Holton, he created the 11-novel 'Father Bredder' mystery series about "a major figure in the clerical crime drama". Among his more than 50 juvenile books are, a seven-volume 'Treegate' series of historical fiction and a four-volume life of Thomas Jefferson. As Patrick O'Connor, he wrote the 'Black Tiger' series on auto racing for young adults. Wibberley also is classified as a science fiction writer.
Throughout the decades, scenes and senses of the sea play important parts in both Wibberley's fiction and nonfiction.
Three of his novels have been made into movies: The Mouse That Roared, The Mouse on the Moon, and The Hands of Cormac Joyce.
Biography
In 1915, Leonard Wibberley was born in Dublin, the youngest of six children. His family moved to Cork and, until the age of eight, he was educated in the Irish language at Ring College, Waterford, Ireland. After moving to England, he attended Abbey House, Romsey, Hampshire and then Cardinal Vaughan's Memorial School in London. His father, Thomas Wibberley, FRSA, Professor of Agricultural Research, University College, Cork and Queen's University Belfast, was an experimental agronomist. He wrote several books contending his methods and inventions would allow the UK, absent empire, to feed itself. In 1921, the elder Wibberley was made a Fellow of the Linnean Society. Leonard's second name, "Patrick", was his confirmation name; his third, which he used as one of several pen names, was his matronymic, from his school-teacher mother, Sinaid O'Connor.On his father's sudden death at age fifty in 1930, leaving a widow and six children, Wibberley was obliged to leave school and began a long career in newspapers, in London, as copy boy for the Sunday Dispatch, then reporter for the Sunday Express and Daily Mirror, and was also assistant London editor for the Malayan Straits Times and the Singapore Free Press. He then emigrated to Trinidad, where he held several jobs, first, briefly, as editor of the Trinidad Evening News, thereafter as an oilfield worker for Trinidad Leaseholds Ltd, before immigrating to New York City in 1943. There he was initially employed by Walsh Kaiser Shipyards, but soon found important jobs in journalism again, as Cable Dispatch Editor for the Associated Press during the war years of 1943–44 and New York Correspondent and Bureau Chief for the London Evening News.
In 1947 Wibberley moved permanently to California, working in newspapers, first as city editor of the Turlock Daily Journal, then as editor of the Independent Journal, San Rafael, next as copy editor then reporter, for the Los Angeles Times. While working for the Times he began his novel-writing career. At age 37, he published his first novel,The King's Beard. Leaving the newspaper business, he settled permanently in Hermosa Beach, California, as a full-time author, publishing 100 more books, at a rate of at least one a year and averaging more than three. Many were with three publishers: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; William Morrow; Dodd, Mead and Company. The best-known of Wibberley's books, The Mouse that Roared, was kept in print for some time by Bantam Books and then Four Walls Eight Windows. Fifty of his book publications are available as e-books.
Personal life
Wibberley took part in plays, did local radio readings and wrote a weekly syndicated column for the San Francisco Chronicle, 'The Wibberley Papers'. His writing activities included unpublished and uncompleted projects, such as an unfinished 1958 collaboration with his friend Rosalind Russell on a musical script adaptation from his McGillicuddy McGotham, titled "Little Mac."A lifelong amateur violin player, Wibberley published three violin-themed books: a memoir, Ah, Julian!: A Memoir of Julian Brodetsky about his violin teacher, Julian Brodetsky; a detective novel in his Father Bredder series, A Problem in Angels ; and a young adult novel, Guarneri: Story of a Genius, a fictionalized account of the life of the great 18th-Century Cremona luthier, Guiseppe Guarneri.
His two marriages, in Trinidad with Olga Morton-Gittens, and in California with Katherine Hazel Holton, produced seven children, including film writer Cormac Wibberley; six of the children were with Holton.
Death
Wibberley died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, aged 68, on 22 November 1983.Legacy
Wibberley donated manuscripts and proofs of many of his works to The Leonard Wibberley Archive of the library collections of the University of Southern California, where they are available, but not online. An online listing, titled "Finding Aid of the Leonard Wibberley papers 0172", has appeared at "The Online Archive of California".In 1993, Borgo Press published a posthumous book of his last short writings.
Published adult writing
Short stories, novellas
''The Saturday Evening Post''
- "The Day New York Was Invaded"
- "The Hands of Cormac Joyce", novelette : 232, n 29
- "The Time of the Lamb" 233 n 26, combined issues
- "The Captive Outfielder": 234, n 12
- "The Ballad of the Pilgrim Cat": 234, n 44
- "The Man Who Lived on Water": 235, n 13
- "Prevarication Jones": 235, n 24 ; repr. Sept.-Oct. 1994
- "Two Angels on Duty": 235, n 28 ; repr. September 1996
The Mouse series
- With Cathy Hill
Other novels
Mrs Searwood's Secret Weapon. Boston: Little, Brown, 1954McGillicuddy McGotham. Boston: Little, Brown, 1956; New York: William Morrow, 1966 Take Me to Your President. New York: Putnam, 1957 The Quest of Excalibur. New York: Putnam, 1959 Stranger At Killknock. New York: Putnam, 1961 A Feast of Freedom. New York: William Morrow, 1964 The Island of the Angels. New York: William Morrow, 1964The Centurion. New York: William Morrow, 1966 The Road from Toomi. New York: William Morrow, 1967The Hands of Cormac Joyce. New York: William Morrow, 1967 Adventures of an Elephant Boy. New York: William Morrow, 1968 Meeting with a Great Beast. New York: William Morrow, 1971Flint's Island: A sequel to 'Treasure Island' . New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1972 The Testament of Theophilus: a novel of Christ and Caesar. New York: William Morrow, 1972 and in the U.K. as Merchant of Rome, e-book as Body of Proof )The Last Stand of Father Felix. New York: William Morrow, 19731776—and All That. New York. William Morrow, 1975One in Four. New York: William Morrow, 1976Homeward to Ithaka. New York: William Morrow, 1978As Leonard Holton: Father Joseph Bredder mystery series, Dodd, Mead (New York)
The Saint Maker, 1959 A Pact with Satan, 1960 Secret of the Doubting Saint, 1961 Deliver Us from Wolves, 1963 Flowers by Request, 1964 Out of the Depths, 1966 A Touch of Jonah, 1968 A Problem in Angels, 1970 The Mirror of Hell, 1972 The Devil to Play, 1974A Corner of Paradise, 1977Non-fiction
The Trouble with the Irish . New York: Henry Holt, 1956 The Coming of the Green. New York: Henry Holt, 1958No Garlic in the Soup!: A Portuguese Adventure. New York: Ives Washburn, 1959The Land That Isn't There: An Irish Adventure. New York: Ives Washburn, 1960Yesterday's Land: A Baja California Adventure. New York: Ives Washburn, 1961Zebulon Pike: Soldier and Explorer. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1961Ventures into the Deep. New York: Ives Washburn, 1962Ah, Julian!: A Memoir of Julian Brodetsky. New York: Ives Washburn, 1963; New York: William Morrow, 1969 ; San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1988 Fiji: Islands of the Dawn. New York: Ives Washburn, 1964Toward a Distant Island: A Sailor's Odyssey. New York: Ives Washburn, 1966Hound of the Sea: The Story of a Racing Yacht. New York: Ives Washburn, 1969Voyage by Bus: Seeing America by Land Yacht. New York: William Morrow, 1971The Shannon Sailors: A Voyage to the Heart of Ireland. New York: William Morrow, 1972The Good-Natured Man: A Portrait of Oliver Goldsmith. New York: William Morrow, 1979Published youth (juvenile) writing
As Christopher Webb, with Funk & Wagnalls, New York
Mark Toyman's Inheritance, 1960The River of Pee Dee Jack, 1962Quest of the Otter, 1963Matt Tyler's Chronicle, 1966The "Ann and Hope" Mutiny, 1966Eusebius the Phoenician, 1969As Patrick O'Connor
Black Tiger series, E.M. Hale (Eau Claire, Wisc.)
The Black Tiger, 1956 Mexican Road Race, 1957 Black Tiger at Le Mans, 1958 Black Tiger at Bonneville, 1960 Black Tiger at Indianapolis, 1962 A Car Called Camellia, 1970Ives Washburn (New York)
The Society of Foxes, 1954Flight of the Peacock, 1954The Watermelon Mystery, 1955Gunpowder for Washington, 1956The Lost Harpooner, 1957The Five-Dollar Watch Mystery, 1959Treasure at Twenty Fathoms, 1961The Raising of the Dubhe, 1964Seawind from Hawaii, 1965South Swell, 1967Beyond Hawaii, 1969Farrar, Straus & Giroux Ariel youth books
The King's Beard, 1952 The Secret of the Hawk, 1953Deadmen's Cave, 1954 The Wound of Peter Wayne, 1955Kevin O'Connor and the Light Brigade, 1957Encounter Near Venus, 1967Attar of the Ice Valley, 1968Journey to Untor, 1970Guarneri: Story of a Genius, 1974. Perilous Gold, 1978The Crime of Martin Coverly, 1980John Treegate series (originally four)
John Treegate's Musket, 1959 Peter Treegate's War, 1960 Sea Captain from Salem, 1961 Treegate's Raiders, 1962 Leopard's Prey, 1971 Red Pawns, 1973 The Last Battle, 1976Non-fictional F S & G books
The Coronation Book: The dramatic story in its history and legend. Ariel, 1953The Epics of Everest, 1955The Life of Winston Churchill, 1956John Barry—Father of the Navy, 1957Wes Powell—Conqueror of the Colorado, 1958Life of Thomas Jefferson historical novels
Young Man from the Piedmont: The Youth of Thomas Jefferson A Dawn in the Trees: Thomas Jefferson, the Years 1776–1789 The Gales of Spring: Thomas Jefferson, the Years 1789–1801- ''Time of the Harvest: Thomas Jefferson, the Years 1801–1826''