Ian Serraillier author page

Ian Serraillier biography

Ian Serraillier was a British novelist and poet, born in London in 1912. He was educated at Brighton College and took his degree at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He became an English teacher, and his published work was poetry for adults and children.

Serraillier’s first children’s novel was published in 1946. He went on to write adventure stories involving treasure and spies, as well as children’s novels and poetry. He also produced retellings of classic stories in prose and verse, including Beowulf, Chaucer and Greek myth.

The Silver Sword was published in 1956 and became his best-known work. The novel follows four refugee children searching for their parents in Europe after the Second World War. It was adapted for BBC television in 1957 and again in 1971.

The Silver Sword is set during and after the Second World War and follows the Balicki children, Ruth, Edek and Bronia, after the Nazi occupation of Poland separates them from their parents. With Jan, a young orphan, they travel from war-torn Poland towards Switzerland, carrying a paper knife that becomes a symbol of hope.

In 1948, Serraillier helped found the New Windmill Series, published by Heinemann Educational Books to make inexpensive editions of good stories available to readers. A Red Fox paperback edition of The Silver Sword was published on 3 April 2003 with ISBN 9780099439493.