Part of Series
William and the Outlaws were going to start a newspaper - the Old Barn Times - when six-year-old Violet Elizabeth Bott came in and put an attache case on the floor. "Yeth, William," she lisped, "I thtole it. I thtole it from a motor car. You can't have a newthpaper without thomeone thtealing thomething out of a motor car." William's face was blank with horror. William had wanted a scoop: it looked as if he was going to get one. Whether Willliam is finding a job - as a spy - for his sister Ethel, planning a Civil War ("When''ll we start?" said Douglas. "This afternoon," said William. "That's the best of a Civil War - you can start it straightaway without havin' to go out to foreign places to start it") or carrying out "sci'ntific" experiments, this is another gloriously funny collection of the adventures of William Brown.
Author
Richmal Crompton Lamburn was initially trained as a schoolmistress but later became a popular English writer, best known for her Just William series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books. Crompton's fiction centres around family and social life, dwelling on the constraints that they place on individuals while also nurturing them. This is best seen in her depiction of children as puzzled onlookers of society's ways. Nevertheless, the children, particularly William and his Outlaws, almost always emerge triumphant.
