G. E. (George Edward) Farrow

Born in Ipswich, England, in 1862, George Edward Farrow became a popular writer for children at a time when imaginative fantasy and comic nonsense were flourishing. Reliable biographical detail is fairly scarce, but standard reference sources agree that he wrote more than thirty books for young readers.

Farrow is especially remembered for his Wallypug stories, lively fantasy tales often compared with the playful tradition of Lewis Carroll. He also wrote adventure stories, verse, and other children's fiction, building a body of work that stayed closely tuned to the tastes of his audience.

Part of his appeal seems to have been that sense of direct connection with young readers: accounts of his career note that he welcomed letters from children and paid attention to their responses when shaping later books. He died in 1919, but his best-known stories still offer a glimpse of the bright, odd, inventive side of Edwardian children's literature.