Christina Hardyment (born 1946) is a British writer who has written on a wide range of subjects including parenting, food, gardens, children's books, domestic life, and British history.
Personal life Hardyment has lived mainly in England, save for a few years in South Africa, from 1951 to 1953. After completing university, she learned that her father was Norwegian writer and soldier Eiliv Odde Hauge, which led her to contact her Norwegian relatives and establish connections. She married Tom Griffith in 1969. They had four daughters, and ten grandchildren. Though on good terms, they divorced in 1991.
From 1989 to 2000 she was the founder Editor of the University of Oxford's alumni magazine Oxford Today (now edited online as Quod by Richard Lofthouse).
Her two books about Arthur Ransome inspired The Arthur Ransome Society, and she is now the Senior Executor of the Arthur Ransome Literary Estate.
Hardyment is the author of numerous books on social history and literary geography. In 2005, her biography of Sir Thomas Malory, the author of the Morte Darthur was published by HarperCollins.
Between 2015 and 2018 she edited three literary anthologies on "The Pleasures of Gardening", "The Pleasures of Nature" and The Pleasures of the Table.
Her most recent books are Writing the Thames, published in 2016, which is about the River Thames in literature and history, and Novel Houses: Twenty legendary Literary dwellings', published in 2018.
She lives in Oxford, reveling in gardening and enjoying sailing and punting on the River Thames.
Works 1983: Dream Babies: Child Care from Locke to Spock, London: Jonathan Cape reprint 1984 Dream Babies: Three Centuries of Good Advice on Child Care, HarperCollins reprint 1995 Perfect Parents: Baby-care Advice from Past to Present, Oxford Paperbacks 2nd Ed. reprint 2007 and 2012 Dream Babies: Childcare Advise from John Locke to Gina Ford, London: Frances Lincoln 1984: Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's Trunk, London: Jonathan Cape 1987: The Canary-coloured Cat: One Family's Search for Storybook Europe, William Heinemann 1988: From Mangle to Microwave: The Mechanization of Household Work, Cambridge: Polity Press 1992: Home Comfort: A History of Domestic Arrangements, London: Viking and the National Trust 1995: Slice of Life: The British way of Eating Since 1945, London: BBC Books 1997: (with Peter Jeffrey e.a.) The Christmas Collection, Naxos Audio Books, audio CD 1998: The Future of the Family, Orion 1999: On the Writer's Trail: 20 Great Literary Journeys, Natopnal Trust 2000: Behind the Scenes: Domestic Arrangements in Historic Houses, Abrams 2000: Literary Trails: British Writers in Their Landscapes, Abrams 2005: Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur's Chronicler, London: HarperCollins 2006: Poetry for the Winter Season (selected and completed by Christina Hardyment), Naxos Audio Books, abridged audio CD ; idem 2019: unabridged audio CD 2010: University of Oxford: The Official Guide, University of Oxford 2012: Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands, London: British Library 2012: The World of Arthur Ransome, Frances Lincoln 2014: Pleasures of the Garden: A Literary Anthology, London: British Library 2015: Pleasures of the Table: A Literary Anthology, London: British Library 2016: Pleasures of Nature: A Literary Anthology, London: British Library 2016: Writing the Thames, Bodleian Library 2018: Novel Houses: Twenty Famous Fictional Dwellings, Bodleian Library 2018: Arthur Ransome; Christina Hardyment (introduction): The Elixir of Life, Arthur Ransome Trust 2022: Alyce Chaucer 1. The Serpent of Division, Oxford: Haugetun 2023: Alyce Chaucer 2. The Book of the Duchess, Oxford: Haugetun 2024: Alyce Chaucer 3. Murder Will Out, Oxford: Haugetun 2024: (with Clare Wille) The Serpent of Division Whole Story Audio Books, unabridged Audio CD
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