Hector is an 11-year-old boy living near Edinburgh with his great auntie Robbo who is in her eighties. A woman calling herself his step-mother arrives from England and Hector and Auntie Robbo realise that they have to run away. The chase leads all over the north of Scotland, narrowly escaping police and the authorities, adopting three homeless children on the way.
Originally refused publication in London because it was deemed critical of the English, Auntie Robbo was first published in the U.S. in 1940. After success in print it was taken on by Constable in 1959 and later was published in India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Germany.
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'It’s a novel about the human appetite for life, about the delight in sharing and companionship,…about heroic eccentricity versus agents of conformity.'
" - The Impossible Library
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‘Extravagant and rollicking… It has the complete irresponsibility which is only possible from a serious writer.’
" - New Alliance
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'Immensely entertaining story, one of my favourite books as a child, I still think it very engaging now. Auntie Robbo is a marvellous character, and her adventures with Hector remain as amusing to read now as they were over forty years ago.'
" - Goodreads
