I am looking for a children’s book that I read in primary school, and I’m afraid I have no recollection whatsoever of the title. One of the main characters is a toymaker whose workshop is in a mountain: his character is definitely ambiguous, sometimes actively malevolent. There are children, perhaps siblings, who are other characters who have to deal with him. The toys may come to life?
Other hints: my recollection is that there may be more than one book in the series; the setting is in Austria, or Switzerland or some similar mountainous European locale, and the feeling was definitely of fantasy.
Maybe the strongest marker would be the date of publication. I think it would have been published in the 60s or 70s, certainly no later. I was born in 1965 and was reading it at ages 7-12 or 13.
I have already searched Loganberry Books Solved Mysteries, and not found it; nor has a preliminary search on Google produced anything.
Thank you VERY much for whatever help you can give
I found my own answer! The three books I was looking for – yes, it was a series – are The Toymaker’s Daughter (1968); The Three Toymakers (1970); Malkin’s Mountain (1971), all by Ursula Moray Williams.
I would be interested in buying these if they are available.
Ursula Moray Williams: Malkin’s Mountain. Related books by the same author include ‘The Three Toymakers’ and ‘The Toymaker’s Daughter.
You might take a look at ‘The Three Toymakers’ by Ursula Moray Williams (1970). “A modern folk tale of good and evil toymakers and how they prepare for a competition at the king’s palace, This engrossing tale includes a wicked talking doll and an adventure over the snowy mountains.” “Toymakers of the Black Forest strive to create the perfect toy and win the king’s prize of a thousand gold pieces.”
Just a quick follow-up to my suggestion of ‘The Three Toymakers’ – it is a prequel to another book, ‘The Toymaker’s Daughter’ (1968 – also by Williams) which is another possibility for the book you are looking for. “In The Toymaker’s Daughter, Nico and Danny are two children who live on a mountain (perhaps somewhere in the Alps), with their parents and baby brother. Life for them is simple, predictable — the only danger is being carried away by the eagles to the valley on the other side of the mountain. Until one day, a child is carried over, from the valley, and plopped right into their laps. She is Marta, and she is the Toymaker’s daughter . . .What follows is a story of one little girl’s journey to escape her past, to grow the heart of a real child, and to find a place with a family who truly loves her. She does not ever want to go home again.”
“In (The Toymaker’s Daughter), a creation of the evil toymaker Malkin was carried over the mountains by eagles to the Anders family’s home. Marta’s secret was that that she was not a real girl, but a doll — and her challenge was to rid herself of the evil ways she learned from her maker and grow the heart of a real little girl.”
Take a look at The Three Toymakers by Ursula Moray Williams and see if that looks familiar. It has many of the elements you describe here. It also is the prequel for The Toymaker’s Daughter, so the multiple books part also fits.
You might look at Ursula Moray Williams’ trilogy, The Three Toymakers, House of Happiness, and Malkin’s Mountain.