Lynne Reid Banks

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-11-02

Lynne Reid Banks (31 July 1929 - 4 April 2024) was a British writer born in London, the only child of a doctor and an actress. She was evacuated to Canada during the Second World War, trained as an actress, and in 1955 became one of the first women television journalists in Britain when she joined ITN. Her first novel, The L-Shaped Room (1960), was a bestseller and was filmed. In 1962 she emigrated to Israel, where she taught for eight years at a kibbutz and became an Israeli citizen; the experience inspired several of her novels. The family returned to England in 1971. Her best-known children's book, The Indian in the Cupboard (1980), became a series of five novels and was adapted as a film. In 2013 she received the J. M. Barrie Award.

Universe(s)

Books

• The Indian in the Cupboard (1980) · The Indian in the Cupboard Core Canon
• The Return of the Indian (1986) · The Indian in the Cupboard Core Canon
• The Secret of the Indian (1989) · The Indian in the Cupboard Core Canon
• The Mystery of the Cupboard (1993) · The Indian in the Cupboard Core Canon
• The Key to the Indian (1998) · The Indian in the Cupboard Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 5 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 6 (5 won, 1 nomination)

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