The Borrowers

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

Penguin presents the abridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Borrowers by Mary Norton, read by Samantha Bond. 
 
Pod, Homily and Arrietty are a family of tiny people who live beneath the floor, behind the grandfather clock in the old rectory. They own nothing - everything they have is borrowed from the 'human beans' who don't even know they exist. Arrietty's father, Pod, is an expert borrower. He can scale curtains using a hatpin and bring back a doll's teacup without breaking it. Girl's aren't supposed to go borrowing, but as Arrietty is an only child, Pod breaks the rules. But when she is in the house borrowing, something happens which changes their lives. Arrietty makes friends with 'the boy upstairs'.

MARY NORTON was born in London in 1903, and brought up in Bedfordshire, which was the setting for THE BORROWERS. In 1941 she was given a war job in America, and worked for two years for the British Purchasing Commission in New York. It was during this time that she began to write. After the war, she moved back to England with her family and continued writing and acting. Mary Norton died in 1992.

Pod, Homily and Arrietty are a family of tiny people who live beneath the floor, behind the grandfather clock in the old rectory. They own nothing - everything they have is borrowed from the 'human beans' who don't even know they exist. Arrietty's father, Pod, is an expert borrower. He can scale curtains using a hatpin and bring back a doll's teacup without breaking it. Girl's aren't supposed to go borrowing, but as Arrietty is an only child, Pod breaks the rules. But when she is in the house borrowing, something happens which changes their lives. Arrietty makes friends with 'the boy upstairs'.

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child. 
 
'Don't move!' said a voice, and the voice, like the eye, was enormous but somehow, hushed - and hoarse like a surge of wind through the grating on a stormy night in March. Arrietty froze. 'So this is it,' she thought, 'the worst and most terrible thing of all: I have been "seen"! 
 
 The Borrowers live in the secret places of quiet old houses; behind the mantelpiece, inside the harpsichord, under the kitchen clock. They own nothing, borrow everything, and never forget their most important rule: you must never, ever be 'seen' by the human beans. 
 
Arrietty is desperate to be an expert Borrower like her father, Pod. But it's dangerous work, and girls are forbidden to venture Upstairs. Arrietty is thrilled to be given a chance to prove herself - but disaster strikes on her very first outing: she is seen by The Boy! But to everyone's surprise, a wonderful, unlikely friendship is formed. But soon the Borrowers find themselves in terrible danger, and only The Boy can help. 
 
Full of wonderfully inventive details and beautiful, gentle humour, The Borrowers is a timeless tale of bravery, friendship and borrowing . . . 
 
"Beautifully written, poetic and almost always alarming, the Borrowers have something very mysterious, sad and exciting about them" - Sunday Times

Beautifully written, poetic and almost always alarming, the Borrowers have something very mysterious, sad and exciting about them

Mary Norton was born in 1903 and brought up in a house in Bedfordshire, which was to become the setting for The Borrowers. First published in 1952, The Borrowers was an immediate success, winning the Library Association's Carnegie Medal. There followed four more Borrowers books: The Borrowers Afield (1955), The Borrowers Afloat (1959), The Borrowers Aloft (1961) and The Borrowers Avenged (1982). Poor Stainless was the last Borrowers story that Mary Norton wrote. She died in 1992.

The Borrowers live in the secret places of quiet old houses; behind the mantelpiece, inside the harpsichord, under the kitchen clock. They own nothing, borrow everything, and think that human beings were invented just to do the dirty work. Arrietty's father, Pod, was an expert Borrower. He could scale curtains using a hatpin, and bring back a doll's teacup without breaking it. Girls weren't supposed to go borrowing but as Arrietty was an only child her father broke the rule, and then something happened which changed their lives. She made friends with the human boy living in the house...

Mary Norton

Beautifully written, poetic and almost always alarming, the Borrowers books have something very mysterious, sad and exciting about them

The Borrowers live in the secret places of quiet old houses - behind the mantelpiece, inside the harpsichord, under the kitchen clock. Everything they have is borrowed from the 'human beans', who don't even know they exist. But then young Arrietty makes friends with a boy - a 'human bean' - and from that moment danger is never far away for, above all else, they must avoid the great disaster of 'being seen'. 
In The Borrowers Afield the Pod family escape to the fields where their cousins live, but it's a long and dangerous journey. In The Borrowers Afloat Arrietty looks forward to a life away from the dark country cottage, to one full of sunshine. In The Borrowers Aloft: the family are now living in the model village of Little Fordham. All they have to do is avoid being seen by the visitors . . . In The Borrowers Avenged Pod, Homily and Arrietty have managed to escape with the help of Spiller. They move into the old rectory where they live happily until the Potters come looking for them. 
Poor Stainless: Young Stainless, a Borrower boy, goes missing on a mission to borrow some parsley and an enormous search ensues.

Mary Norton

Praise for The Complete Borrowers

Beautifully written, poetic and almost always alarming, the Borrowers books have something very mysterious, sad and exciting about them

Books by Mary Norton

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter