Nurse Matilda

The Nurse Matilda books were written by Malaya-born British children's author Christianna Brand (1907 - 1988). They consist of three books: Nurse Matilda (1964), Nurse Matilda Goes to Town (1967) and Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital (1974).

They concern a hideously ugly nursemaid known as Nurse Matilda and has been highly recommended to Mr and Mrs Brown by several agencies. Nurse Matilda arrives at the household of the Brown family and becomes a nanny to the innumerable Brown children. The Brown children are "exceedingly naughty" and frighten off many governesses in a wonderfully mischievous way -- until Nurse Matilda comes. She teaches the children to behave and deals with the fearsome and persnickety Great Aunt Adelaide Stich. In the end the children become good and decent and Nurse Matilda leaves to attend another family of naughty children. But in the sequels the children revert back to their wicked ways and the distressed Mr and Mrs Brown have no other choice but to send for Nurse Matilda again.

In the second book, 'Nurse Matilda goes to Town' the children are sent to live with their domineering Great Aunt Adelaide in her London manor. In the third and final book, they are whisked away to hospital following a prank that had gone wrong. The Nurse Matilda books were illustrated by Ms. Brand's cousin, Edward Ardizzone. Both cousins heard the stories from the same grandfather.

The books were later adapted into the film Nanny McPhee (2005), in which there are only seven children. Also in the books, Mrs Brown is alive and well; whereas in the film she has died after falling ill after the birth of the youngest child, Agatha, and Mr Brown is being forced to marry the foul Selma Quickly, a garishly clothed, three-times widowed man-eater and a character who did not appear in the books.