and white line drawings, where she combined detailed backgrounds with cartoon-like simplification of the principal figures, and in coloured work. Personal She was born and brought up in Battersea, London, by her professional musician parents, with her younger brother, the harpsichord tuner John Eastoe, and sister Jane Eastoe. She claimed this gave her an artistic temperament but ensured she did not take up music as a career. She met Giles Gordon in a publishing house when she was touting her portfolio of illustrations around publishers. She was married to him from 1964 to 1987, when she left him and moved to Oundle, Northamptonshire, to be near her sister. She said she should have left him years earlier when he published thinly veiled accounts of their marriage as novels. In Oundle she began a new relationship and had the "Happiest months of my life," before her untimely death from Bronchopneumonia and Dermatomyosistis. She died aged 50 on 31 December 1989 and is survived by her children Callum Gordon and Hattie Gordon. Her son Gareth Gordon committed suicide in 1994. Selected works Noah's Journey with George Macbeth (1964) The Green Children with Kevin Crossley-Holland (1966) Emily's Voyage with Emma Smith (1966) The Callow Pit Coffer with Kevin Crossley-Holland (1968) The Wombles with Elisabeth Beresford (1968) Jonah and the Lord with George Macbeth (1969) A House for Jones with Helen Cresswell (1969) The Wandering Wombles with Elisabeth Beresford (1970) Albert with Alison Jezard (1970) Albert and Henry with Alison Jezard (1970) Albert's Christmas with Alison Jezard (1970) The Pedlar of Swaffham with Kevin Crossley-Holland (1971) Lillapig by Peter John Stephens (1972) Albert Goes to Sea with Alison Jezard (1973) All Sorts of Everything with Malcolm Carrick (1973) Albert and Tum Tum with Alison Jezard (1973) Walter and the Balloon with Giles Gordon (1974) Albert up the River with Alison Jezard (1974) The Wombles to the Rescue with Elisabeth Beresford (1974) A Paper of Pins (1975) Albert and Digger with Alison Jezard (1975) Tomsk and the Tired Tree with Elisabeth Beresford (1975) Wellington and the Blue Balloon with Elisabeth Beresford (1975) The Wombles Go Round the World with Elisabeth Beresford (1976) Tobermory's Big Surprise with Elisabeth Beresford (1976) The MacWomble's Pipe Band with Elisabeth Beresford (1976) Madam Cholet's Picnic Party with Elisabeth Beresford (1976) Bungo Knows Best with Elisabeth Beresford (1976) Albert in Scotland with Alison Jezard (1976) Albert Goes Trekking with Alison Jezard