(At times it even looks like he and Arrietty might eventually get together, and the fourth novel, Borrowers Aloft, ends with the declaration that they will get married eventually and a fairly detailed description of their future home and life together - but this never happens within the series. He's a great hunter, and although their initial interaction is cool (as in 'not quite frigid'), soon enough they warm to him. They head out into the wild - like Bilbo, they're not the adventurous type - and try to make it to a house their relatives moved to years ago.Įn route, they encounter Spiller, a loner who says little but sees much. However, soon enough the adults see the Borrowers too, so the family hides and has to pack up and leave the house. The boy ends up fetching little things that might help the Borrowers, things they couldn't get for themselves.Īrrietty's parents, Pod and Homily, are frightened and upset, but eventually (if somewhat stiffly) accept that the human boy is going to help them and not harm them.

Unfortunately, Arrietty is a little too curious for her own good, and ends up talking with a human boy. They live by 'borrowing' from the human beans (it's only 'stealing' if you take things from another Borrower), but never anything that might be missed a Borrower must never be seen by a human bean, or let a human bean in any way know they exist. A series of children's fantasy books by Mary Norton (who also wrote Bedknob and Broomstick).Īrrietty Clock lives with her parents under the floor in the house of a 'human bean'.

The borrowers novel