British Women Writers of Fiction 1910-1960 (N - O)

For more information about this list, please see the introduction, linked below.

INTRODUCTION
A	BA–BH	BI-BRA	BRE-BY	CA-CLA
CLE-CU	D	EA-FI	FL-GI	GL-HAR
HAS-HOL	HOO-I	J-K	L	MA
MC-MY	N-O	P-Q	R	SA-SM
SN-SY	T	U-WE	WH-Z
KEY & CITATIONS

You can download the entire list in a single PDF. Clicking on the link below will open a Google Docs page displaying the entire list in PDF. To save a copy of the PDF, just click on the little down arrow in the upper left. You can also print the list from the Google Docs page, but be warned that it now weighs in at 418 pages!

BRITISH WOMEN WRITERS OF FICTION 1910-1960 (PDF)

Updated 6/9/2017

[Current total: 1,893 writers]

NAPIER, ANN (16 Aug 1905 – 30 May 1975) (pseudonym of Nancy White, married name Naumann) 1930s Author of a single novel, Lost Content (1937). Little is known about book or author, except that Napier was born in the UK and emigrated to the US as an adult.

NAPIER, ELMA (23 Mar 1892 – 12 Nov 1973) (née Gordon-Cummin, earlier married name Gibbs, aka Elizabeth Garner) 1930s Novelist and travel writer who spent much of her life in Australia and Dominica, publishing two novels under her pseudonym—Duet in Discord (1936), a melodramatic romance with autobiographical overtones, and A Flying Fish Whispered (1938)—as well as a travel book, Nothing So Blue (1927). She also wrote three volumes of memoirs—Youth Is a Blunder (1948), Winter Is in July (1949), and Black and White Sands (1962).

NAPIER, EVA MARIE LOUISA (1846 – 7 Feb 1930) (née MacDonald, earlier married name Langham, aka Baroness Napier of Magdala) 1900s – 1910s Author of eight novels of romantic melodrama—OCEF says "Her speciality was the moral contamination of innocent young women by their worldly elders." Titles are As The Sparks Fly Upward (1905), A Stormy Morning (1908), Fiona (1909), How She Played the Game (1910), Can Man Put Asunder? (1911), Muddling Through (1912), To the Third and Fourth Generations (1913), and Half a Lie (1916).

NAPIER, [JANE] ROSAMOND (Jul 1879 – 16 Feb 1976) (married name Lawrence) 1900s – 1930s Author of eight romantic novels spread over nearly 30 years, including The Heart of a Gypsy (1909), The Faithful Failure (1910), Letters to Patty (1911), Tamsie (1912), Tess Harcourt (1913), Release (1921), Conversation in Heaven (1936), and Alpine Episode (1938). Indian Embers (1949) is a memoir of her life in India with her husband, a member of the Indian Civil Service.

NASH, FRANCES [OLIVIA HARTOPP] (c1887 – 22 Dec 1953) 1920s – 1950s Author of more than a dozen girls' stories, including many with Guiding themes. Titles include How Audrey Became a Guide (1922) and several Audrey sequels, Rosie the Peddler (1925), Richenda and the Mystery Girl (1928) and at least one Richenda sequel, Kattie of the Balkans (1931), Celia Steps In (1946), and Second Class Judy (1952).

Nash, Newlyn           see HOWE, DORIS [KATHLEEN] HOWE & HOWE, MURIEL

Nayler, Eliot           see FRANKAU, PAMELA [SYDNEY]

NEEDHAM, [AMY] VIOLET (5 Jun 1876 – 8 Jun 1967) 1930s – 1950s Author of nearly 20 children's titles. Her most famous works are her "Stormy Petrel" sequence of eight Ruritanian adventures, comprised of The Black Riders (1939), The Emerald Crown (1940), The Stormy Petrel (1942), The House of the Paladin (1945), The Betrayer (1950), Richard and the Golden Horse Shoe (1954), The Secret of the White Peacock (1956), and The Red Rose of Ruvina (1957). The Woods of Windri (1944) and The Changeling of Monte Lucio (1946) are also Ruritanian in them, while The Boy in Red (1948) and The Avenue (1952) focus on the Glorious Revolution. She also wrote five books with contemporary settings and some overlapping of characters—these are The Horn of Merlyns (1943), The Bell of the Four Evangelists (1947), Pandora of Parrham Royal (1951), How Many Miles to Babylon? (1953), and The Great House of Estraville (1955). Many of Needham's books have been reprinted by Girls Gone By in recent years. Some of her previously unpublished work appeared as The Sword of St. Cyprian and Other Stories.

NEILL, MARGARET P[ENELOPE]. (23 Aug 1870 – 2 Jun 1952) (née Munro) 1930s – 1940s Author of several Christian-themed children's titles, including the school story Beauty for Ashes, or, The Sploancos and What They Did (1930). Other titles are Gwyneth at Work (1935), Secrets at Sidleigh (1936), Gowanbraes (1937), Jean's Plan of Campaign (1937), The Murrays of Moorsfoot (1939), Enid's Discoveries (1946), and Lady Gerrie's Dilemma (1946). The last might be a novel for adults. According to John Herrington's research, Neill apparently lived alternately in England and India, and appears to have qualified as a doctor.

NEILSON, SHEILA M. (dates unknown) 1930s Untraced author of a single romantic novel, Destiny's Daughter (1932).

NELSON, MURIEL (dates unknown) 1920s – 1930s Untraced author of nearly thirty romances, probably newsprint or dime novels. Titles include Her Second Honeymoon (1920), Her Haunted Honeymoon (1921), Married—And Done For! (1922), The Way of a Jilt (1925), A Loveless Wooing (1926), A Marriage of Hatred (1930), The Woman Hater (1934), Thou Shalt Not Judge (1937), and People Throw Stones (1938).

NELSON, VALERIE K. (28 Jan 1905 - 1980) (pseudonym of Cecilia Lacey) 1920s – 1960s Author of more than 50 romantic novels, all but the first for Mills & Boon. Titles include The Pampas Rose (1929), Matching Chiffon (1936), Mignon Means Darling (1937), Yesterday's Wife (1940), Verena Fayre—Probationer (1943), Adventure for Flora (1948), Poppies in the Corn (1951), Mr. Arrogance (1960), and Refugee from Love (1967).

NEPEAN, [MARY] EDITH (1876 – 23 Mar 1960) (née Bellis) 1910s – 1950s Author of about three dozen romantic novels, often set in Wales. Titles include Gwyneth of the Welsh Hills (1917), Petals in the Wind (1922), Moonlight Madness (1926), Sweetheart of the Valley (1927), Fires of Longing (1940), Forbidden Rapture (1949), and Starlit Folly (1955).

NESBIT, E[DITH]. (15 Aug 1858 – 4 May 1924) (married names Bland and Tucker) 1880s – 1920s Children's writer and novelist, author of as many as 60 volumes of fiction in all. She is best known today for her children's fiction and her ghost and horror stories for adults, but she also wrote several novels for adults, including The Red House (1902), The Incomplete Amorist (1906), Daphne in Fitzroy Street (1909), the fantasy-themed Dormant (1911), The Incredible Honeymoon (1916), and The Lark (1922), the last a cheerful, humorous tale of two young women attempting to make a living on their own. Among her best-known children's works are a series about the Bastable family, including The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Wouldbegoods (1901), and The New Treasure Seekers (1904), the Psammead series, including Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904), and The Story of the Amulet (1906), and, perhaps most famously, The Railway Children (1906), which has been adapted multiple times for film and television. Among her ghost and horror stories are those contained in Something Wrong (1893), Grim Tales (1893), and Fear (1910). One of Nesbit's earliest novels, The Marden Mystery (1896), has become so rare that it's possible no copies survive. I reviewed The Lark here and it has been reprinted as a Furrowed Middlebrow book from Dean Street Press.

NETHERSOLE, SUSIE COLYER (1869 – 21 May 1956) 1900s - 1930 Author of eight Mills & Boon titles, which appear to be romantic tales of country life—Mary Up at Gaffries and Letitia Her Friend (1909), Ripe Corn (1911), Wilsam (1913), The Game of the Tangled Web (1916), Take Joy Home (1919), And Pleasant, His Wife (1928), and Pounce, the Miller (1930). She also published a story collection, Time o' Lilacs, and Other Times (1922).

NEVILL, DOROTHY M[ARY]. (1912 - 1990) (married name Alcock) 1930s Author of a single book, Mrs. Moore's Mishaps and Other Humorous Short Stories (1933), compiled from her stories which first appeared in a local paper in Leek, Staffordshire. Nevill went on to a career in psychiatric nursing. Thanks to David Alcock, Nevill's son, for sharing information about his mother.

NEVILLE, MAY F[????]. (dates unknown) 1900s, 1920s – 1940s Untraced author of numerous "newsprint novels," including A Soul's Bondage (1923), Love in a Lilac Lane (1936), Her Sister's Secret (1937), Her Wedding Day (1941), A Runaway Wife (1942), and Only the Governess (1943).

NEWMAN, ANNA (dates unknown) 1940s Untraced author of a single girls' school story, Jenny & Co. in the Haunted Wing (1949).

NEWMAN, MARJORIE W[INIFRED]. (13 Sept 1903 – 17 Sept 1983) (uncertain but probable identification) 1920s – 1930s Author of five girls' school stories, which Sims & Clare describe as "competent, if undistinguished." Titles are Scoring for the School (1929), Jean's Great Race (1929), Edna's Second Chance (1934), Sybil Makes Good (1936), and Jennifer Takes the Lead (1939).

Nicholson, Jane           see STEEN, MARGUERITE

NICHOLSON, MARY (1906 - 1980) (pseudonym of Ursula Frankau) 1930s Granddaughter of Julia FRANKAU and sister of Pamela FRANKAU. Poet and author of three novels—Ask the Brave Soldier (1935), Horseman on Foot (1937), and These Were the Young (1938)—which received wildly mixed reviews and seem to have focused on social criticism of the wealthy and the status quo.

NICHOLSON, [ELEANOR] MARY [LLOYD] (11 Jan 1908 – 17 Feb 1995) (née Crawford, aka L. E. Martin, aka Anne Finch, aka Mary Crawford) 1930s, 1950s Biographer and author of six novels. Her two early novels—Sublunary (1932) and Turn Again (1934)—were published under her L. E. Martin pseudonym. Of the first, L. P. Hartley said that it "inspires the reader with mingled fear, admiration, and respect." In the 1950s, she published four more under the pseudonym Mary Crawford—Laugh or Cry (1951), Roses Are Red (1952), Itself to Please (1953), and No Bedtime Story (1958). Her Anne Finch pseudonym was used only for her Essay on Marriage (1946). She later co-wrote Dear Miss Weaver (1970), a biography of modernist publisher and journal editor Harriet Weaver. Nicholson's work is documented in some depth here.

NICKALLS, ETHEL PATTESON (1867 – 5 Mar 1948) 1920s Author of one poetry collection, Piper's Hill and Other Poems (1922), and one novel, The Challenge of Life (1927).

Nickson, Hila           see PRESSLEY, HILDA

Nicol, Clare           see ADAIR, HAZEL (1920-2015)

NICOL, NORMA (dates unknown) 1920s Untraced author of a single girls' school story, Her School Godmother (1921). A contemporary newspaper article says this is "the pen name adopted by a young North Shields lady possessed of considerable literary talent," and the same name appears on fashion journalism a few years later, but no clues as to her real identity.

NISOT, ELIZABETH [MAVIS] (Jul 1893 – 12 Apr 1973) (née Hocking, aka William Penmare) 1920s – 1930s Daughter of novelist Joseph Hocking and sister of Anne HOCKING and Joan Carew SHILL. Author of at least 10 mystery novels. Her first three books appeared under the Penmare pseudonym—The Black Swan (1928), The Man Who Could Stop War (1929), and The Scorpion (1929). Under her own name she published Alixe Derring (1933), Shortly Before Midnight (1934), Twelve to Dine (1935), Hazardous Holiday (1936), Extenuating Circumstances (1937), False Witness (1938), and Unnatural Deeds (1939).

NIXON, BARBARA (1908 - ????) (married name Dobb) 1940s Wife of Cambridge economist Maurice Dobb and actress in the Cambridge Festival Theatre. Nixon was an air raid warden during the Blitz and wrote dramatically of her experiences in Raiders Overhead (1943). She also wrote what appears to be a children's book, Jinnifer of London (1948), which qualifies her for this list.

NIXON, FLORENCE GWYNNE (1863 – 6 Aug 1946) 1930s Author of more than a dozen novels, probably dime romances, including Foul Play (1931), Warned Off! (1932), He Never Backed a Winner (1932), The Eleventh Hour Lover (1932), The Owner's Counter-Plot (1935), Was He False? (1937), Always on a Loser (1938), and Romping Rory's Win (1939). She shows on census records as a author as early as 1901, so she may have published serials, stories, or fiction under other names.

NIXON, MARIAN E[SSLEY]. (c1865 - 1945) (possibly née Tamlyn, earlier married name Essley) 1930s Author of one poetry collection, Four Wishes and Other Poems (1931), and one novel, Martha (1933), the latter described by the Londonderry Sentinel as "full of events, sometimes mirthful and sometimes sad, always gripping." She appears to have emigrated to the U.S. and later to Canada.

NOBLE, BARBARA (1907 - 2001) 1920s – 1950s Author of six novels—The Years That Take the Best Away (1929), The Wave Breaks (1932), Down by the Salley Gardens (1935), The House Opposite (1943), Doreen (1946, reprinted by Persephone), about a young evacuee in World War II, and Another Man's Life (1952). According to Persephone's bio of her, she worked for nearly 20 years for 20th Century Fox, followed by an equally long stint running the London office of Doubleday, "becoming one of the most esteemed figures in London publishing and presiding over a very happy all-women office."

Noel, Christopher           see MOCATTA, FRANCES

NOKES, ETHEL (dates unknown) 1930s – 1950s Author of more than 20 works for children, including three girls' school stories praised by Sims & Clare—The Fourth Form Gang (1932), The Fourth Form Gang Again (1935), and Sally of the Fourth Form Gang (1938). Other titles include Grace Give-Away (1931), Three Girls on Holiday (1932), The House of Many Pages (1934), The Girl Who Didn't Belong (1935), That Ass Neddy (1948), and Winking Windows (1954).

Nomad           see CRAFTON SMITH, ADELE

Noose, Melita           see STRANGE, NORA K[ATHLEEN BEGBIE].

NORLING, WINIFRED (19 Aug 1905 – 5 Nov 1979) (pseudonym of Winifred Mary Jakobsson) 1930s – 1950s Author of more than 30 children's titles, most of them girls' school stories, which Sims & Clare find implausible but never boring. Titles include Monica of St Monica's (1934), The Riddle of St Rolf's (1935), The Third's Thrilling Term (1936), Six Sinners at St Swithun's (1938), St Ann's on the Anvil (1947), and Pat of Perry's (1950).

NORMAN, MRS. GEORGE (1871 – 25 Dec 1967) (pseudonym of Melesina Mary Blount, née Mackenzie) 1900s – 1920s Author of nearly a dozen light romantic novels, including Delphine Caifrey (1911), The Silver Dress (1912), The Wonderful Adventure (1914), and The Town on the Hill (1927). Her sister Margaret Mackenzie was responsible for unearthing Daisy ASHFORD's The Young Visitors and helping to get it published.

NORMAN, SYLVA (1 Nov 1901 – 7 May 1971) (pseudonym of Hermine Silva Nahabedian, married name Blunden) 1920s – 1930s, 1950s Scholar (especially on Shelley), biographer, and novelist. Her debut, Nature Has No Tune (1929), was published by the Hogarth Press. Cat Without Substance (1931), about a family's misfortunes, was described as both a comedy and as influenced by Woolfish introspection. She then co-wrote a work with then-husband, poet and critic Edmund Blunden, called We'll Shift Our Ground, or Two on a Tour: Almost a Novel (1933). Nearly a quarter of a century later, she produced one final novel, Tongues of Angels (1957), a comedy set at an international congress in aid of culture. She also published a biography, Mary Shelley: Novelist and Dramatist (1938).

NORRIS, PHYLLIS IRENE (7 May 1909 – 27 Mar 2004) 1930s – 1950s Cousin of Gwendoline COURTNEY and author of eight children's titles—The Mystery of the White Ties (1937), The Nasturtium Club (1939), The Duffer's Brigade (1939), The House of the Lady-Bird (1946), Meet the Kilburys (1947), The Cranstons at Sandly Bay (1949), The Polkerrin Mystery (1949), and The Harlands Go Hunting (1951).

NORTON, LENA (dates unknown) 1930s Untraced author of two short romances—She Wanted to Shine (1931) and The Golden Bait (1931).

NORTON, [KATHLEEN] MARY (10 Dec 1903 – 29 Aug 1992) (née Pearson) 1940s – 1980s Children's author best known for her Borrowers series of children’s books (six volumes 1952-1982). Her early titles The Magic Bed-knob (1943) and Bonfires and Broomsticks (1947), about a spinster with magical powers, were the inspiration for Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Virago issued some of her other work as Bread and Butter Stories (1998).

NORTON, S. H. (1903 - ?c1982) (pseudonym of Mary Kathleen Richardson) 1950s Author of numerous biographies of religious figures and religious-themed books for younger children. She also wrote one school story, Annals of St Audrey's (1956), and another work of children's fiction, Odds and Ends (1959), about which I could find no details.

NOTT, KATHLEEN [CECILIA] (19 Feb 1905 – 20 Feb 1999) 1930s – 1940s, 1960s Mainly known for her philosophical writings, Nott also published poetry and five novels—Mile End (1938), The Dry Deluge (1947), a work of science-fiction, Private Fires (1960), A Clean Well-Lighted Place (1961), and An Elderly Retired Man (1963).

NOVY, PRISCILLA (1918 - ?2012) (pseudonym of Mary Lucy Novy, née Feare, later married name MacNamara) Author of a single children's title, The Lincoln Imp (1948), as well as an earlier domestic guide, Housework Without Tears (1945).

O'BRIEN, DEIRDRE (1902 - ?1969) (pseudonym of Mary Elizabeth McNally, née Ryan, aka D. V. O'Brien) 1930s – 1940s Author of more than two dozen Mills & Boon romances, including Love Knows No Death (1931), Only My Dreams (1932), Wives Are Like That (1936), and Unwanted Wife (1939). She later published two girls' school stories, The Three at St Christopher's (1944) and New Girls at Lowmead (1945, with Grace COUCH). The death date shown is uncertain but probable.

O'BRIEN, EDNA (15 Dec 1930 -            ) (married name Gebler) 1960s – 2010s Acclaimed Irish novelist, dramatist, screenwriter, and biographer, best known for her Country Girls trilogy—The Country Girls (1960), The Lonely Girl (1962), and Girls in Their Married Bliss (1964)—which was controversial in its exploration of sexuality and social issues. Other fiction includes Casualties of Peace (1966), A Pagan Place (1970), A Fanatic Heart (1984), The High Road (1988), Lantern Slides (1990), House of Splendid Isolation (1994), and In the Forest (2002). O'Brien published a memoir, Country Girl, in 2012.

O'BRIEN, KATE (KATHLEEN) [MARY LOUISE] (3 Dec 1897 – 13 Aug 1974) 1930s – 1960s Playwright and novelist who often focused on gender, women struggling for independence, and female sexuality. She published nine novels in all. Her debut, Without My Cloak (1931), which traces three generations of one Irish family in the 19th century, won both the James Tait Black Prize and the Hawthornden Prize. The Anteroom (1934) is set during three days in 1880. Mary Lavelle (1936) deals with an Irish governess living in Spain in the 1920s, and That Lady (1947) has a historical Spanish setting. The Land of Spices (1941), according to Susan Vander Closter in British Novelists, 1930-1959, is "a slow-paced, graceful, and thoughtful examination of an intellect which makes a frightened escape into the austere but safe arms of the convent." The others are Pray for the Wanderer (1938), The Last of Summer (1943), The Flower of May (1953), and As Music and Splendour (1958). She also published two travel books—Farewell Spain (1937) and My Ireland (1962).

O'DONOGHUE, ELINOR MARY (1898 - 1961) (aka Annabel Lee, aka E. M. Oddie) 1930s – 1940s Author, under her Lee pseudonym, of more than 30 Mills & Boon romances, including Lumberjack Jill (1932), A Quixote Against His Will (1933), Blue Flax (1936), Triangle with a Difference (1938), Divorce without Drama (1940), and Wastrel with Wings (1941). As Oddie, she published three novels—April Folly (1928), Portrait and Original (1933), and The Slitting of Mr. Crispe's Nose (1940), as well as several biographies.

O'FARRELL, KATHLEEN (1924 -         ) 1940s – 1960s Author of more than a dozen children's books, including Silver Birches (1949), Polly of Primrose Hill (1956), All Because of Posy (1957), The Camerons Lead the Way (1957), Aunt Biddy Began It (1960), Number One, Victoria Terrace (1962), and Sally Anne Sees It Through (1967).

OAKLEY, DORIS (dates unknown) 1920s Untraced author of nine dime romances, including The Ringleader (1922), The Girl in Brown (1924), Reckless Sadie (1925), The Spark (1925), A Daring Pair (1925), The Impossible Girl (1925), The Titled Tomboy (1925), The Amateur Widow (1928), and Friends in Love (1929).

OAKLEY, NANCY (dates unknown) 1920s Author of two mystery novels with John Oakley—The Clevedon Case (1923) and The Lint House Mystery (1925). She could be the Annie Oakley née Rimmer (c1877-1949), but details are sketchy.

OCKLEY, G. T. (1874 – 6 Sept 1955) (pseudonym of Grace Thompson, née Milligan) 1930s Sculptor and author of three crime novels—The Man Under the Window (1935), The Tempestuous Wooer (1936), and The Devil on Board (1937)—about which little information seems to be available.

Octavia           see BARLTROP, MABEL

ODELL, CAROL [MAISRY] (23 Jul 1921 - 2013) (née Foote, aka Gill Odell) 1950s – 1960s Television screenwriter and presenter and author of numerous children's book, mostly for younger children, but her one Gill Odell book (co-authored with Traviss Gill), Mr. Ozzle of Withery Wood (1959), appears to be for older children, and perhaps Jimmy Hurley to the Rescue (1965) is as well.

Odell, Gill           see ODELL, CAROL

Oertling, Christine           ERTLING, CHRISTINE [VIOLET]

OGLE, L[OIS]. J[ENNET]. (1902 - 1998) (married name Hoskyns-Abrahall) 1950s Author of a single girls' school story, The School by the Sea (1958), unusual in that it is set in an African school and, according to Sims and Clare, treats the girls' various nationalities and traditions in an unpatronising, matter-of-fact way. She was the second wife of Clare ABRAHALL's divorced husband.

Ogumefu, M. L.           see BAUMANN, MARGARET

OHLSON, E[DITH]. E[MILIE]. (c1865 - c1948) 1930s – 1940s Author of a series of four first-person novels which follow their main character, Pippa, from school days to marriage, and which are praised by Sims & Clare. Titles are Pippa at Brighton (1937), Pippa in Switzerland (1938), Pippa at Home (1940), and Pippa and James (1943).

OLDMEADOW, KATHARINE LOUISE (10 Jun 1878 – 8 Jul 1963) (aka Pamela Grant) 1910s – 1950s Author of girls' school stories and other girls' fiction. According to Sims and Clare, her work is "far more varied than most of her contemporaries, and her books are most attractive, conveying a sense of optimism and happiness while never flinching from the ugliness of life." Titles include Madcap Judy (1919), Princess Charming (1923), Princess Elizabeth (1926), The Pimpernel Patrol (1927), Cheery Chums (1930), Schooldays of Prunella (1932), A Strange Adventure (1936), The Three Mary Anns (1948), Under the Mountain (1952), and The Fortunes of Jacky (1957). In the 1920s, she published three of her books pseudonymously.

Oliver, G. Kent           see CARR, GERTRUDE KENT

OLIVER, JANE (12 Oct 1903 – 4 May 1970) (pseudonym of Helen Christine Rees, née Easson Evans, aka Joan Blair [with Ann STAFFORD]) 1930s – 1970s Author of more than sixty novels, some historical in theme and some, written with Ann STAFFORD under the pseudonym Joan Blair, romantic. Titles published under her own name include Tomorrow's Woods (1932), Mine is the Kingdom (1937), The Hour of the Angel (1942), In No Strange Land (1944), Crown for a Prisoner (1953), and Queen Most Fair (1959). The Hour of the Angel is a Blitz novel, whose main character's husband is in the RAF. In No Strange Land appears to be primarily historical but perhaps ends with the war? Jenny Hartley in Millions Like Us says of it: "Sometimes it seems as though all roads must lead to war and even a novel starting in Biblical times finishes in the RAF." Oliver's concern for the RAF was personal—her husband, John Llewellyn Rhys, had been in the RAF and had been killed in 1940. She later initiated the literary prize bearing his name.

Olivia           see STRACHEY, DOROTHY

OLIVIER, EDITH [MAUD] (31 Dec 1872 – 10 May 1948) 1920s – 1930s Author of five quirky, underrated novels. She began writing only in her fifties, following the deaths of her father and sister. The Love-Child (1927) presents the coming to life of the main character's childhood imaginary friend—still a playful child though the woman herself is middle-aged. The Seraphim Room (1932, published in the U.S. as Mr. Chilvester's Daughters), centers around the maniacally old-fashioned Mr. Chilvester, who refuses any and all changes and upgrades to his 18th century house, with tragic consequences. The other novels are As Far as Jane's Grandmother's (1929), The Triumphant Footman (1930), and Dwarf's Blood (1931). Olivier’s memoir, Without Knowing Mr. Walkley (1938), is also particularly memorable. She published one children's book, The Underground River (1928), and two biographies, The Eccentric Life of Alexander Cruden (1934), about the compiler of the biblical concordance, and Mary Magdalen (1935) (though the former is far more rigorously biographical than the latter). In World War I, Olivier had helped to organize the Women's Land Army, for which she was appointed MBE in 1920, though sadly she does not appeared to have written about those experiences. During World War II, however, Olivier published the somewhat autobiographical Night-Thoughts of a Country Landlady (1943), a short work about the elderly Emma Nightingale's experiences and thoughts about the war. More of Olivier's reflections on the war are included in From Her Journals, 1924-1948 (1989). She was a cousin of Sir Laurence Olivier, though her branch of the family apparently pronounced the "r". I've written about several of Olivier's books here.

OMAN, CAROLA [MARY ANIMA] (11 May 1897 – 11 Jun 1978) (née Lenanton, aka C. Lenanton) 1920s - 1940 Biographer, children's writer, and author of more than a dozen novels, some of them historical, four of them under her pseudonym. Nothing to Report (1940) appears to be a domestic novel set in the early days of World War II. Her other novels are Princess Amelia (1924), The Road Royal (1924), King Heart (1926), Mrs. Newdigate's Window (1927), The Holiday (1928), Crouchback (1929), Miss Barrett's Elopement (1929), Fair Stood the Wind (1930), Major Grant (1931), The Empress (1932), The Best of His Family (1933), and Over the Water (1935). She published several historical children's titles, as well as more than a dozen biographies, including books about Elizabeth of Bohemia, Walter Scott, David Garrick, and others. Her memoir is An Oxford Childhood (1976).

OPENSHAW, MARY (c1875 – 28 Sept 1928) (married name Binstead) 1900s – 1920s Author of eight novels, some historical and most partaking of melodramatic themes. Titles are The Loser Pays: A Story of the French Revolution (1908), The Cross of Honour (1910), Little Grey Girl (1913), Sunshine: The Story of a Pure Heart (1914), Afterthoughts (1915), Glory Everlasting: A Story of the Times (1917), Laughter Street, London (1920), and Madame Lucifer (1924).

ORANGE, URSULA [MARGUERITE DOROTHEA] (28 Sept 1909 – 14 Oct 1955) (married name Tindall) 1930s – 1940s Author of six novels. Begin Again (1936) is about the anticlimactic working and family lives of several young girls after their heady days at Oxford. To Sea in a Sieve (1937) is a comedy about unconventional young lovers. Tom Tiddler's Ground (1941, published in the U.S. as Ask Me No Questions) is probably her best work, a wartime tale of a young mother evacuated to the countryside, who snoops into village affairs. Company in the Evening (1944) is about a divorced mother making a living while sharing a flat with her drab widowed sister-in-law. Have Your Cake (1942) is also set during wartime, and Portrait of Adrian (1945) is described as a psychological drama. Orange dealt with severe depression, and sadly died by her own hand in 1955. Her daughter Gillian TINDALL wrote about her in her memoir Footprints in Paris (2009). She was also the sister-in-law of Monica TINDALL. I wrote about several of her books here, and Begin Again, Tom Tiddler's Ground, and Company in the Evening have been reprinted as Furrowed Middlebrow books by Dean Street Press.

ORIGO, IRIS [MARGARET] (15 Aug 1902 – 28 Jun 1988) (née Cutting) 1950s Biographer of prominent Italian figures and author of a single children's book, Giovanni and Jane (1950). Origo, married to an Italian, remained in Italy during World War II, helping refugee children and later escaped Allied prisoners of war, a time she discussed in her memoir, War in Val d'Orcia (1947). She also published a later memoir, Images and Shadows: Part of a Life (1970).

ORMISTON, MARGARET (14 May 1889 - 1983) (pseudonym of Margaret Ormiston Curle) 1920s Poet and author of two children's titles, Tancred the Hero and Other Fairy Tales (1920) and Kerdac the Wanderer (1924).

ORMSBY, [JOCELYN] IERNE (6 Jan 1883 – 12 Oct 1954) (née Rainey) 1930s Author of one girls' school story, Jane of the Crow's Nest (1936), an additional children's title, Wild West Sally (1939), and two volumes of poetry. She was born in Canada, but was living in England by age 12, so she's right on the borderline for inclusion in this list.

ORR, CHRISTINE [GRANT MILLAR] (1899 – 18 May 1963) 1910s – 1950s Poet, playwright, and author of more than a dozen mostly Scottish-themed novels. The Glorious Thing (1919) is set in Scotland during World War I. The others are Kate Curlew (1922), The House of Joy (1926), Hogmanay (1928), The Marriage of Maida (1928), Artificial Silk (1929), The Price of Love (1929), The Gulf Between (1930), The Player King (1931), Immortal Memory: The Comedy of a Reputation (1933), Tattered Feather (1934), Hope Takes the High Road (1935), Flying Scotswoman (1936), Catriona M'Leod (1937), Gentle Eagle: A Life of King James IV of Scotland (1937), The Happy Woman (1947), You Can't Give Them Presents (1949), and Other People's Houses (1951).

Ortiz, Elisabeth Lambert           see LAMBERT, ELISABETH

O'SHEA, PRUDENCE (12 Mar 1893 – 26 Jun 1982) (pseudonym of Victoria Jessamine/Jasmine Chatterton, née Merchant) 1930s – 1940s Literary agent and author of eight novels—Famine Alley (1930), Silver Mountains (1936), Warm Autumn (1937), Scandalous Interlude (1938), Free and Fortunate (1938), Paradise for the Porretts (1940), The Cygnets (1947), and Wine and Roses (1948).

OVERTON, JOHN (dates unknown) (pseudonym of Kathleen Baker) 1910s – 1920s Author of at least five novels, some or all of which were historical romances. Titles are Dickie Devon (1914), Hazard (1920), My Lady April (1921), The Beckoning Unknown (1924), and Striped Roses (1925). She wrote a few radio plays after that, then fell silent. John Herrington found that she lived in a suburb of Birmingham, and came across a 1922 newspaper article referring to her as "a little woman daintily dressed in a frock of crepe fabric, with a large rose-trimmed picture-hat" who had enjoyed amateur acting, but he could not trace her birth or death.

OWEN, JEAN ALLAN (1841 – 30 Jul 1922) (née Pinder, later married name Visger) 1880s – 1910s Author of Christian-themed fiction for children and adults. Titles include Ethel's Comforter (1880), Sea Blossom: A Cornish Story (1884), After Shipwreck (1889), West Dene Manor (1895), Love Covers All (1910), and Ruth Thornton, or, Two Girls and a Summer (1915).

OWENS, JOAN [MARGARET] LLEWELYN (1919 - ????) (married name Venner) 1950s Author of both fiction and non-fiction about career choices for girls. Her fiction is Sally Grayson: Wren (1954), Margaret Becomes a Doctor (1957), A Library Life for Deborah (1957), Sue Takes Up Physiotherapy (1958), and Diana Seton: Veterinary Student (1960).

OWSLEY, SIBYL BERTHA (1883 – 27 Mar 1968) 1910s – 1940s Author of more than two dozen children's books, among them school stories for both boys and girls. Later titles tend to contain at least some Guiding content. Titles include Eardley House (1912), Skimpy and the Saint (1923), The Upper Third Twins (1926), Dulcie Captains the School (1928), A Madcap Brownie (1929), The School Knight-Errant (1934), and The Guides of North Cliff (1944).

OXENHAM, ELSIE (25 Nov 1880 – 9 Jan 1960) (pseudonym of Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley) 1900s – 1950s Prolific author of almost 90 titles for girls, including the "Abbey Girls" series, which centers around a group of schoolgirls and a romantic medieval abbey (modelled on Cleeve Abbey in Somerset), and various interwoven "connector" titles featuring some of the characters from the main series. The first Abbey title is Girls of the Hamlet Club (1914) and the last is Tomboys at the Abbey (1959). Her father was William Arthur Dunkerley, who published novels as John Oxenham. Her sister Erica DUNKERLEY also published several novels. The Elsie J. Oxenham Society has an informative website here.

Oxenham, Erica           see DUNKERLEY, ERICA [ISABEL]