For more information about
this list, please see the introduction, linked below.
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MC-MY
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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 472 pages!
[Current total: 2,103 writers]
UPDATED 10/11/2019
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(married name Prentice)
1930s
Author of three girls'
school stories set at large public schools and with, according to Sims and
Clare, an emphasis on character development—The Dominant Fifth (1930), Allies
in the Fourth (1933), and Growing
Up at St Monica's (1937).
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Mcculloch,
Sarah
see URE, JEAN [ANN]
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MCDONALD,
EVA [ROSE] (30 Mar 1909 – 30 Aug 1998)
1950s - 1980
Author of nearly 40
volumes of historical romance. Titles include Lazare the Leopard (1959), The
Rebel Bride (1960), The Prettiest
Jacobite (1961), The Maids of
Taunton (1963), The Runaway
Countess (1966), Lord Byron's First
Love (1968), The French
Mademoiselle (1970), Regency Rake
(1973), Cromwell's Spy (1976), Cry Treason Thrice (1977), Candlemas Courtship (1978), John Ruskin's Wife (1979), and House of Secrets (1980).
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MCELWEE,
PATIENCE [ARDEN] (12 Jul 1910 - 1963)
(misspelled Macelwee in
the British Library catalogue, née Kennington)
1930s – 1960s
Wife of novelist William
McElwee and author of 12 volumes of fiction for children and adults. Her
three children's pony stories—Match
Pair (1956), Dark Horse (1958),
and The Merrythoughts (1960)—are
known by fans of the genre and are described here. Her nine adult novels,
however, though praised by critics for their cheerful humor, were never
reprinted. Titles are Roman Holiday
(1939) (apparently no connection to the film of the same name), Love, or Money? (1946), Pride of Place (1950), Wintersweet
(1954), Gainfully Employed (1955), Beggar My Neighbor (1956), Time's Fool (1957), Malice Domestic (1958), and A House for Olivia (1961).
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McEvoy,
Marjorie
see HARTE, MARJORIE
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MCFADDEN,
GERTRUDE VIOLET (9 Dec 1878 – 15 Mar 1963)
(aka John Milbrook)
1910s – 1920s
Author of at least a dozen novels, including The Honest Lawyer (1916), His Grace of Grub Street (1918), The Turning Sword (1922), Sheriff's Deputy (1924), So Speed We (1926), The Bride’s Groom (1928), and—under
her pseudonym—A Bridport Dagger
(1930).
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MCLAINE,
KATHLEEN (dates unknown)
1940s – 1950s
Author of one girls'
school story, Jean at St Hilary's
(1949), and one additional children's title, When Jesus Was a Boy (1954). John Herrington found two possible
IDs for her, but we can't confirm which is the author.
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MCLAREN, AMY
(EMILY LOUISA) (1859 - 1935)
1900s – 1920s
Scottish novelist who also wrote for People's Friend. She published at
least eleven volumes of fiction, including From a Davos Balcony (1903), about a woman who finds love while
nursing her aunt in a Swiss sanatorium, and Bawbee Jock (1910), about a woman who marries a poor Scottish
laird without telling him she's actually wealthy. The others are The House of Barnkirk (1905), The Yoke of Silence (1911), With the Merry Austrians (1912), Through Other Eyes (1914), The Heir of Duncarron (1916), Donald's Trust (1916), Dominie's Hope (1925), The Bonnie Earl (1926), and Devil's Paradise (1929).
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MCLAREN, CHRISTABEL (12 Dec 1890 – 7 Aug 1974)
(née MacNaghten, aka Baroness Aberconway)
1920s
Author of one novel, The Divine Gift (1929), described as a "mystery novel of a
woman who makes a startling discovery when she searches the bags of two
fellow train travelers." She also published a collection of poems and
what appears to be a children's book, The
Story of Mr. Korah (1954), illustrated by Rex Whistler.
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MCLEOD, IRENE RUTHERFORD (21 Aug 1891 – 2 Dec 1968)
(married name de Sélincourt)
1910s – 1920s
Primarily known as a poet (and as the mother-in-law
of Christopher Robin Milne), McCleod also published two novels, Graduation (1918), about the coming of
age of a young woman, and Towards Love
(1923), about a conscientious objector in WWI. Contemporary reviews seem to
have found them humorless and sentimental.
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MCMANUS, LOTTIE (CHARLOTTE) [ELIZABETH] (c1850 -
1941)
1890s – 1920s
Memoirist and author of at least eight novels. Her White Light and Flame: Memories of the
Irish Literary Revival and the Anglo-Irish War (1929) explores her own
conflicted feelings about England and Ireland. Her novels include The Red Star (1896), Lally of the Brigade (1899), In Sarsfield's Days (1906), Nuala: The Story of a Perilous Quest
(1908), and The Professor in Erin
(1918).
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MCMINNIES, MARY (13 Jun 1920 – 10 Sept 1978)
(née Jackson)
1950s
Author of two novels—The Flying Fox (1956), set among a group of British officials and
their families in the Malay Peninsula, and The Visitors (1958), with a similar cast of characters in Poland.
Both received critical praise, and the latter was a Book-of-the-Month Club
selection. Neglected Books discussed The
Visitors here.
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MCNEILL,
JANET (14 Sept 1907 - 1994)
(married name Alexander)
1950s – 1970s
Author of more than three dozen works for children,
some for younger readers, and ten novels for adults. Both her debut novel,
A Child in the House (1955), and her later children's book, The Battle of St.
George Without (1966), were
filmed for television. Her second novel, Tea at Four O'Clock (1956),
was reprinted by Virago in the 1980s. The other novels are The Other Side
of the Wall (1956), A Furnished Room (1958), Search Party
(1959), As Strangers Here (1960), The Early Harvest (1962), The
Maiden Dinosaur (1964, aka The Belfast Friends), Talk to Me
(1965), and The Small Widow (1967). Among her fiction for children,
she is also known for her "Specs McCann" series of children's
books, beginning with My Friend Specs McCann (1955). She was also the
author of around 20 radio plays.
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MEADE, L. T.
(5 Jun 1844 – 26 Oct 1914)
(pseudonym of Elizabeth
Thomasina Meade, married name Smith)
1860s – 1910s
Enormously prolific author
best known for her girls' stories, though she also wrote romance, thrillers,
and sensation novels as well as works that explored social problems. Among
her girls' titles are A World of Girls:
The Story of a School (1886), The
Palace Beautiful (1887), The Lady
of the Forest (1889), Engaged to Be
Married: A Tale of To-day (1890), A
Sweet Girl-Graduate (1891), Betty,
a School Girl (1894), The Cleverest
Woman in England (1898), The Girls
of St. Wode's (1898), Girls of the
True Blue: A School Story (1901), The
Rebel of the School (1902), A Gay
Charmer (1903), A Madcap
(1904), Betty of the Rectory
(1908), A Girl of To-day (1910), The Girls of Merton College (1911), Kitty O'Donovan: A School Story
(1912), The Chesterton Girl Graduates
(1913), and The Darling of the School
(1915). In the 1890s, Meade collaborated with Clifford Halifax M.D.
(pseudonym of Edgar Beaumont) to write six volumes of crime stories,
including Stories from the Diary of a
Doctor. Some of Meade's other mysteries or thrillers include The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings
(1899), which introduced a female master villain, The Sorceress of the Strand (1903), A Maid of Mystery (1904), I
Will Sing a New Song (1909), and Micah
Faraday, Adventurer (1910).
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MELLERSH,
KATE (KATHARINE) [ALLPORT] (c1853 – 16 Mar 1931)
(née Wright)
1910s – 1930s
Author of inspirational
poetry and nearly a dozen children's titles, including one girls' school
story, Hetty the Discoverer (1926).
Other titles are He She and It
(1910), The Scarlet Button (1911), His By Right (1913), Peter & Pepper (1914), Helen's Venture (1920), Norah's Own Island (1923), Miss Rosemary Mistary (1932), Mary and Muggs (1934), Gerard and Jessie the Explorers
(1935), and Alison's Exile (1936).
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Melville, Jennie
see BUTLER, GWENDOLINE
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Mendl, Gladys
see SCHUTZE, GLADYS HENRIETTA
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Meredith, Anne
see MALLESON, LUCY BEATRICE
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MERREL, CONCORDIA (9 Sept 1886 – 18 May 1963)
(pseudonym of Mary Phyllis Joan Morton, née Logan,
earlier married name Dyall)
1920s – 1930s
Model featured
in the 1910 "Kodak Girl" ad campaign, and author of nearly 30
romances. Her titles include Heart's
Journey (1924), Ordeal by Marriage
(1926), The Seventh Miss Brown
(1927), The Man Without Mercy
(1929), Sally Among the Stars
(1930), The Cads' Party (1931), Adam—and Some Eves (1931), and Love's Hazard (1934).
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Merrill, Lynne
see BRADLEY, NORAH MARY
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Messer, Mona
see HOCKING, [NAOMI] ANNE
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METCALFE, EDITH (dates unknown)
1900s – 1910s
Untraced author of several novels, only two of
which—Pyramids of Snow (1903) and The Handle of Sin (1917)—seem to have
appeared in book form. Other serialized titles include Wife in the Background (1907), The Target Heirloom (1907), and Canon Wolverton’s Indiscretion (1909).
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METHLEY,
VIOLET M[ARY]. (26 Nov 1882 – 8 Mar 1953)
1910s – 1950s
Playwright, children's
author and novelist. She published in the neighborhood of 40 children's
books, including several girls' school stories. Some of her titles are Miss Quixote (1916), Jill-in-Office (1921), The Bunyip Patrol (1926), Held to Ransom (1928), Margaret and Her Friends (1933), The Girls at Sandilands (1934), The Forest Family (1938), Two in the Bush (1945), and Armada, Ahoy! (1953). At least four of
her books—The Loadstone (1914), A Daughter of the Legion (1924), The Husband-Woman (1926), and The Last Enemy (1936)—appear to be
novels for adults
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MEYLER,
EILEEN (dates unknown)
1950s – 1970
Author of a dozen or so children's titles, including
some historical tales and a series of holiday stories featuring the Elwood
family at their summer cottage in Dorset. The former include The Gloriet Tower (1956), set in a
medieval castle, The Story of Elswyth
(1959), set in Saxon England, and Apple
Harvest (1970), which involves Monmouth's rebellion. The later stories
include Adventure in Purbeck
(1955), Adventure on Ponies (1959),
Adventure Next Door (1960), and Adventure at Tremayne (1963).
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MEYNELL,
VIOLA [MARY GERTRUDE] (15 Oct
1885 – 27 Oct 1956)
(married name Dallyn)
1910s – 1950s
Daughter of poet Alice Meynell and sister of Francis
Meynell, the founder of Nonesuch Press. Author of more than a dozen works of
fiction, including Martha Vine: A Love
Story of Simple Life (1910), Lot
Barrow (1913), Modern Lovers
(1914), Antonia (1921), Kissing the Rod and Other Stories
(1937), and Ophelia (1951).
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MEYRICK, GWENLLIAN [CLARA RICHMOND] (5 Sept 1908 –
21 Feb 1997)
(married name Strafford)
1950s – 1960s
Author of six novels. The Disastrous Visit (1956) was described by a bookseller as
"set among an ordinary family in London in the 1950's," and a blurb
sums up Shed No Tear (1961):
"Catherine, a twenty-year-old art student, married Hugo Thornton knowing
that he had been attached to the elegant Mrs. Olivia Seymour, but after a while
Hugo begins to tire of family life." The others are The Morning-Room (1950), Change
of Air (1952), Against the Stream
(1953), and The Second Wife (1957).
I've written about Meyrick's work several times—see here.
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MIALL, AGNES
M[ACKENZIE]. (3 Mar 1892 – 31 May 1977)
1910s – 1950s
A prolific author on
sewing and homemaking, whose The
Bachelor Girl's Guide to Everything (1916) was reprinted in 2008, Miall
also published fiction for children and adults. She published two children's
titles in her early twenties—Meddlesome
Mattie (1913) and William the
Silent (1914)—followed by an adult novel, Love's Young Dream (1922), nearly a decade later. She doesn't
appear to have published fiction again until The Schoolgirl Fugitives (1943), which was followed by Pigeons of Leyden (1945), The Girl Without a Name (1947), Huguenot Wedding: A Story of the Massacre
of Saint Bartholomew (1947), The
Holiday Camp Mystery (1950), and Spy
in the Circus (1953).
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MICHAEL, INA
(3 Nov 1899 – 30 Jul 1986)
(pseudonym of Lady
Caroline Magdalen Oppenheimer, née Harvey)
1920s
Author of one novel, Apple Sauce (1928), described in an
advertisement as "the bittersweet adventure of a love-starved woman and
a love-sought man," and one non-fiction title, The Bride's Book (1933).
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MIDDLETON, ANNE (dates unknown)
1920s – 1930s
Untraced author of nine romances, including Morgan's Daughter (1920), The Woman in His Way (1921), Her Borrowed Paradise (1926), Married for Her Money (1927), The Hidden Wife (1929), The Delayed Proposal (1931), and Two Men and a Girl (1933).
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MIDDLETON, IVY F[LORENCE]. E[MILY]. (29 Apr 1909 – 4
Nov 1985)
1930s – 1960s
Author of nearly a dozen works of fiction, including
girls' stories which appear to center around the Rangers, several featuring
the same main character, Kay. Titles include The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol (1937), The Fourth Musketeer (1940), and A Challenge for the Poppies (1965).
Two late titles, More Precious than
Gold (1947) and This Is the
Confidence (1948), could be Christian-themed adult fiction.
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MIDDLETON, MARGARET (dates unknown)
1920s – 1930s
Untraced author of seven girls' titles, most
apparently focused on Guiding. Titles are The
Guide Camp at Heron's Bay (1927), The
Guide Adventurers (1929), The House
of Golden Hind (1930), Three Girls
and a Car (1931), The Health of
Your Camp (1932), Castle's Fortune
(1934), and The Island Camp (1935).
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MIDDLETON, V. C. (24 May 1899 – 26 Jan 1955)
(pseudonym of Verna Coralie Middleton Welsby, née
Rogers, earlier married name Luscombe)
1920s
Author of a single novel, Tilled Soil (1928), about which information is scarce.
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MILES, [ISA]
CONSTANCE (22 Jun 1881 – 22 Jan 1962)
(née Nicoll, aka Marjory
Damon, aka Marjory Royce)
1910s – 1930s
Journalist, children's
author, and novelist. Most of her children's fiction was published as Marjory
Royce, though she seems to have used her Damon pseudonym for a title
co-written with Celia DAMON. Titles include Dinah Leaves School (1913), The
Unwilling Schoolgirl (1913), Eileen,
the Lone Guide (1924), Sara
Sat-Upon at School (1927, with Damon), Happy Cottage (1930, with Barbara Euphan TODD), and Anne on the Island: A Story of Sark
(1936). A couple of early Royce titles, The
Girl With No Proposals: An Episode of 1913 (1918) and The Desperate Marriage (1919), seem to
be adult novels. She later wrote two more novels using her real married name.
Of Lady Richard in the Larder
(1932), Bookman said: "The
dialogue is brisk and amusing, whether Lord Richard and his wife, each
needlessly jealous, are quibbling and sulking, whether the Marchioness is
endeavouring to reduce her figure, or whether Tubby Banister is consulting a
psychoanalyst to find out why he does not sleep." And Coffee, Please (1933) was described by
a bookseller as a "[r]omantic adventure set in the near future when a
Labour Government is in power and the domestic servant crisis is
worsening," at which time coffee-making has become a precious skill. Her
WWII diary was published in 2013 as Mrs.
Miles's Diary. Her sister, Mildred Robertson Nicoll (1898-1995), was also
a writer, though apparently not of fiction.
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MILES, EDITH
(23 Feb 1898 – 27 Feb 1978)
1920s - 1940
Author of school stories
for both boys and girls, including The
Girl Chums of Norland Road (1930), A
Mysterious Schoolgirl (1931), That
School Next Door (1931), Midbourne
School (1933), and The Adventures
of Clarice (1937), The Red Umbrella
(1937), and Moonshine Island
(1940). I wrote about Girl Chums here. Miles was herself a
schoolteacher in London's East End, but according to a post by her
great-nephew here, she was forced to retire
in 1927 after scarlet fever deprived her of her hearing—an event which may
have inspired her writing career, since her first book appeared in 1929.
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MILES, SUSAN
(16 Sept 1887 – 12 May 1975)
(pseudonym of Ursula
Roberts, née Wyllie, aka Ursula Roberts)
1930s – 1950s
Primarily known as a poet,
Miles published three novels. Blind Men
Crossing a Bridge (1934) is about a clergyman's marriage to a country
girl. TLS said it was "an
unusual and powerful novel, inspired by a lofty ambition." Rabboni (1942) was a highly
experimental novel about a family in Wales, while Lettice Delmer (1958), a novel in verse which has been reprinted
by Persephone, is partly set during World War I. She wrote a memoir and kept
a World War II journal, both of which remain unpublished.
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MILLAR, ANNE
(dates unknown)
1940s
Untraced author of a
single girls' school story, Kids'
Corner (1946).
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Milbrook, John
see
MCFADDEN, GERTRUDE VIOLET
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MILLER,
BETTY (1910 – 24 Nov 1965)
(née Spiro)
1930s – 1940s
Author of seven novels—The Mere Living (1933), Sunday (1934), Portrait of the Bride (1936), Farewell
Leicester Square (1941), A Room in
Regent's Park (1942), On the Side
of the Angels (1945), and The Death
of the Nightingale (1948). On the
Side of the Angels deals powerfully with gender roles as revealed by
wartime experiences. Her earlier novel, Farewell
Leicester Square, available from Persephone, explores anti-Semitism in
the British film industry. It was written several years before the war, but
was rejected by her publisher and only finally appeared in 1941. She also
published a biography of Robert Browning in 1958. Her "Notes for an
Unwritten Autobiography" appeared in Modern
Reading 13 1945.
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MILLER, MARGARET J[ESSY]. (27 Aug 1911 – 21 Mar
1996)
(married name Dale)
1960s – 1980s
Children's author whose works often focused on
Scotland. Titles include Seven Men of
Wit (1960), The Queen's Music
(1961), The Powers of the Sapphire
(1962), Gunpowder Treason (1968), Willow and Albert (1968), Plot for the Queen (1969), and The Far Castles (1978). Not to be
confused with novelist Margaret DALE.
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MILLIGAN,
ELSIE [MARION] (1898 - ????)
(née Burr)
1950s – 1960s
Author of more than 20
volumes of children's fiction, much of it set in Africa, including one school
story, Tennis Champion (1961).
Others include Kachibinda, Little
Hunter (1956), Stephen On Safari
(1958), Penny Goes Exploring
(1959), Far To Go (1960), Penny Goes A-Camping (1962), and Distilled as Dew (1966). She was a
missionary in what is now Zambia from the 1920s to early 1940s. She retired
to South Africa for health reasons and took up writing, but we have been
unable to locate a record of her death.
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MILLS, CLARE (dates unknown)
1920s
Untraced author of a single short romance, Her Broken Idol (1924).
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MILLS,
DOROTHY RACHEL MELISSA (11 Mar 1889 – 4 Dec 1959)
(née Walpole)
1910s – 1920s
Adventurer, travel writer, and novelist. She wrote
several books about her journeys in Africa and South America, including The Road to Timbuktu (1924), The Golden Land: A Record of Travel in
West Africa (1929), and The Country
of the Orinoco (1931), as well as nine novels. Her novels appear to be
melodramatic adventure with occasional science-fiction themes. Titles are Card Houses (1916), The Laughter of Fools (1920), The Tent of Blue (1922), The Road (1923), The Arms of the Sun (1924), The
Dark Gods (1925), Phoenix
(1926), Master! (1927), and Jungle! (1928). Her memoir is A Different Drummer (1930).
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MILLS, GLYNN
(dates unknown)
(pseudonym of Myra
Illingworth)
1950s – 1960s
Author of 11 volumes of
fiction. Her debut, Never Alone
(1954), about which details are lacking, seems to have been marketed to
adults, but her other books all seem to be for younger readers. Titles are Alison of Noggarth Hall (1956), They Came to Camp (1956), Master of Crow Trees (1957), Great Deliverances (1958), Christmas at Lynton Hall (1958), Over the Border (1958), Danger at Calham Cove (1959), Marilyn Investigates (1961), The Secret of the Forest (1962), and According to Plan (1963). The above
pseudonym comes from the British Library catalogue. If their identification
is correct, she might be the Myra Illingworth born 25 July 1914, died 9 Oct
1981.
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MILLS,
[JANET] MELANIE [AILSA] (1 Apr 1894 – 1 Jul 1987)
(aka J. M. A. Mills, aka
HK Challoner)
1920s – 1940s
Theosophical writer and
author of five novels—The Way
Triumphant (1927), Marsh Fires
(1928), The Tomb of the Dark Ones
(1937), Lords of the Earth (1940),
and There Will Your Heart Be
(1945). Her best known work was The
Wheel of Rebirth (1935), about reincarnation. She was the companion of
Rose ALLATINI for many years.
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MILNE,
ANGELA [MARY] (2 Sept 1909 – 24 Dec 1990)
(married name Killey)
1940s
Punch
journalist and author of a single novel, One Year's Time (1942), about
the love life of a young woman. The Guardian said that is was
"reminiscent of the bright young nineteen-twenties" and went on:
"One has wondered how the apocryphal story went on after the stunning
first sentence '"Hell," said the Duchess.' Perhaps this novel
suggests an answer." Milne later published a collection of essays, Jam
and Genius (1947).
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MILNE,
J[ANE]. P[ATERSON]. (c1898 – 14 Oct 1976)
1920s – 1950s
Author of nine boys' and
girls' school stories characterized by real world adventures and thriller
elements. Titles are Mystery at
Towerlands (1929), Thrills at
Heatherley School (1932), The
Adventures of Jig & Co. (1934), The
Mystery of Rainley House (1934), The
Mysterious Term at Merlands (1937), The
Boys of Moorfield School (1939), Harriet
G. at St. Hilary's (1949), The
Chums of Study Ten (1949), and The
Mystery of Gaily More (1955).
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MILNE RAE, JANET (8 Jul 1844 – 24 Apr 1933)
(née Gibb, aka Mrs. Milne Rae)
1870s – 1920s
Scottish missionary and author of about ten novels,
including Morag (1872), Hartleigh Towers (1880), Dan Stapleton's Last Race (1881), Marion's Story, or, Softly All My Years
(1887), Rinaultrie (1887), The Testing of Clem (1909), Bride Lorraine (1911), A Bottle in the Smoke (1912), The Whipping Boy (1914), and The Awakening of Priscilla (1929). The
birth date above is from an Ancestry family tree, but I haven't found an
official record.
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MILNES GASKELL, CATHERINE [HENRIETTA] (1856 – 1 Aug
1935)
(née Wallop)
1900s – 1930s
Author of several volumes of sketches of Shropshire
life, including Episodes in the Lives
of a Shropshire Lass and Lad (1908) and Friends Round the Wrekin (1914), and two later titles that appear
to be novels—A Woman's Soul (1919)
and The Greater Love (1921).
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MIRRLEES,
[HELEN] HOPE (8 Apr 1887 – 1 Aug 1978)
1910s - 1920s
Student and companion of
classical scholar Jane Harrison. Poet and author of three novels—Madeleine: One of Love's Jansenists
(1919), dealing with lesbianism in 17th century France, The
Counterplot (1924), about
a woman sublimating her sexual desires by writing a play, and Lud-in-the-Mist (1926), a fantasy
about a town invaded by madness-inducing fairy fruit, which has been
reprinted in recent years. As a poet, she is best known for Paris (1920), first published by the
Hogarth Press, which is now regarded by some scholars as an important modernist
work.
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MITCHELL, AGNES C[HRISTIE]. (1867 – 13 Dec 1937)
1900s - 1940
Author of more than 60 romances, probably short,
inexpensive newsprint novels. Titles include The Spinning of Fate (1907), A
Bride Betrayed (1920), The Wilful
Wintons (1921), The Love That Wins
(1923), A Border Maid (1926), and The Best of Three (1930).
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MITCHELL,
ELIZABETH HARCOURT (15 Dec 1833 – 16 Sept 1910)
(née Rolls)
1860s - 1910
Poet, hymnist, author of
religious-themed non-fiction, and novelist. Among her nearly 20 volumes of
fiction, many of them also featuring religious themes, are The Ballad of Sir Rupert: A Ghost Story
(1855), The Lighthouse (1860), Kate, the Pride of the Parish (1862), Hatherleigh Cross (1864), The Beautiful Face (1879), Golden Horseshoes (1884), The Church in the Valley (1886), Grains of Wheat (1900), Rachel's Secret (1905), and Harriet's Treasure (1910).
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MITCHELL,
GLADYS [MAUDE WINIFRED] (19 Apr 1901 – 27 Jul 1983)
(aka Stephen Hockaby, aka
Malcolm Torrie)
1920s – 1980s
Major Golden Age mystery
author, referred to by no less a figure than Philip Larkin as “the great
Gladys.” Author of 66 novels featuring the eccentric forensic psychiatrist
Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley (later Dame Beatrice). Among her most
acclaimed Mrs. Bradley tales are The
Saltmarsh Murders (1932), Come
Away, Death (1937), St. Peter's
Finger (1938), When Last I Died
(1941), Laurels Are Poison (1942), The Rising of the Moon (1945), Tom Brown's Body (1949), and The Twenty-Third Man (1957). Early in
her career, she published five historical novels as Stephen Hockaby,
including Marsh Hay (1933), Seven Stars and Orion (1934), Gabriel's Hold (1935), Shallow Brown (1936), and Grand Master (1939). In the 1960s and
1970s, she published six non-Mrs. Bradley mysteries as Malcolm Torrie. Mitchell
also wrote nine children's titles, mostly mysteries, but including On Your Marks, a girls’ career novel focused
on Mitchell’s own area of expertise, physical education, which was reprinted
by Greyladies a few years ago. I wrote a bit about Mitchell here, and there's an excellent
and informative tribute site here.
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MITCHISON,
NAOMI [MARY MARGARET] (1 Nov 1897 – 11 Jan 1999)
(née Haldane)
1920s – 1990s
Politically engaged author of more than 50 works of
fiction. Mitchison began her career writing historical novels like The Conquered (1923), set in Roman
Britain, The Corn King and the Spring
Queen (1931), set in ancient Sparta and Egypt, and The Blood of the Martyrs (1939), set in Nero's Rome. These often
used historical situations to comment on contemporary social and political
issues, and Mitchison was able to be rather daring in her portrayal of
sexuality because her historical settings made it more palatable. She ran
into controversy, however, when she attempted the same edginess in novels
such as We Have Been Warned (1935),
set in the present. The Bull Calves
(1947), which commented on war and gender issues, is perhaps her best-known
novel. Virago reprinted some of her novels in the 1980s. In later years
Mitchison explored other genres, including science fiction—in her novels Memoirs of a Spacewoman (1962) and Notably Not by Bread Alone
(1983)—several acclaimed works for children, and three volumes of memoirs, Small Talk (1973), All Change Here (1975), and You May Well Ask (1979). Her wartime Mass Observation diary was
published as Among You Taking Notes
in 1985.
|
MITFORD,
NANCY [FREEMAN-] (28 Nov 1904 – 30 Jun 1973)
(married name Rodd)
1930s – 1960s
Biographer and author of
eight novels, most famously her popular autobiographical family comedies The
Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949) based on
her own eccentric and widely varied family, including her sisters Diana, who
married British fascist Oswald Mosley and was interned with him for most of
World War II, Unity, also an avid supporter of Hitler, and Jessica, a
prominent member of the Communist Party. Her other novels are Highland Fling (1931), about
generational discord, Christmas Pudding
(1932), a romantic comedy, Wigs on the
Green (1935), which mocks the British Fascists led by sister Diana's
husband, Pigeon Pie (1940), set
during the "Phoney War," The
Blessing (1951), about an English woman married to a philandering
Frenchman, and Don't Tell Alfred
(1960), a sequel to Love in a Cold
Climate that was considerably less well-received. She also published
successful biographies such as Madame
de Pompadour (1953), Voltaire in
Love (1957), and The Sun King
(1966), the last about Louis XIV.
|
MITTON, G[ERALDINE]. E[DITH]. (14 Oct 1868 – 25 Apr 1955)
(married name Scott)
1900s – 1920s
Author of travel books, biographies for children, and
several novels. The latter include The
Gifts of Enemies (1900), The
Opportunist (1902), The Two-Stringed
Fiddle (1919), Bitter Harvest
(1926), The Wife of the Pig Dealer (1927),
and Hidden Corners (1928),
|
MOBERLY, L[UCY]. G[ERTRUDE]. (24 Dec 1860 – 20 Mar
1931)
1900s – 1930s
Author of more than 60 novels, probably romantic in
nature. Titles include A Great Patience
(1902), That Preposterous Will
(1906), A Very Doubtful Experiment
(1909), Christina (1912), Sunshine All the Way (1918), Undying Music (1922), Wheels Within Wheels (1925), Scapegoats of Circumstance (1926), Little Greatheart (1928), The Eternal Dustbin (1930), A Mystery Chain (1932), and Behind Park Gates (1933).
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MOCATTA, FRANCES (21 Feb 1895 – 31 Dec 1982)
(pseudonym of Dorothy Allen Degen, married name
Mocatta, aka Christopher Noel)
1920s – 1930s
Author of a baker's dozen novels. The Forbidden Woman (1927) is about
the scandal of mixed-race relationships, and Enchanted Dust (1938) is about a plastic surgeon in search of
perfect female beauty. Others include Thine
Shall Be Mine (1926), Silver Gilt
(1932), Immodest Violet (1935), and
Clubs Are Trumps (1939).
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MOCKLER, GERALDINE [MARY CECILIA] (1 Oct 1868 – 23
Apr 1967)
1890s – 1910s
Author of more than two dozen children's titles,
including one early girls' school story, The
Girls of St. Bede's (1898). Other titles include A Long Chase: The Story of a Seaside Adventure (1896), Edie's Adventure (1902), The Rebellion of Margaret (1910), and Cousin Betty: A Tale for Girls (1913).
|
Moffatt, Marion
see CLAVERING, MOLLY
|
MOLESWORTH, MARY LOUISE (29 May 1839 – 20 Jul 1921)
(née Stewart, aka Ennis Graham)
1850s – 1910s
One of the best-known British women writers of
children's books. Most of her works were for younger children, but a few were
longer works of fiction, including one of her last, Fairies Afield (1911). Early in her career, she also wrote adult
fiction under her pseudonym, including Lover
and Husband (1870), Not without
Thorns (1873), and Cicely: A Story
of Three Years (1874).
|
Mollett, B.
see CLAVERING, MOLLY
|
MOLONY, ALICE (dates unknown)
1940s
Illustrator and author of a single children's novel,
Lion's Crouch (1944), "an
exciting story about spies in Cornwall", for which she also provided
illustrations. She also illustrated two works by Kitty BARNE.
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MONTAGU,
ELIZABETH (4 Jul 1917 – 10 Jan 2006)
1950s – 1960s
Author of three novels and one story collection,
which were acclaimed in her
lifetime by the likes of John Betjeman and Graham Greene. The novels are Waiting for Camilla (1953), The Small Corner (1955) and This Side of the Truth (1957), the
collection is Change and Other Stories
(1966). She worked as a nurse in London during World War II.
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MONTAGUE,
NELL ST. JOHN (27 Jun 1881 – 22 Aug 1944)
(pseudonym of Eleanor
Lilian Helene Standish-Barry, née Lucie-Smith)
1920s – 1930s
"Clairvoyant" and author of three novels—Under Indian Stars (1929), The Poison Trail (1930), and Love That Ruins! (1931). She also
wrote a memoir, Revelations of a
Society Clairvoyant (1926). She died in an air raid on London in August
of 1944.
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MONTGOMERY, FLORENCE [SOPHIA] (17 Jan 1843 – 8 Oct
1923)
1860s – 1910s
Author of more than a dozen volumes of fiction,
including novels and works for children. Her most famous work was Misunderstood (1869), called a
tearjerker about a boy with a neglectful father. Her final work, Behind the Scenes in a School Room
(1914), about the experiences of a young governess, qualifies her for this
list. Other titles include A Very
Simple Story (1866), Wild Mike and
His Victim (1874), Colonel Norton
(1895), and An Unshared Secret and
Other Stories (1903).
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MONTGOMERY, K. L.
(pseudonym of Kathleen Montgomery [1 May 1863 – 22
Dec 1960] and Letitia Montgomery [1860- 23 Oct 1930])
Sisters who worked together as translators and
novelists. Their fiction was mostly historical, including The Cardinal's Pawn (1903), The Ark of the Curs (1906), Colonel Kate (1908), The Gate-Openers (1912), and Maids of Salem (1915).
|
MONTRESOR,
F[RANCES]. F[REDERICA]. (1862 – 17 Oct 1934)
1890s – 1910s
Author of nearly a dozen volumes of
"intelligent romantic fiction," according to OCEF. The Strictly Trained
Mother (1913) is described as "a quiet satirical comedy about the
elderly, bullied mother of two strong-minded daughters who conspires with a
suffragette granddaughter to escape from them." Others include Into the Highways and Hedges (1895), False Coin or True? (1896), The Alien: A Story of Middle Age
(1901), A Fish Out of Water (1908),
and The Burning Torch (1912).
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MOON, LORNA (16 Jun 1886 – 2 May 1930)
(pseudonym of Helen Nora Wilson Low, earlier married
name Hebditch)
1920s
A successful screenwriter for the likes of Cecil B.
DeMille, Moon contracted tuberculosis and during her treatment wrote a story
collection, Doorways in Drumorty
(1925), and an acclaimed novel, Dark
Star (1929), about her youth in Scotland. Her Collected Works were published in 2002. In addition to her two
husbands, she had a relationship with Cecil B. DeMille's brother William,
with whom she had a son who was adopted by Cecil.
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MOORE, DORIS [ELIZABETH/BESSIE] LANGLEY (23 Jul 1902
– 24 Feb 1989)
(née Levy)
1950s – 1960s
Fashion historian, scholar, biographer, author of
self-help books, and novelist. She published six novels—A Winter's Passion (1932) The
Unknown Eros (1935), They Knew Her
When: A Game of Snakes and Ladders (1935, revised and reprinted in 1955
as A Game of Snakes and Ladders), Not at Home (1948), All Done by Kindness (1951), and My Caravaggio Style (1959). I reviewed
the four later novels here and here, and they are being reprinted as Furrowed
Middlebrow titles from Dean Street Press in January 2020. Among her self-help
books are The Pleasure of Your Company:
A Text-book of Hospitality (1933) and Our
Loving Duty, or, The Young Housewife's Compendium (1936), both co-written
with her sister June Langley Moore. She was the first biographer of E. NESBIT
(1933, expanded edition 1966), and her book, containing many interviews with
family members and other contemporaries, has been heavily relied on by
subsequent scholars. Moore was also one of the first serious historians of
fashion. Her books The Woman in Fashion
(1949) and The Child in Fashion
(1953) were important in establishing fashion as a serious field of study,
and she was also responsible for the establishment of the Fashion Museum now
located in the Assembly Rooms in Bath. She occasionally worked as a costume
designer for film and theatre, including designing Katharine Hepburn's
dresses for The African Queen
(1951). On top of all that, Moore was an important Byron scholar, and was the
first non-family member to work with a large collection of Byron-related
papers owned by Byron's great-granddaughter. My Caravaggio Style, her final novel, deals with a forged version
of Byron's lost memoirs, and the final scene, in which a group of Byron
scholars gather to analyze the memoirs, features an appearance by Moore
herself. Remarkably, ODNB notes
that "she had no formal education."
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MOORE, DOROTHEA [MARY] (27 Feb 1880 – 19 May 1933)
1900s – 1930s
Author of more than 60 volumes of children's
fiction, including more than two dozen girls' school stories with far-fetched
but compelling plots. Titles include A
Plucky School-Girl (1908), Terry
the Girl-Guide (1912), Septima,
Schoolgirl (1915), Wanted, An
English Girl (1916)—set in Germany during WWI—A Nest of Malignants (1919), The
New Prefect (1921), The Only
Day-Girl (1923, reprinted by Girls Gone By), Smuggler's Way (1924), and Sara
to the Rescue (1932).
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MOORE, EDITH
MARY [ELIZA] (16 Sept 1871 – 26 Jan 1949)
1900s – 1930s
Author of philosophical novels with socialist
leanings, exploring gender roles, war, and urban life, which were well-reviewed
at the time. Teddy R.N.D. (1917)
and The Blind Marksman (1920) deal
with World War I, though the Orlando Project notes that she had to rely
entirely on her imagination for her battle scenes. Other titles include The Lure of Eve (1909), The Idealist and Mary Treherne (1910),
and A Wilful Widow (1913).
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MOORE, KATHLEEN (dates unknown)
1930s
Untraced author of more than a dozen romances,
including Spanish Nights (1928), The Eternal Lure! (1931), Her Corsican Mating (1931), The Wrong Bridegroom! (1932), Her Lover's Folly (1933), and She Loved a Murderer (1934).
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MOORE, LESLIE (19 Jan 1888 – 4 Jul 1978)
(pseudonym of Ida Constance Baker)
1900s – 1930s
Children's author and novelist. Her first two
titles, The Happy League (1908) and
Five Children and Their Adventures
(1911), were for children, while her 14 later works were all for adults. Aunt Olive in Bohemia, or, The Intrusions
of a Fairy Godmother (1913) and The
Peacock Feather: A Romance (1913) both deal humorously with the literary
and artistic life. Other titles include The
Cloak of Convention (1912), The
Jester (1915), Antony Gray,
Gardener (1917), The House Called
Joyous Garde (1922), The Lady's
Maid (1928), and The Money Magnet
(1937).
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MOORE, MARJORIE (23 Jan 1897 – 2 Dec 1983)
(pseudonym of Marjorie Violet Coburn, née Chetham)
1930s – 1950s,
1970s
Author of 20 Mills & Boon romances spread over
an unusual period of time. Was she using other as-yet-unidentified pseudonyms
as well? Titles include Copper Beeches
(1934), Moon Magic (1936), Blossoms of Spring (1940), Forgive and Forget (1948), Sister Nairn (1954), and Follow a Dream (1976).
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MOORE, OLIVE
(25 Jan 1901 - 1979)
(pseudonym of Miriam
Constance Beaumont-Vaughan, married name Botzarich/Botzaris, previously
erroneously identified as Constance Edith Vaughan [1904-1986])
Author of three well-received, highly experimental
modernist novels—Celestial Seraglio (1929), Spleen
(1930), and Fugue (1932)—and an essay collection, The Apple Is
Bitten Again (1934), Moore then fell into complete obscurity until her Collected Writings appeared in 1992
and her work began to receive academic attention. I'm pleased that my naïve
inquiry to researcher John Herrington led to her previous misidentification
being cleared up. I described how that came about here.
|
MOORHOUSE,
ESTHER HALLAM (15 Sept 1878 – 4 Feb 1955)
(married
name Meynell)
1910s, 1930s – 1950s
Daughter-in-law and sister-in-law, respectively, of
Alice Meynell and Viola MEYNELL. Author of biographies, nonfiction, and five
novels, including Grave Fairytale
(1931), Quintet (1933), Time's Door (1935), Lucy and Amades (1938), and Tale Told to Terry (1950). Her memoir
is A Woman Talking (1940). Her
brother-in-law, Francis Meynell, was the founder of Nonesuch Press.
|
MORD,
PHYLLIS (dates unknown)
1910s
Untraced author of a
single girls' school story, The Taming
of Winifred (1917).
|
MORDAUNT,
ELINOR (7 May 1872 – 25 Jun 1942)
(pseudonym of Evelyn May
Clowes, married names Wiehe and Bowles, aka Jack Heron)
1900s – 1940s
Travel
writer and author of more than 40 volumes of fiction. In A Very Great
Profession, Nicola Beauman singled out The Family (1915) and The
Park Wall (1916) for their domestic interest. Other novels include A
Ship of Solace (1912), Lu of the Rangers
(1913), The Rose of Youth (1915), While
There's Life (1919), Short Shipments (1922), The Dark Fire (1927), Mrs.
Van Kleek (1933), Here Too Is
Valour (1941), and To Sea! To Sea!
(1943). Her travel works, very popular in their day, include On the Wallaby Through Victoria
(1911), The Venture Book (1926),
and Purely for Pleasure (1932). She
also published one children's adventure tale under the pseudonym Jack Heron. Blitz Kids (1941) is a spirited
wartime tale narrated by a 10-year-old girl. Mordaunt's memoir was Sinabada (1937).
|
MORGAN, JOAN
(1 Feb 1905 – 22 Jul 2004)
1940s – 1970s
Silent film actress turned playwright and novelist.
Author of more than a dozen works of fiction. Camera! (1940) is a
portrait of the early British film industry, while Citizen of Westminster
(1940), which I reviewed here, is set at a large apartment complex modelled after
London’s Dolphin Square. Ding Dong Dell (1943) deals with wartime
refugees. Other novels are Many Sided
Mirror (1944), Toad Beneath the
Harrow (1946), He Lives Amid Clouds
(1947), The Lovely and the Loved (1948), The Lost Child (1949), The
Hanging Wood (1950), Sensitive
Plant (1955), Gentlemen's Relish
(1962), and Seven Springs to Gravesend
(1972). Her most famous play was This
Was a Woman (1944)
|
MORGAN, LORNA NICHOLL (dates unknown)
1940s
A mystery in herself, Morgan wrote four mystery
novels in the 1940s— Murder in Devils'
Hollow (1944), Talking of Murder
(1945, briefly discussed here), The Death
Box (1946), and Another Little
Murder (1947). John Herrington found a possible match in Lorna Patricia
N. Hook, née Morgan (1919-2000), but we've been unable to confirm it.
|
Morice, Anne
see SHAW, FELICITY [ANNE MORICE]
|
MORIN, MAUD
[AUGUSTA MARY] (17 Sept 1871 – 5 Jan 1958)
1920s – 1950s
Author of various stories
and short plays for younger children, as well as three well-received school
stories for older readers—To the Fray,
St. Agatha's! (1935), That
Red-Haired Girl in Thorn's (1936), and Sally of the Fourth (1937)—which Sims & Clare call
"lively and entertaining."
|
Morley, Elisabeth
see FAIRBANK, EVELEEN
LENORA
|
MORLEY, IRIS
[VIVIENNE] (10 May 1910 – 27 Jul 1953)
(married names Coates and
Jacob)
1930s - 1950s
Journalist, historian, and author of seven novels.
Her debut, The Proud Paladin
(1936), was described as "the life story of the lovely and valiant
Duchess of Melor, the 'Proud Paladin' of the Middle Ages." She continued
with historical fiction in her most famous work, a trilogy—Cry Treason (1940), We Stood for Freedom (1941), and The Mighty Years (1943)—set in 17th
century England with a somewhat Marxist sensibility. Nothing but Propaganda (1946) was a partially autobiographical
novel about a young woman who lives in the U.S. for a time, marries
unhappily, divorces, then marries a Communist journalist. The story ends in
England during World War II. Morley spent some of the war as a correspondent
in Moscow, as did her second husband, journalist and novelist Alaric Jacob,
out of which experience grew Not
Without Fantasy (1947), a satirical tale of journalists in wartime
Moscow. I've not found any details about her final novel, The Rack (1952). Morley published
historical works on ballet—Soviet
Ballet (1945) and The Rose and the
Star (1949, with Phyllis Manchester)—as well as A Thousand Lives: An Account of the English Revolutionary Movement,
1660-1685 (1954), published posthumously. According to newspaper accounts
of her death, she was terminally ill with cancer but was not told of the
severity of her condition. She fell ill during a vacation in Cornwall,
intended to restore her strength, and died a few days later.
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MORLEY,
SOPHIE S. (dates unknown)
1920s – 1940s
Untraced author of one
girls' school story, The Art Prize
(1946), two earlier works of children's fiction, Annie's Adventure and Other Children's Stories (1926) and The Flemings and Their Friends (1939),
and two plays, Heart of Youth
(1935) and Bunty and Billy, or, Round
the Fairy Bush (1935), both subtitled "missionary plays."
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MORRIS, ELIZABETH KEITH (30 Apr 1876 - 1959)
(née Elizabeth Wathes Phillips, married name Morris;
Keith was her husband's middle name, which she apparently adopted)
1930s
Author of two travel books—An Englishwoman in the Canadian West (1913) and Hungary: The Land of Enchantment
(1931)—and what appears to be a novel, Black
Eagle (1930), though details are sketchy.
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MORRIS,
KATHARINE (22 May 1910 - 1999)
(aka Mollie Morris)
1930s, 1950s
Author of five novels
dealing with English country life—New
Harrowing (1933, as Mollie Morris), Country
Dance (1951), The Vixen's Cub
(1952), The House by the Water
(1957), and The Long Meadow
(1958)—after which she appears to have stopped publishing.
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MORRISON, EMMELINE [SHAW] (15 Nov 1884 – 7 Dec 1968)
(née Cottrill)
1920s - 1970
Author of nearly 70 light (and apparently very
successful) novels, described as romances but perhaps along the same lines as
Elizabeth CADELL. Red Poppies
(1928) is about a woman spy in World War I. The Last of the Lovells (1928), Countisbury: A Romance of South Devon (1933), and An Open Secret (1939) are
interconnected. Others include Good
Grain (1921), Swept by the Tide
(1925), Sir Joseph's Guests (1929),
Fidelis (1932), Merrywood (1937), Miss England (1942), The
Year Outgrows the Spring (1949), Count
Carol: A Romance of Mid-Europe Early in This Century (1953), Cat's Cradle (1960), and No More Such Days (1970).
|
Morrison,
Margaret Mackie
see COST, MARCH
|
MORRISON,
N[ANCY]. [AGNES] BRYSSON [INGLIS] (24 Dec 1903 – 27 Feb 1986)
(aka
Christine Strathern)
1930s – 1970s
Biographer
and novelist. Her third novel, The Gowk
Storm (1933), about three sisters on a Scottish manse, was a Book Society
selection and was reprinted in 2001. Her other novels under her own name are Breakers (1930), one of the first
portrayals of the highland clearances, Solitaire
(1932), The Strangers (1935), When the Wind Blows (1937), These Are My Friends (1946), a verse
narrative about the life of Jesus Christ, The
Winnowing Years (1950), The Hidden
Fairing (1951), The Keeper of Time
(1953), The Following Wind (1954), The Other Traveller (1957), Thea (1962), and Haworth Harvest: The Story of the Brontes (1969). She also
published more than two dozen romantic novels under her pseudonym, including The Buchanans Move In (1943), Sun on His Face (1951), and April Folly (1953).
|
Morrison, Peggy
see COST, MARCH
|
MORROW, CHARLOTTE (29 May 1906 - 1998)
(pseudonym of Mary [Molly] Morrow, married name
Kirwan)
1960s
Author of three novels—The Singing and the Gold (1960), The Noonday Thread (1962), and The Watchers (1963). The first, which was in Barbara Pym's
library, is about seven years in the life of a young girl. Presumably she is
the same author who published three children's titles in the 1970s—The Glory House (1972), The Marigold Cut (1975), and The Rain Woman (1978).
|
Morrow, Jacob
see MANNING, OLIVIA
|
MORTIMER,
PENELOPE [RUTH] (19 Sept 1918 – 19 Oct 1999)
(née Fletcher, earlier
married name Dimont, aka Penelope Dimont)
1940s – 1980s
Memoirist, biographer, and author of ten novels,
including bitterly humorous tales of
marriage and motherhood. Daddy's Gone
a-Hunting (1958, reprinted by Persephone) deals with a troubled marriage,
while The Pumpkin Eater (1962) is
about a mother's emotional breakdown. The latter was made into a film with
Peter Finch and Anne Bancroft in 1964. Her other novels are Johanna (1947, as Penelope Dimont), A Villa in Summer (1954), The Bright Prison (1956), Cave of Ice (1959), My Friend Says It's Bulletproof
(1968), The Home (1971), Long Distance (1974), and The Handyman (1983). Her memoirs are About Time (1979) and About Time Too: 1940-78 (1993). She
also wrote one controversial royal biography, Queen Elizabeth: A Life of the Queen Mother (1986). Her second
husband was John Mortimer, creator of the Rumpole
mystery series.
|
Mortlake, G. N.
see STOPES, MARIE
|
Morton, Cecil
see MARTIN, CLARA [ISABELLE]
|
MORTON,
STELLA [MARGARET] (12 Sept 1902 – 4 Feb 1991)
(married name Dover)
1920s – 1960s
Author of sixteen novels about which little
information is available. Titles are Turn
of Days (1939), Shadow of Wings
(1940), Garden of Paradise (1942), The Convoys Pass (1942), "And We Shall Build—"
(1943), Listen Beloved (1945), "Out of Tomorrow—" (1947), This Brittle Glory (1948), The Unfamiliar Name (1950), Source of the River (1952), The Unrelenting Day (1954), Jan (1955), The Everlasting Answer (1957), The Strong Are Bound (1958), Bring
Back the Singing (1959), and The
Unchanging Shore (1961).
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MOSELEY,
MABOTH (11 Jul 1906 – 16 Oct 1975)
1930s
Author of four novels—Cold Surge (1930), This Lady Was a Gentleman (1931), God Created Them Apart (1932), and War Upon Women (1934), the last a
futuristic comedy about a dictator's affects on women. Later, she wrote a
biography of inventor Charles Babbage (1964).
|
Mossop, Irene
see
SWATRIDGE, IRENE MAUDE
|
MOUNTAIN,
ANNE (dates unknown)
1940s
Untraced author of one
girls' school story, The Ghost of Aston
Abbey (1948), set in an Anglican convent and told from both adult and
children's perspectives, and one other work of fiction, The Green Bracelet (1947).
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MOYES, PATRICIA (19 Jan 1923 – 2 Aug 2000)
(née Pakenham-Walsh, later married name Haszard)
1950s – 1990s
Mystery writer whose novels usually feature Scotland
Yard Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett and his wife Emmy, whose close, convincing
relationship and believable teamwork add depth to the series. Moyes
incorporated many of the interests she and her husband shared in real life,
resulting in vivid details about skiing in her debut novel Dead Men Don't Ski (1959) and sailing
in the follow-up, The Sunken Sailor
(1961, aka Down Among the Dead Men),
as well as details of life in the Netherlands in Death and the Dutch Uncle (1968) and Night Ferry to Death (1970). Murder
a la Mode (1963) reflects her time working for Vogue, and Falling Star
incorporates her experiences in the film industry. Johnny Under Ground (1965) makes prominent retrospective use of
Emmy's wartime experiences (based on Moyes' own in the Radar Section of the
British Women's Auxiliary Air Force). Other titles include Death on the Agenda (1962), To Kill a Coconut (1966, aka The Coconut Killings), Who Saw Her Die? (1970, aka Many Deadly Returns), The Curious Affair of the Third Dog
(1973), A Six-Letter Word for Death
(1983), and Twice in a Blue Moon
(1993). Moyes also wrote one mystery for teen readers, Helter Skelter (1968). I've written about several of her books here.
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MUIR, MARIE [AGNES] (25 Aug 1904 - 1998)
(née Johnson, aka Monica Blake, aka Monica Clynder,
aka Barbara Kaye [but not to be confused with Barbara KAYE, listed
separately], aka Jean Scott)
1930s – 1980s
Author whose publishing history spans nearly five
decades, including romance novels under her several pseudonyms, as well as
several children's books in the 1950s-1960s, among them a series about the
Torridon family. Titles include In a Web
of Sin (1936), Laird of Castle Croy
(1949), Torridons' Triumph (1960), The Browns of Bencraig (1967), Steps in the Dark (1968), The Passion-Flower Hedge (1972), The Girl in Room 750 (1972), and Blind Flight (1983). Although she and
Barbara Kenwick Muir both wrote under the name Barbara Kaye (and even for the
same publisher), they do not appear to be related. See Barbara KAYE. Thanks
to John Heap at the British Library for additional information regarding this
author.
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MUIR, SUSAN (22 Aug 1903 – 8 Oct 1992)
(pseudonym of Nina Cairns Robinson, married name
Griffiths)
1930s – 1940s
Author of three novels—On Ordinary Feet (1939), Nigel's
Daughters (1943), and Time Is
Whispering (1945)—about which little information is available.
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MUIR, WILLA
(WILHELMINA) [JOHNSTONE] (13 Mar 1890 – 22 May 1970)
(née Anderson, aka Agnes
Neill Scott)
1930s
Known for her translations, with husband Edwin, of Kafka
and other prominent German writers, Muir also published three novels—Imagined
Corners (1931), Mrs. Ritchie
(1933), and Mrs. Grundy in Scotland (1936)—and a memoir, Belonging
(1968). Two later novels remain unpublished.
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MULHOLLAND, CLARA (1849 – 30 May 1934)
1870s – 1920s
Sister of Rosa GILBERT. Children's author and
novelist whose work, according to OCEF,
has "a pious Catholic cast." Titles include The Little Bog-Trotters (1878), Percy's Revenge (1887), A
Striking Contrast (1895), The Lost
Chord: A Story for Girls (1905), Through
Mist and Shadow (1909), Sweet
Doreen (1915) and Her Last Message
(1926).
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MUNDY-CASTLE,
[AGNES] FRANCES (6 Jul 1898
– 13 Nov 1975)
(née Whitehouse, aka Peggy
Whitehouse, aka Quiet Woman)
1920s – 1940s
Poet and author of at
least eight novels, all but one as Peggy Whitehouse. The Chemist's Wife (1940) was described by one critic as "Madame Bovary in a different
key", but details of her other fiction are lacking. Other titles are Oscar Strom (1927), Stairs of Sand (1927), A Young Woman Grows Up (1928,
published under her own name), Collingridge
(1930), Mortal Measure (1932), Discovery by Torchlight (1933), and Mary by the Lake (1946). She has also
been identified as the author of A
Democrat's Chapbook (1942), published under the name "Quiet
Woman," which was subtitled "a chronicle of some of the events of
the present war, up to the entry of America, December 1941, with reflections."
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MUNRO, ELSIE SMEATON (c1880 – 20 Dec 1961)
(married name Bilsland)
1910s – 1920s
Author of a story collection, Glasgow Flourish: Short Sketches (1911), and a children's book, Topsy-Turvy Tales (1923).
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Munro, Emma
see CLAVERING, MOLLY
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Munro, Mary
see HOWE, DORIS [KATHLEEN]
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MURDOCH,
[JEAN] IRIS (15 Jul 1919 – 8 Feb 1999)
(married name Bayley)
1950s – 1990s
Novelist and philosopher,
known for the rich, complex, and often funny explorations of good and evil in
her 26 novels, complicated by her lack of belief in a god but her
simultaneous attraction to religion as a practice. According to Peter J.
Conradi in her ODNB entry,
"She wanted Buddhism to educate Christianity, to create a
non-supernatural religion." Among her most acclaimed novels are The Bell (1958), A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970), The Black Prince (1973), The
Sea, the Sea (1978), which won the Booker Prize, and The Book and the Brotherhood (1987). Conradi goes on to say,
"Her best novels combine Dostoyevsky with Shakespearian romance and
love-comedy." Her major philosophical works were The Sovereignty of Good (1970), The Fire and the Sun (1977), and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (1992). She was diagnosed with
Alzheimer's in 1997. She was portrayed, both in early years and in her final
days, by Kate Winslet and Judi Dench in the film Iris (2001), based on husband John Bayley's memoir.
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MURRAY, ELIZABETH [KATE] (4 Feb 1903 – 4 Apr 1997)
(married name Driver)
1920s – 1930s
Author of four novels—Comedy (1927), The
Partridge (1928), The Gilded Cupid
(1930), and June Lightning
(1932)—about which I've found no details.
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MURRAY,
EUNICE GUTHRIE (21 Jan 1878 – 26 Mar 1960)
1910s
Suffragist and biographer, author of two novels, The
Hidden Tragedy (1917), about the suffrage movement, and The Lass He Left Behind (1918), about
working class women, as well as the non-fiction The Old School of Cardross: A Chapter in Village
Life (1950).
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MURRAY,
ROSALIND (17 Oct 1890 – 9 May 1967)
(married name Toynbee)
1910s – 1920s
Daughter of classical
scholar Gilbert Murray and wife (for more than three decades before a late
divorce) of historian Arnold Toynbee. Author of five novels, as well as later
books about religion and faith. Her first novel, The Leading Note (1910), earned acclaim from E. M. Forster. The
others are Moonseed (1911), Unstable
Ways (1914), The Happy Tree (1926),
reprinted by Persephone in 2014, and Hard
Liberty (1929).
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Murray, Ruth
see GILBERT, ROSA
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MURRAY, V[IOLET]. TORLESSE (27 Mar 1874 – 27 Oct
1956)
(née Holland)
1920s
Author of three novels and one play. A review of Surplus Goods (1924) says it "tells
the life stories of four girls under the modern conditions brought about by
the preponderance in numbers of women over men." Her other novels are The Call of Life (1923) and The Rule of the Beasts (1925). Her
play was Bringing It Home (1926).
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MURRELL,
SHIRLEY (25 May 1899 – 1 Aug 1986)
(pseudonym of Olive
Pitter, married names Edwards and Scott Hansen)
1940s – 1970s
Author of more than a
dozen novels, many historical in theme. Titles are Perilous Rock (1948), Physician
Extraordinary (1949), Farewell, Sweet
Life (1950), Gentlemen's Country
(1951), Squire Neptune (1952), Young Man's Fancy (1953), The Sin Flood (1954), My Lord Admiral (1954), Fortune of the Ships (1955), The Man from Martinique (1957), Children Under Arms (1958), King's Pawn, Queen's Honour (1959), The Young Josephine (1960), Royal Interlude (1962), The Young Ninon (1964), and Young Doctor Simpson (1971).
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MUSKETT,
NETTA [RACHEL] (1887 – 29 May 1963)
(née Hill, aka Anne Hill)
1920s - 1980
Author of nearly 70
romance and gothic novels under her own name and her pseudonym, including The Jade Spider (1927), The Flickering Lamp (1931), The Shadow Market (1938), Love In Amber (1942), Cast The Spear (1950), The White Dove (1956), and The Fettered Past (1961).
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MYERS,
ELIZABETH (23 Dec 1913 – 24 May 1947)
1940s
Sister-in-law of Theodore,
Llewelyn, & John Cowper Powys. Author of three acclaimed novels—A Well Full of Leaves (1943), about
four siblings and their unhappy home life, The Basilisk of St. James’s (1945), a historical novel about
Jonathan Swift, and Mrs. Christopher
(1946), a psychological tale of murder. The last was made into a film
starring Dirk Bogarde. She also published numerous short stories. In 2013,
Sundial Press published a selection of her stories, some previously
uncollected, as Twenty-Two Tales.
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MYLREA,
NORAH (14 Oct 1904 – 21 Jun 1994)
(married name Easey)
1930s – 1950s
Author of nine children's
titles, including six girls' school stories, most with thriller elements—Lisbeth of Browndown (1934), Browndown Again! (1936), Unwillingly to School (1938), That Mystery Girl (1939), Lorrie's First Term (1940), and Spies at Candover (1941). Others are The Story of Tarn (1947), Holiday Adventure (1949), and The Goose Green Mill Mystery (1952).
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I highly recommend Cousin Betty by Geraldine Mockler. It's a really charming story in which the main heroines achieve their career dreams. I'm not quite sure when it was written but it seems 19-teensish. It's not a children's story.
ReplyDeleteThe Rebellion of Margaret is good too, as is The Four Miss Whittingtons.
Not difficult to find secondhand (online anyway).