British Women Writers of Fiction 1910-1960 (R)

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]

RADFORD, M[ONA]. A[UGUSTA]. (3 Aug 1894 – 8 Nov 1990) (née Mangan, aka M. A. Radford) 1940s – 1970s Author, with her husband Edwin, of more than 30 mystery novels, many featuring series characters Dr. Manson and Inspector Holroyd. Titles include Murder Jigsaw (1944), Heel of Achilles (1950), Look in at Murder (1956), The Six Men (1958), Death of a Frightened Editor (1959), Death's Inheritance (1961), Murder of Three Ghosts (1963), The Middleford Murders (1967), Trunk Call to Murder (1968), and Death of an Ancient Saxon (1969). The pair also collaborated on an Encyclopaedia of Superstitions (1948), which is still in print.

RADICE, SHEILA [ALICE MACKINTOSH] (c1882 – 20 Nov 1960) (née Jamieson) 1930s Assistant editor of the Times Educational Supplement for many years, writer on educational issues, and author of Not All Sleep (1938), sometimes described as a bio of poet James Hammond, but in fact very much a novel, about Hammond's unhappy love for Kitty Dashwood.

RAE, [MARGARET] DORIS (13 Jan 1907 - 1988) 1950s – 1980s Author of more than three dozen romantic novels, including Sings the Nightingale (1956), Flame on the Peaks (1958), The Rowans Are Red (1960), Highland Nurse (1964), Mist on the Moors (1979), and Rich the Treasure (1984). She also worked for many years as chief clerk and cashier for the Newcastle magistrates court.

RAE, LETTICE (LETITIA) [MILNE] (1882 - 1959) 1910s - 1940 Author of five novels—The Stranger on the Aventine (1913), Mr. Suffer-long (1920), The Victorious Mile (1928), The Auld Alliance (1931), and The Woman in the Crowd (1940). She also published a history of the Ladies' Edinburgh Debating Society, Ladies in Debate (1936),

RALFS, D. Y. (1905 - 1985) (pseudonym of Daisy Florence Harrison, married name Ralfs) 1950s Journalist and author of four novels—Alex and Me (1952), The Reluctant Lovers (1954), Babes in the Bois (1956), and Find Me a Daughter (1958). The Reluctant Lovers deals with the romance of a widow with her boarder, a widowed military man, and the complications their respective families cause, while Babes in the Bois, illustrated by Virginia Smith, is about a middle-aged couple's first trip to Paris.

Ralston, Jan           see KYLE, ELISABETH

RAMART, DAPHNE (dates unknown) (pseudonym of ?????) 1940s Perhaps not deserving of being on my list at all, this untraced author's claim to fame, according to Sims & Clare, is that her one girls' school story, Hilary's Difficult Term (1949), is a thorough plagiarism (including various word-for-word sections) of several works by Dorita Fairlie Bruce. The book's publisher had to pay Bruce a settlement for the theft.

Ramsay, Fay           see EASTWOOD, HELEN

RAMSAY, M. C. (dates unknown) 1900s – 1920s Untraced author of one girls' school story, Betty Bruce, Beverley Scholar (1926) (sensational but great fun, according to Sims & Clare), as well as several adult novels, including James Ogilvy's Experiment (1907), Stephen Martin, MD (1908), The Doctor's Angel (1914), and Was She Guilty? (1920). John Herrington found that she lived in Arbroath, Scotland and then in London, but could locate no further details.

RAMSAY, PHYLLIS (1908 - 1972) (pseudonym of Agnes Campbell Fergie, nicknamed Nancie) 1930s – 1950s Author of eight novels, probably romantic in theme, including Happy Ending (1934), Brief Rhapsody (1935), Dust in Your Eyes (1938), Two Different People (1941), Wait for Tomorrow (1949), The Wilful Spring (1950), One Little Day (1950), and The Little White Horse (1952).

RAMSAY, RINA (CATHERINE) [MARY] (c1875 – 20 Oct 1950) 1890s – 1920s Author of seven romantic novels which, according to OCEF, often feature hunting scenes. Titles are Miss Drummond's Dilemma (1896), The Key of the Door (1908), The Straw (1909), Barnaby (1910), The Impossible She (1912), Long Odds (1921, with J. Otho Paget), and The Step in the House (1926). She also published an early girls' school story, English Ann at School in Blumbaden (1897), and wrote numerous stories in periodicals, many suspense or horror.

RAMSEY, ALICIA [JOANNA] (31 Aug 1864 – 7 May 1933) (née Royston, later married name de Cordova, first name in some sources is Alice) 1910s, 1930s Playwright and screenwriter who wrote more than ten plays with her second husband Rudolph de Cordova, several of which were adapted for silent films. She had already published two novels—The Adventures of Mortimer Dixon (1913) and Miss Elizabeth Gibbs (1915)—and later published a story collection, The Three Cocktails and Other Stories (1933).

RAMSEY, L[ILIAN]. F[AIRBROTHER]. (?1877 - ?1974) (uncertain but probable identification) Author of one girls' school story, An Island for Two: A School Story (1927).

RAMSEY, OLIVIA (1853 – 28 Feb 1926) (pseudonym of Laetitia/Letitia Selwyn Oliver) 1900s – 1910s Author of nine light, humorous novels, including The Marriage of Lionel Glyde (1908), Sylvia and the Secretary (1909), The Girl from Gatford (1909), The Romance of Olga Aveling (1910), The Other Wife (1911), Two Men and a Governess (1912), A Girl of No Importance (1913), The Secret Calling (1914), and Callista in Revolt (1914).

Rana, J.           see FORRESTER, HELEN

RANDALL, RONA (16 Jun 1911 – 10 May 2008) (pseudonym of Rona Shambrook, née Green, aka Virginia Standage) 1940s – 1980s Author of nearly 70 novels, including hospital romance, gothic fiction, and historical mystery romance. Titles include The Moon Returns (1942), The Late Mrs. Lane (1945), Delayed Harvest (1950), Young Sir Galahad (1953), The Cedar Tree (1957), Knight's Keep (1967), and Dragonmede (1974). Her mystery-themed titles may include Walk Into My Parlour (1962), Seven Days from Midnight (1965), Mountain of Fear (1972), or The Drayton Legacy (1985).

RATHBONE, [BEATRICE] IRENE (11 Jun 1892 – 21 Jan 1980) 1920s – 1930s, 1950s Author of seven novels, including most famously We That Were Young (1932), an important work documenting the stresses and emotional demands of women's war work in the First World War. ODNB notes of it: "Presenting the war as a generational experience, it stripped away the glamour associated with nursing, and captured the monotony, danger, and extreme physical demands of the munitions factory, represented overwhelmingly as a world of tiring repetition and 'deafening, stupefying, brain shattering' noise, interrupted abruptly by grotesque accidents." A later novel, They Call it Peace (1936), is a bitter tale of women attempting to rebuild their lives after the war. Her other novels are Susan Goes East (1929), The Gold Rim (1933), October (1934), When Days Were Years (1939), and The Seeds of Time (1952). She became close friends with Storm JAMESON and Nancy Cunard, among others.

RAYMOND, DIANA [JOAN] (25 Apr 1916 – 16 Feb 2009) (née Young, aka Diana Young) 1930s – 1990s Cousin of Pamela FRANKAU. Poet and novelist widely acclaimed in her lifetime. She began with three titles under her maiden name—The Door Stood Open (1936), The Lonely Guest (1937), and Doves in Flight—which were followed by nearly two dozen more titles under her married name. Later titles include The Small Rain (1954), Strangers' Gallery (1958), People in the House (1964), The Noonday Sword (1965), Incident on a Summer's Day (1974), The Dark Journey (1978), Lily's Daughter (1988), and The Sea Family (1997).

REA, LORNA (1897 - 1978) (née Smith) 1920s – 1930s Author of four novels and one story collection. Six Mrs. Greenes (1929) traces the lives of the women who marry into three generations of the Greene family. The Happy Prisoner (1931) is about a sheltered deaf girl suddenly cured of deafness, facing the harsh realities of the world. First Night (1932) traces the opening night of a play, through the eyes of those participating and watching. Her other novel is Rachel Moon (1932), and her story collection is Six and Seven (1935).

Read, Miss           see SAINT, DORA

REANEY, MRS. G. S. (1847 – 8 Jun 1929) (pseudonym of Isabella Emily Thomasa Reaney, née Edis) 1870s – 1910s Author of religious-themed fiction, as well as several non-fiction works about "our daughters" and "our sons". Fiction includes Our Ben: A Tale of Home Influence (1876), The Romance of an Emergency (1901), Molly Brown: A Girl in a Thousand (1912), and A Daughter's Inheritance (1914). Her name has sometimes been erroneously spelled "Reany".

Redfern, John           see PARGETER, EDITH

REDLICH, MONICA [MARY] (1909 - 1963) (married name Christensen) 1930s – 1940s Humorist, travel writer, children's author, and novelist. Her humorous etiquette guide, The Nice Girl's Guide to Good Behavior (1935), was reprinted in recent years. She published two children's stories—Jam Tomorrow (1937), a housekeeping story about a rector, his three children, and two cousins staying with them, who take over the running of the house, and Five Farthings: A London Story (1939), about a young girl, newly relocated to London with her family, who explores the city, learns housekeeping, and falls happily into the world of publishing. The latter was reprinted by Margin Notes Books in 2011. Redlich also published four novels. Of her debut, Cheap Return: Portrait of an Educated Woman (1934), the Melbourne Age said it was "clever and amusing, though it is impossible to approve of the lax moral standards of the central figure." Consenting Party (1934) appeared the same year, and was referred to as a romantic comedy, but details are lacking. No Love Lost (1937) is, according to the Perth Western Mail, "a simply-told story of the reactions of a schoolgirl to the unhappy marriage of her parents." Details are also lacking for The Various Light (1948), except for the rather odd fact that psychoanalyst Carl Jung apparently recommended it to a friend. She married a Danish diplomat, and published Danish Delight (1939) about her experiences adapting to life in Denmark, and a subsequent travel book, Summer Landscape: Denmark, England, U.S.A. (1952). After her death, her husband edited The Unfolding Years: A Fragment by Monica Redlich (1970), which may be an unfinished memoir.

REED, MARGARET BAINES (1882 - 1957) 1920s – 1940s Daughter of boys' school story author Talbot Baines Reed. Author of a dozen volumes of children's fiction, much of it fictional retellings of historical events. These include The Foundling of Thornesford: A Story of Norman and Saxon (1926), Sir Adam's Orchard: A Story of York and Lancaster (1926), and Cousin Timothy: A Story of Cavalier and Roundhead (1927). A few later titles, however, seem like more general fiction, including H.R.H. Miss Johnson (1929) Betty Lends a Hand (1930), and A Major Mystery (1943).

REED, MAUD D[OROTHY]. (12 Jun 1908 - 2003) 1940s – 1960s Children's writer and author of several passion plays and nativity plays. Two of her children's titles, Angela at School (1946) and The New Girl at 'Fir Trees' (1948), are school stories, while four later titles form a series—It Was Candy's Idea (1955), Candy Finds the Clue (1958), Candy Does It Again (1960), and Candy in the Alps (1964).

Rees, Helen           see OLIVER, JANE

REES, JEAN A[NGLIN]. (10 Nov 1912 – 18 Nov 1980) 1940s - 1980 Author of more than 20 volumes of fiction, including Christian-themed children's titles and novels, and several biographies of religious figures. She published four "evangelistic" girls' school stories—Carol & Co. (1946), The Conways of Chelwood House (1951), Penelope and Jane (1952), and Carol and Nicola (1958). Other children's titles include Junior Detectives Limited (1954), Junior Detectives Work Again (1958), and Danger, Saints at Work! (1958). Her adult fiction includes The Lady with the Sun Lamp (1954), Madame Estelle (1956) Wife of Hamish (1957), Road to Sodom (1961), Rose Among Thistles (1963), and Embarrassing Relations (1967).

Reeve, Christopher           see WEBB, DOROTHY ANNA MARIA

REEVES, AMBER (1 Jul 1887 – 26 Dec 1981) (married name Blanco White) Daughter of author and activist Maud Pember Reeves and known in part for her scandalous affair and child with novelist H. G. Wells (she married her husband while pregnant with Wells' child, though all apparently remained friendly). Author of four novels and several widely varied nonfiction works. Her fiction focused on women's roles and frustrations. The Reward of Virtue (1911) demonstrates how inadequate women's education was for the demands even of married life. A Lady and Her Husband (1914), now reprinted by Persephone, is about a middle-aged woman who, following her daughter's engagement, channels her energies into her husband's teashop business. The others are Helen in Love (1916) and Give and Take (1923). Wells' novels Ann Veronica (1909) and The Research Magnificent (1915) contain somewhat autobiographical portrayals of their relationship. Margaret Drabble wrote admiringly about Reeves' work here.

Reid, Eleanor           see SMITH, CONSTANCE ISABEL

REID, HILDA STEWART (1898 – 24 Apr 1982) 1920s – 1930s A member of the group of Somerville College friends that included Winifred HOLTBY, Vera BRITTAIN, and Margaret KENNEDY. Author of four novels. Of Phillida, or, The Reluctant Adventurer (1928), the Guardian said, "Rarely have we been so taken with a story of adventure as we were with this chronicle of Richard Carey's thrilling Odyssey in Africa in the seventeenth century and of his belated love-affair with his Phillida." Two Soldiers and a Lady (1932) is set in the days of Cromwell, while Emily (1933) has a contemporary setting. The Daily Telegraph said of it, "The cranks, the nut-eaters, the uplifters, the earnest remakers of post-war Europe are paraded in company with the most comic little group of Balkan intriguers London has ever sheltered." Her final novel, Ashley Hamel (1939), is about life in a Dorsetshire village from the 18th to the 20th century. She published two later historical works, One Hundred Years in a Chelsea Parish (1938) and The Story of the County of London Branch (1948), about the London branch of the Red Cross. She also co-edited Winifred HOLTBY's posthumously published story collection, Pavements at Anderby (1937).

REID, LIZZIE C. (dates unknown) 1900s – 1910s Untraced author of six children's titles, including one girls' school story, Jo Maxwell, Schoolgirl (1913). The other titles are The Kidnapping of Ursula, or, Aunt Abigail's Mistake (1904), Jacyntha, A Merry-Hearted Girl (1905), The Way of a Girl (1907), Roy of Daisydale, or, The Heir of Cragmere (1909), and Grantley Carr's Test. The date of the last, very rare title is unknown. We know that Reid lived in Belfast for a time and had died by 1927, but other details are lacking.

RENAULT, MARY (4 Sept 1905 – 13 Dec 1983) (pseudonym of Eileen Mary Challans) 1930s – 1980s Author of more than a dozen novels, which were often trailblazing in their representation of gay and lesbian characters, as well as biographical and historical work. Best known for her eight novels set in the ancient Greek world. The Last of the Wine (1956) focuses on two male lovers in the Peloponnesian War. The King Must Die (1958) and The Bull from the Sea (1962) are about Theseus. The Mask of Apollo (1966) deals with Greek theatre. Fire from Heaven (1970), The Persian Boy (1972), and Funeral Games (1981) form a trilogy about Alexander the Great. And The Praise Singer (1979) is about Simonides. Her six earlier novels have contemporary settings. Purposes of Love (1939), Kind Are Her Answers (1940), and Return to Night (1947) make use of her experiences as a nurse. The Friendly Young Ladies (1944) is a surprisingly matter-of-fact portrayal of a lesbian couple living on a houseboat during World War II. The North Face (1948), according to Jenny Hartley, takes the main character's predilection for rock-climbing as a symbol for life in the postwar years. And The Charioteer (1953) deals with a wounded soldier's triangular relationships with a conscientious objector and a naval officer while in a hospital in the midst of blackout and bombings. In later years, Renault published a book about famous Greek battles, Lion in the Gateway: The Heroic Battles of the Greeks and Persians at Marathon, Salamis, and Thermopylae (1964), and a biography of Alexander the Great, The Nature of Alexander (1975). She worked as a nurse until 1946, when the film rights to Return to Night were sold to MGM, which allowed her to relocate to South Africa, where she remained for the rest of her life, and to focus on her writing.

Rexford, Nina           see DULCIE SANCIER

REYNOLDS, AMY DORA (1860 – 11 Jun 1957) (née Percy Williams, aka Mrs. Fred Reynolds) 1890s – 1930s Author of more than 40 works of fiction, apparently including crime and romance novels, though details are lacking. Titles include Llanartro (1895), The Hut on the Island (1902), A Quaker Wooing (1905), Hazel of Hazeldean (1906), The Lady in Grey (1909), The Granite Cross (1913), Trefoil (1923), Miss Anne Tankerton (1926), The Loram Picture (1930), Green Stockings (1933), and The Woman Drives (1936).

REYNOLDS, GERTRUDE M[INNIE]. (1861 – 22 Nov 1939) (née Robins, aka Mrs. Baillie-Reynolds) 1880s – 1930s Author of more than 50 volumes of fiction which seem to lean toward melodrama. The Girl from Nowhere (1910) is about a disgraced man who saves a girl from suicide. The Cost of a Promise (1914) appears to deal with women's suffrage. The Lonely Stronghold (1918) is about a young bank employee who inherits a fortune and is made unhappy by it, and Also Ran (1920) is about a Red Cross nurse whose love for a wounded officer is threatened by a forced marriage to another man. Other titles include Keep My Secret (1886), The Ides of March (1891), The Silence Broken (1897), Phoebe in Fetters (1904), The Supreme Test (1908), The Notorious Miss Lisle (1911), The Court Favourite (1915), The Lost Discovery (1923), Accessory after the Fact (1928), Stranglehold (1930), Intrusive Tourist (1935), and It Is Not Safe to Know (1939).

RHODES, [ANNIE] KATHLYN (KATHLEEN) (4 Jul 1877 – 15 Jan 1962) 1890s – 1950s Sister of Hylda BALL. Author of more than 50 volumes of fiction, including mysteries, romances, and works for children. Her romances, often set in exotic locales and inspired by her own travels in Egypt, include The Lure of the Desert (1916), Desert Lovers (1922), Desert Nocturne (1939), and It Happened in Cairo (1944). Her children's titles include several school stories, which Sims and Clare note are competent but contain "more snobbishness and racism than usual." Those include Schoolgirl Honour (1912), Dodo's Schooldays (1913), Headmistress Hilary (1914), Schoolgirl Chums (1922), The Head of the House (1924), We Three at School (1934), A Schoolgirl in Switzerland (1936), and A Schoolgirl in Egypt (1937). It's unclear which of her books might be mysteries, but Crime on a Cruise (1935) and In Search of Stephanie (1941) seem like possibilities. Her memoir is December Brings Me Roses: A Book of Memories (1950).

RHYS, GRACE (1865 - 1929) (née Little) 1890s – 1920s Children's author, poet, and novelist whose works were often set in Ireland. Titles include Mary Dominic (1898), The Wooing of Sheila (1901), The Prince of Lisnover (1904), The Bride (1909), The Charming of Estercel (1913), and Eleanor in the Loft (1923).

RHYS, JEAN (24 Aug 1890 – 14 May 1979) (pseudonym of Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams, married names Lenglet, Smith, and Hamer) 1920s – 1930s, 1960s – 1970s Author of five novels and several story collections, now considered one of the major writers of the 20th century. Born in Dominica of a British father and a white Creole mother, Rhys came to England in her teens to go to school and remained for the rest of her life. Her first collection, The Left Bank and Other Stories (1927), was published with the aid of Ford Madox Ford. Her four early novels—Quartet (1928), After Leaving Mr Mackenzie (1930), Voyage in the Dark (1934), and Good Morning, Midnight (1939)— were modernist in style and reflected her own troubled and conflicted life, including bold and controversial portrayals of alcoholism, abortion, and female sexuality. After her fourth novel, Rhys sank into obscurity and personal turmoil. Twice during these years advertisements had to be placed in newspapers for information on her whereabouts, in order to obtain rights for BBC adaptations of her work. It wasn't until the 1960s when a renewed interest in her early work allowed her to publish one final novel, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), the story of the first Mrs. Rochester from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, which she had been planning for decades and which is widely considered her masterpiece. Two more collections of stories followed, Tigers Are Better Looking (1968) and Sleep It Off, Lady (1976). Rhys's unfinished memoir, Smile Please, was published posthumously in 1979. Jean Rhys: Letters 1931–1966 appeared in 1984, and her Collected Short Stories, including three previously uncollected stories, in 1987.

RHYS, JULIA (dates unknown) (née Clark) 1950s – 1960s Author of two children's titles—Crab Village (1954) and The Tinsel November (1962). The latter is described as: "A fantasy tale of a gloomy All Hallow's Eve, an old English house, some mysterious antique marionettes and a magical time of dark November days which will usher in the candle-glow of Christmas."

RHYS, MARY (1888 – 17 Sept 1946) (aka Mimpsy Rhys) 1920s – 1930s Author, while still a child herself, of a children's book, Mr. Hermit Crab: A Tale for Children by a Child (1929), about two children wildly misinterpreting the events around them. She later published an eccentric memoir of her eccentric family, Scenes from Family Life (1938). According to a family member, her death in her late 50s was due to suicide.

Rhys, Victoria           see PRICE, MARJORIE MURIEL

RICE, DOROTHY MARY (26 Apr 1913 - 1975) (aka Dorothy Vicary, aka Dorothy Borne) 1930s – 1960s Author of nine works of children's fiction. These include four girls' school stories. Three—Good for Gracie! (1938), Niece of the Headmistress (1939), and Lucy Brown's Schooldays (1941)—appeared under her Vicary pseudonym, the fourth, A Secret at Sprayle (1955), under her own name. Also under her own name are Hugh Nameless (1950), The Boy on the Boat-Train (1952), and The Gate in the Wall (1959). She apparently published two late titles—A House with a Secret (1963) and Ringer's Roost (1964)—as Dorothy Borne.

RICE, GRACE DOROTHY (4 Nov 1899 - 1986) 1930s Author of a single children's title, Winsome's Game (1930).

RICHARDSON, DOROTHY [MILLER] (17 May 1873 – 17 Jun 1957) (married name Odle) 1910s – 1960s Journalist and novelist, now recognized as one of the major figures in early modernist literature, and particularly as one of the innovators of the stream of consciousness technique. She believed that women's prose should be "unpunctuated, moving from point to point without formal obstructions." Her major work, Pilgrimage, is a series of thirteen novels tracing the development of its main character, Miriam Henderson, over the course of more than two decades. The works are at least somewhat autobiographical. The first 12 volumes of the work appeared by the late 1930s, but the final volume appeared only after her death. Titles are Pointed Roofs (1915), Backwater (1916), Honeycomb (1917), The Tunnel (1919), Interim (1919), Deadlock (1921), Revolving Lights (1923), The Trap (1925), Oberland (1927), Dawn's Left Hand (1931), Clear Horizon (1935), Dimple Hill (1938), and March Moonlight (1967).

Richardson, Flavia           see THOMSON, CHRISTINE CAMPBELL

RICHINGS, MILDRED [GLADYS] (1879 – 6 Apr 1951) (aka John Knipe) 1920s – 1930s Author of three pseudonymous novels—The Watch-Dog of the Crown (1920), The Hour Before the Dawn (1921), and Whited Sepulchres (1924)—which may be thrillers, and a later historical novel under her own name, Men Loved Darkness (1935). She also published a well-regarded history, Espionage: The Story of the Secret Service of the English Crown (1934).

Richmond, Mary           see LINDSAY, KATHLEEN

RICKARD, JESSIE (JESSICA) LOUISA (1876 – 28 Jan 1963) (née Moore, earlier married name Ackland, aka Mrs. Victor Rickard) 1910s – 1950 Author of nearly 40 novels, including some mysteries and thrillers. These seem to include Not Sufficient Evidence (1926), The Empty Villa (1929), The Dark Stranger (1930), Murder by Night (1936), and The Guilty Party (1940). She published several novels dealing with World War I. The Light Above the Crossroads (1918) deals with a young man who becomes a British spy despite his conflictedness because his best friend is German. The Fire of Green Boughs (1918) is also about conflictedness, as a compassionate young woman who takes in a dying German finds herself arrested for aiding the enemy. And in The House of Courage (1919), women working in a prisoner of war camp face similar moral complexity. Other titles include Young Mr. Gibbs (1911), A Reckless Puritan (1921), Blindfold (1922), A Bird of Strange Plumage (1927), Sorel's Second Husband (1932), Cuckoo Street (1937), White Satin (1945), and Shandon Hall (1950).

RIDDELL, FLORENCE [GERTRUDE] (c1885 – 30 Mar 1960) (née McDonald) 1920s – 1930s An adventurous figure who lived in India and Africa after her husband's death and wrote novels about similarly independent women in exotic locales. Titles include Kenya Mist (1924), Dream Island (1926), The Misty Pathway (1928), The House of the Dey (1929), and Wives Win (1931). She also published a memoir, I Go Wandering: A Travel Biography (1935), presumably the source of her wry quotation: "I have faced hydrophobic dogs & prowling lions, but I have never been in any of those perilous situations in which a woman has to fight desperately for her virtue. My sex-appeal, you will perceive, must be limited."

RIDDELL, MARJORIE (8 Sept 1923 – 12 May 1985) 1950s – 1960s Author of four works of fiction, most famously her debut, M Is for Mother (1953), an E. M. DELAFIELD-esque comedy about a young woman with an overbearing mother. A contemporary critic compared it to the cartoons of Helen Hokinson. Information is sparse about what appears to be a second novel, The Big City (1958), but it was followed by two career novels for girls, A Model Beginning (1962) and Press Story (1964).

RIDLEY, ALICE (30 Oct 1860 – 6 Jun 1945) (née Davenport) 1890s – 1910s Author of six novels which seem to be melodramatic in tone, including The Story of Aline (1896), A Tempered Wind (1897), Anne Mainwaring (1901), A Daughter of Jael (1904), The Sparrow with One White Feather (1905), and Margery Fytton (1913).

Rift, Valerie           see BARTLETT, MARIE

RILEY, SALLY (dates unknown) 1950s Untraced author of a single girls' school story, The Madcap of St Monica's (1954).

RITA (14 Jun 1856 – 1 Jan 1938) (pseudonym of Eliza Margaret Jane Gollan, married names Booth and Humphreys, aka Mrs W. Desmond Humphreys) 1870s – 1930s Author of well over 100 romantic novels, often featuring aristocrats in glamorous international settings, and considered a rival of Ouida and Marie CORELLI. Sheba (1889) makes use of her time in Australia as a young girl. A Husband of No Importance (1894), playing on an Oscar Wilde title, was a critique of the "New Woman" novel, while Peg the Rake (1894) was set in Ireland and became a massive bestseller. Souls (1903), another bestseller, was a satire of the "smart set," while Grandmother (1927), The Wand'ring Darling (1928), and Jean and Jeanette (1929) form a trilogy set in Victorian times. Other titles include Vivienne (1877), My Lady Coquette (1881), Good Mrs. Hypocrite (1897), Rita's Calvary (1909), and The Marriage Comedy (1934).

RITCHIE, BARBARA [JEAN] LOGIE (c1861 - 1941) (née Logie) 1910s Irish author of a single novel, The Tenant of Sea Cottage (1916), about which little information is available.

Ritchie, Claire           see BRADLEY, NORAH MARY BRADLEY

Rivers, Dorothy           see STARR, LEONORA

RIVETT, EDITH CAROLINE (1894 – 2 Jul 1958) (aka ECR Lorac, aka Carol Carnac, aka Carol Rivett) 1930s - 1950s Author of more than 70 mystery novels, mostly in two series. One, using her E.C.R. Lorac pseudonym, features the Scottish Chief Inspector Robert MacDonald of the London Metropolitan Police. The other, written under the name Carol Carnac, features Inspector Julian Rivers. Among the former are Triple Death (1936), Murder at Mornington (1937), The Striped Suitcase (1946), It's Her Own Funeral (1951), The Burning Question (1957), and Death of a Lady Killer (1959). The latter series includes The Murder on the Burrows (1931), Death on the Oxford Road (1933), Murder in Chelsea (1934), Bats in the Belfry (1937), Tryst for a Tragedy (1940), Murder by Matchlight (1945), Accident by Design (1950), Shroud of Darkness (1954), and Death in Triplicate (1958). Two early novels—Outer Circle (1939) and Time Remembered (1940)—appeared under her Carol Rivett pseudonym.

ROBERTS, [ANNE] GRACE (1879 – 7 Dec 1962) (married name Bowen-Jones) 1950s Welsh author of a single novel, Lowri (1956), set in a village in Wales in the late 19th century and recommended by Ann, a reader of this blog who discussed the book on her own blog here. Roberts was born and died in Ruthin, Denbighshire in Wales.

ROBERTS, KATE (13 Feb 1891 – 4 Apr 1985) (married name Williams) 1920s – 1980s Welsh writer best known for her short stories, especially those in the collection Tea in the Heather (1959), but who also wrote novels, including Feet in Chains (1936) and The Living that Sleep (1956). A more comprehensive story collection appeared in 1991 as The World of Kate Roberts: Selected Stories 1925-1981.

ROBERTS, LYNETTE (EVELYN) [BEATRICE] (4 Jul 1909 – 26 Sept 1995) (married name Rhys) 1940s Although best known for her poetry—especially from the WWII years—Roberts' wartime diaries, reminiscences of T. S. Eliot and the Sitwells, and short stories were collected in 2008. Roberts also wrote one novel, Nesta (1944), which was never published and appears to have been lost.

Roberts, Ursula           see MILES, SUSAN

ROBERTSON, E[ILEEN]. ARNOT (20 Jan 1903 – 21 Sept 1961) (pseudonym of Eileen Arbuthnot Robertson, married name Turner) 1920s – 1960s Film critic and author of nearly a dozen novels. Best known for three early novels reprinted by Virago in the 1980s—Cullum (1928), Four Frightened People (1931), set in the Malayan jungle (despite the fact that she had never been there), and Ordinary Families (1933), a family comedy set in Suffolk. The Signpost (1943) is about a wounded RAF pilot and his relationship with a French woman in a remote Irish fishing village. Her other novels are Three Came Unarmed (1929), Thames Portrait (1937), Summer’s Lease (1940), Mr. Cobbett and the Indians (1942), Devices and Desires (1954), Justice of the Heart (1958), and The Strangers on My Roof (1964), the last of which was published posthumously. As a film critic, she was known for her battle with MGM, who had said, according to her ODNB entry, that her reviews were "unnecessarily harmful to the film industry." Following her beloved husband's accidental death, she committed suicide.

Robertson, Helen           see EDMISTON, HELEN

ROBERTSON, MIMA (JEMIMA) [SIMPSON TAYLOR] (1901 - 1985) (Mima was a nickname for Jemima, aka Alison Taylor) 1920s – 1950s Author of ten works of fiction, some of which may be for children. Titles are The Leopard's Skin (1928), After Stormy Seas (1929), The Sport of Circumstance (1929), Bitter Bread: A Tale of Old Dunfermline (1929, as Alison Taylor), Evil Enchantment (1930), Music in the Air (1932, as Alison Taylor), Margaret Takes Charge (1941), And One Stood By (1941), Three on Their Own (1941), and The Castilion (1953). She later wrote a book about Old Dunfermline (1979). She seems to have also published numerous later works of fiction in The People's Friend.

ROBERTSON, OLIVIA [MELIAN] (13 Apr 1917 – 14 Nov 2013) 1940s – 1950s Novelist and writer on the occult. The first of her five novels, Field of the Stranger (1948), was a Book Society choice—the cover blurb says it's "[a] witty novel in which the ancient charm of Irish county life contends with currents as new as existentialism." The others are The Golden Eye (1949), Miranda Speaks (1950), It's an Old Irish Custom (1953), and Dublin Phoenix (1957).

ROBINS, DENISE [NAOMI] (1 Feb 1897 – 1 May 1985) (née Klein, later married name Pearson, aka Denise Chesterton, aka Ashley French, aka Harriet Gray, aka Hervey Hamilton, aka Julia Kane, aka Francesca Wright) 1920s – 1970s Mother of Patricia ROBINS. Author of more than 200 romantic novels, most under her own name but a few under her various pseudonyms. She was known for exploring serious issues and pushing the bounds of her genre. Titles include The Marriage Bond (1924), The Inevitable End (1927), It Wasn't Love (1930), Slave-Woman (1934), Dear Loyalty (1939), Set the Stars Alight (1941), War Changes Everything (1943), Love Me No More! (1948), The Other Love (1952), The Enchanted Island (1956), Lightning Strikes Twice (1966), Sweet Cassandra (1970), and Dark Corridor (1974).

ROBINS, PATRICIA [DENISE] (1 Feb 1921 – 4 Dec 2016) (married name Clark, aka Claire Lorrimer, aka Susan Patrick) 1940s – 2000s Daughter of Denise ROBINS. Author of more than 80 novels, most of them romances, though late in life she also wrote a series of mysteries under her Lorrimer pseudonym. Titles include To the Stars (1944), Awake My Heart (1950), Heart's Desire (1953), The Long Wait (1962), Where Duty Lies (1957), Lady Chatterley's Daughter (1961), Topaz Island (1965), Laugh on Friday (1969), and Frost in the Sun (1986). Her Lorrimer myseries include Over My Dead Body (2003), Dead Centre (2005), and Dead Reckoning (2009).

ROBINSON, MARTHA (dates unknown) 1940s – 1950s Author of more than a dozen children's books, including two girls' school stories known for their realism and focus on ordinary school life—High School (1948) and Three Friends (1950). Others include A House of Their Own (1949), Family Holiday (1951), Trouble at Talltrees (1953), Matty in Films (1953), and The Vet's Family (1963). She was apparently in the film industry, judging from her earlier memoir, Continuity Girl: An Account of the Author's Experiences in the Film Industry (1937), but we've been unable to trace her.

ROBSON, ISABEL SUART (1862 – 25 Aug 1950) (née Suart) 1890s – 1910s Author of around 30 works of fiction. Most are for children, including school stories for both boys and girls, but a few seem to be for adults. Titles include How the Village Was Won (1890), Two Little Sisters and Humphrey (1896), Marjorie's Stranger (1897), The Bright Kernel of Life (1899), The Oddity: A Story of High School Life (1901), Henshawe of Greycotes (1904), The Troublesome Bevans, or, Laurence, The Hero of Great Morvans (1906), Girls of the Red House (1909), The Girls at the Stone House (1912), and Eight Girls and Their Adventures (1916).

ROCHE, KAY (KATHLEEN) [MARGARET] (15 Mar 1911 – 21 Sept 1997) 1950s Author of two novels which may be mysteries or otherwise crime-oriented. The Shuttered House (1950) appears to be set in Tangier, while The Game and the Candle (1951) takes place in Spain.

ROHMER, ELIZABETH SAX (1886 - 1979) (pseudonym of Rose Elizabeth Knox Ward) 1950s Wife of thriller writer Sax Rohmer and the author of a single novel of her own, Bianca in Black (1958), about a model who believes herself to be cursed. She later collaborated with Rohmer's former assistant on Master of Villainy: A Biography of Sax Rohmer (1972).

Roland, Mary           see BRAND, CHRISTIANNA

RONELL, KATHERINE (dates unknown) 1940s Untraced author of a single novel—Fortune's Yoke (1940).

ROSE, ISABEL BROWN (29 Apr 1883-?1951) (née Brown) 1920s Author of fiction and non-fiction dealing with India. She was married there and may have worked as a missionary. She wrote at least three novels—Red Blossoms (1925), The Measure of Margaret (1927), and Diana Drew (1928)—all set in India, and Diana's Indian Diary (1930) may well be fiction too. She also published Our Parish in India: Lights and Shadows of Missionary Life (1926). She later emigrated to the U.S.

Ross, Catherine           see BEATY, BETTY [JOAN CAMPBELL]

ROSS, ISHBEL (15 Dec 1895 – 21 Sept 1975) (married name Rae) 1930s – 1940s Best known for her journalism and for biographies of American women such as Clara Barton and Mary Todd Lincoln, Ross also published five novels. Of her debut, Promenade Deck (1932), the Bookman said: "Passengers on a world cruise undergo everything from love to suicide. The stereotyped characters—a siren and a spinster school-teacher, a misogynist and a gigolo, a dissolute flapper and a clean college girl—are made extraordinarily interesting by the author's real gift for character drawing." The others are Marriage in Gotham (1933), Highland Twilight (1934), Fifty Years a Woman (1938), and Isle of Escape (1942).

ROSS, JEAN (1907 – 14 Oct 1985) (pseudonym of Irene Dale Hewson) 1930s – 1960s Children's writer and author of nearly two dozen novels. Under her own name, she wrote numerous children's plays in the 1920s, before turning to fiction. Novels include Flowers Without Sun (1938), Strangers Under Our Roof (1943), Aunt Ailsa (1944), Jania (1948), The Gothic House (1950), A Picnic by Wagonette (1953), Under a Glass Dome (1956), The Night Outside (1960), The Great-Aunts (1964), and A View of the Island: A Post-Atomic Age Fairy Tale (1965). Not to be confused with Jean Iris Ross, who inspired Christopher Isherwood's character, Sally Bowles.

ROSS, KATHLEEN (dates unknown) 1910s Untraced author of a single girls' school story, The Girls of Elville College (1917), which follows its main characters into early adulthood.

ROURKE, LOUISE [MUSGRAVE-] (1899 - ????) (née Dickerson-Watkins) 1930s Poet, memoirist, and author of a single novel, The Tree's Shadow (1930), included in a list of works dealing with the Canadian prairies. The Land of the Frozen Tide (1928) is a memoir of her life in Fort Chipewyan in Northern Canada.

Rowan, Barbara           see POLLOCK, IDA [JULIE]

ROWAN, MARGARET (dates unknown) 1950s Untraced author of a single girls' school story, Thea and Her Secret Societies (1956).

Rowlands, Effie           see ALBANESI, ADELAIDE MARIA

Roy, Gordon           see WALLACE, HELEN

Royce, Marjory           see MILES, CONSTANCE

ROYDE-SMITH, NAOMI [GWLADYS] (30 Apr 1875 – 28 Jul 1964) (originally Naomi Holroyd Smith, married name Milton) 1900s, 1920s – 1960 Travel writer, playwright, biographer, and author of more than three dozen novels. Jane Fairfax (1940) is a prequel to Austen’s Emma that mixes other characters—and their creators—into the plot. Other novels include The Tortoiseshell Cat (1925), Children in the Wood (1928), The Delicate Situation (1931), The Bridge (1932), All Star Cast (1936), Rosy Trodd (1950), Love at First Sight (1956), and Love and a Birdcage (1960). During World War II, Royde-Smith published Outside Information (1941), a book with the voluminous subtitle, "Being a Diary of Rumours Collected by Naomi Royde Smith; Together with Letters from Others and Some Account of Events in the Life of an Unofficial Person in London and Winchester during the Months of September and October 1940."

RUBENS, BERNICE [RUTH] (26 Jul 1928 – 13 Oct 2004) (married name Nassauer) 1960s – 1990s Welsh novelist and screenwriter, whose first book, Set On Edge, appeared in 1960. Best known for Madame Sousatzka (1962), made into a film starring Shirley MacLaine, and The Elected Member (1969), which won the Booker Prize. Other titles include Mate in Three (1965), Sunday Best (1971), I Sent a Letter to My Love (1975), Spring Sonata (1979), Birds of Passage (1981), Kingdom Come (1990), Yesterday in the Back Lane (1995), and I, Dreyfus (1999).

RUBIEN, BARBARA [FRANCES] (1906 - 1996) (née Courlander, aka Elizabeth Anthony) 1940s Apparently the sister of mystery writer Shelley SMITH. Author of a single novel under her own name, The Cup and the Song (1947), and two mysteries under her pseudonym—Dramatic Murder (1948) and Made for Murder (1950).

RUCK, [AMY] BERTA (ROBERTA) (2 Aug 1878 – 11 Aug 1978) (married name Onions, later Oliver, aka Amy Roberta Ruck) 1910s – 1960s Author of more than 100 works of fiction, most light-hearted romances, often characterized by humor and versatility of subject matter. A New York World critic said, "Berta Ruck's books are sweet and interesting. She seems just to pour herself into her stories." Titles include His Official Fiancée (1914), Miss Million's Maid (1915), The Subconscious Courtship (1922), The Mind of a Minx (1927), Understudy (1933), Love on Second Thoughts (1936), Spinster's Progress (1942), Spice of Life (1952), Sherry and Ghosts (1961), and Shopping for a Husband (1967). The Girls at His Billet (1916) is about three sisters thrilled by the arrival of an Army camp in their village, and some of the characters reappear in the World War II-themed Fiancees Are Relatives (1941). She also wrote Land Army novels for both wars—A Land-Girl's Love Story (1919) and Jade Earrings (1941). And in The Disturbing Charm (1919), Ruck includes a supporting character suffering from trauma that we would now call PTSD. (Thanks to Melissa, a reader of this blog, for the details about Ruck's wartime writings.) She also published several volumes of memoir, including A Story-Teller Tells the Truth: Reminiscences and Notes (1935), A Smile for the Past (1959), and Ancestral Voices (1972).

RUSSELL, IVY [ETHEL] (6 Jan 1907 - 2005) (née Southern, earlier married name Williams) 1950s – 1960s Playwright and author of more than a dozen children's books. Her first, Four With a Purpose (1950), was a school story. Others include Megan of the Welsh Hills (1952), Princess Susan (1954), Highland Cousin (1957), The Inn of Mystery (1959), and The Unexpected Visitor (1962). She also published Christian-themed plays for children.

Russell, Sarah           see LASKI, MARGHANITA

RUTHERFORD, CONSTANCE (c1887 – 2 Jun 1961) 1910s – 1940s Author of six novels which display considerable versatility of theme and style. The Lily Field (1933) is set in France during the Hundred Years War. The Forgotten Terror (1938) is a mystery acclaimed by the likes of Alexander Woollcott. Double Entry (1939) is about a young woman who finds that she can travel in time to the 14th century, an affinity her archaeologist husband exploits. And The Door Without a Key (1948) is a psychological spy story. Information about her two earlier novels—The Blazing Star (1914) and The Straight Furrow (1920)—is lacking.

RUTLAND, HARRIET (1901 - 1962) (pseudonym of Olive Maude Shinwell, née Seers) 1930s – 1940s Mystery writer who published three novels, all positively reviewed at the time and characterized by a dark sense of humor. Knock, Murder, Knock! (1938), which I reviewed here, is set at a mundane watering spa, in which the elderly guests enjoy spiteful gossip about the younger, especially when murder takes the stage. Bleeding Hooks (1940, aka The Poison Fly Murder) is set among a group of fly fishers staying at a Welsh lodge. And Blue Murder (1942) is set during World War II among an unsavory family whose members find themselves targets of a killer. All three were reprinted by Dean Street Press.

Ryall, Sybil           see BOLITHO, SYBIL

Ryce, John           see BROWNE, ALICE MAUDE

Rybot, Doris           see PONSONBY, DORIS ALMON

RYLANDS, ANNA (dates unknown) 1930s Untraced author of a single short romance, Faint Heart (1932).