British & Irish Women Writers of Fiction 1910-1960 (Ca - Cla)

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

INTRODUCTION
A	BA–BH	BI-BO	BR-BY	CA-CLA
CLE-CU	D	E-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 544 pages! 

BRITISH & IRISH WOMEN WRITERS OF FICTION 1910-1960 (PDF) 

[Current total: 2,391 writers] 

UPDATED 2/29/2024

 

CADELL, ELIZABETH [VIOLET] (10 Nov 1903 – 9 Oct 1989) (née Vandyke, aka Harriet Ainsworth) 1940s – 1980s Author of nearly sixty works of fiction, most of them light-hearted, humorous romance or family stories, some with mild elements of mystery or suspense. She used her Ainsworth pseudonym only three times, for somewhat more straightforwardly crime-themed novels—Consider the Lilies (1956), Shadows on the Water (1958), and Death Among Friends (1964). Other works include My Dear Aunt Flora (1946), Fishy, Said the Admiral (1947, aka Last Straw for Harriet), Iris in Winter (1949), The Greenwood Shady (1950, aka Brimstone in the Garden), Journey's Eve (1953, aka Crystal Clear), The Cuckoo in Spring (1954), The Lark Shall Sing (1955), Bridal Array (1956, aka I Love a Lass), Sugar Candy Cottage (1958), The Yellow Brick Road (1960), Six Impossible Things (1961), Mixed Marriage (1963), The Corner Shop (1966), The Stratton Story (1968, aka Mrs. Westerby Changes Course), Royal Summons (1973), and Out of the Nest (1987). (Note: I’m using British titles here, with American variants in parentheses, even though in some cases the U.S. editions appeared first and are thus the true first editions.) Her works have been reprinted in recent years, including a previously-unreleased mystery, Death and Miss Dane, probably written in the late 1950s. I've written about her here.

CAFFYN, KATHLEEN MANNINGTON (1852/3 – 6 Feb 1926) (née Hunt, aka Iota) 1890s – 1910s Best known under her pseudonym, Iota, Caffyn came to prominence as a "New Woman" author with her debut, A Yellow Aster (1894). More than a dozen subsequent titles followed, including A Comedy in Spasms (1895), Ann Mauleverer (1899), Patricia: a Mother (1905), The Magic of May (1908), The Fire-Seeker (1911), Two Ways of Love (1913), and Mary Mirrielees (1916). She trained as a nurse (her husband was a doctor), spent several years in Australia, and faced substantial personal tragedy—her husband died soon after she achieved literary success, and all five of their children also predeceased her, two in infancy, two in World War I, and one having disappeared in the U.S. and being declared dead 14 years later.

Cahill, James           see MARSH, EILEEN

CAIRD, [ALICE] MONA [HENRYSON] (24 May 1854 – 4 Feb 1932) (née Alison, aka G. Noel Hatton) 1870s – 1930s Early feminist and author of nine novels, a story collection, a volume of essays focused on women's rights, and a travel book about Provence. She is best known for her "New Woman" novels The Wings of Azrael (1889), A Romance of the Moors (1891), and The Daughters of Danaus (1894), the last about a woman composer attempting to “have it all.” and for her story "The Yellow Drawing-Room" (1892). Other novels are Aunt Hetty (1877), originally published anonymously, Whom Nature Leadeth (1883), One That Wins (1887), The Pathway of the Gods (1898), The Stones of Sacrifice (1915), and The Great Wave (1931), the last a sci-fi tale "which attacks the racist policies of negative eugenics."

CAIRNES, MAUD (c1893 – 1965) (pseudonym of Lady Maud Kathleen Cairns Plantagenet Curzon-Herrick, née Hastings) 1930s Author of two novels. The first, Strange Journey (1935), about a young middle class wife who begins to find herself switching bodies with an elegant member of the landed gentry, was reviewed by Simon at Stuck in a Book here, and subsequently reprinted in the British Library Women Writers series. Her second novel, The Disappearing Duchess (1939), is about the mysterious vanishing of a young English duchess from her rest cure in a small French town—the Scotsman said it was “an ingeniously contrived story, and will keep a reader guessing until the final explanation is provided.” Lady Kathleen was the oldest daughter of the 14th Earl of Huntingdon and her husband's family had for centuries occupied the impressive Beaumanor Hall, which during WWII became a listening station in collaboration with Bletchley Park.

CALDWELL, ELLA (ISABELLA) STEWART (27 Dec 1864 - 26 Aug 1933) (aka Caldwell Stewart) 1890s, 1920s Professional nurse and author of three novels. It’s difficult to tell from contemporary mentions what The Quest of a Heart (1895), published under her pseudonym, is actually about, apart from being superlatively noble and Christian in theme. She waited 30 years to publish two more novels, Opened Eyes (1926) and Till Thou Hast Paid (1927), the latter about a man who can’t forget a youthful yielding to temptation in stealing from a friend. She also published a collection of poetry, Ah Me! When One Loves and Other Poems (1926).

CALDWELL, PATRICIA (15 Dec 1933 -         ) (married name Turner) 1950s – present Author of seven girls' school novels in the "Vivians" series, including two published in the 1950s—Prefects at Vivians (1956) and Head Girl at Vivians (1957)—and five more volumes published only in recent years by Girls Gone By—Strangers at Vivians (2011), Left Until Called for at Vivians (2012), A Last Year at Vivians (2013), Viva Vivians! (2014), and Winter at Vivians (2016).

CALLINAN, ELLEN (8 Oct 1878 - 20 Jan 1967) 1930s Author of a single novel, Hendy of Green Ghyll: A Tale of Teesdale (1936), "in which a woman who understands the dalesfolk tells an attractive story of the Durham countryside." Presumably she’s also the author of Look Up! Plain Talks with Working Boys (1907), published by the Religious Tract Society.

Cameron, Margaret           see LINDSAY, KATHLEEN

CAMBRIDGE, ELIZABETH (7 Oct 1893 – 3 Mar 1949) (pseudonym of Barbara Kathleen Hodges, née Webber) 1930s Author of seven novels, including Hostages to Fortune (1933), about marriage and motherhood, reprinted by Persephone. The others are The Sycamore Tree (1934), Susan and Joanna (1935), The Two Doctors (1936), Spring Always Comes (1938), Portrait of Angela (1939), and Mrs. Dufresne (1940).

CAMERON, LADY MARY (15 Oct 1897 – 11 Jul 1976) (pseudonym of Dorothy Fletcher, married name Cochran) 1930s Author of a highly successful memoir, Merrily I Go to Hell (1931), about her upbringing near Oxford, her world travels, and her eventual arrival in the U.S., to which she them emigrated. The book was subtitled “Reminiscences of a bishop’s daughter,” a slight exaggeration as her father was a vicar of long standing in Kibworth, but never apparently a bishop—but then, she wasn’t a “lady” either. She then published two novels, Mr. Dayton, Darling! (1933) and Duchess by Appointment (1934), which poke fun at American snobbery and notions of British aristocracy.

CAMERON, [MARGARET] ISABEL (22 Sept 1873 – 1 Nov 1957) (née Noble) 1910s – 1950s Scottish novelist best known for a series of much-reprinted books about 'The Doctor,' a character based on a beloved retired minister who filled in for Cameron's minister husband during a bout of illness. The series, beginning with The Doctor in 1915 and continuing through several additional volumes, reportedly sold more than a million copies in all, and when she subsequently began publishing novels, they sold more than half a million copies in their own right. Among those novels are The Adventures of Elizabeth Gray (1934), White Bell Heather (1938), The Fascinating Hat (1941), Cross Gaits (1945), Green Park Terrace (1949), and Mossford Manse (1957), as well as a series of four novels set in a fictional Scottish community called Glen Craigh—The But and Ben (1948), Tattered Tartan (1950), Heather Mixture (1952), and The Kirk of the Corrie (1956). She also published A Highland Chapbook (1928), a collection of Scottish folklore, and its follow-up, A Second Highland Chapbook (1948).

CAMPBELL, DOROTHY (dates unknown) 1920s – 1930s Prolific but untraced author of nearly 40 romance novels, including The Subduing of Katherine (1921), Sweet and Twenty (1922), The Daffodil Girl (1922), A Sweetheart on Approval (1923), Her Stepping-Stone (1924), Diana Defies Them (1926), Looking After Primrose (1928), Becky at Bay (1932), and Silver Mist (1937).

CAMPBELL, HAZEL [MARY FAITH] (1 Apr 1891 – 2 Oct 1950) (née Marlow) Author of five novels. The Servants of the Goddess (1928) is a "lost race" novel about a Himalayan kingdom and the Englishman who comes to its rescue. The Secret Brotherhood (1929) is about “revolutionary intrigue in India, with a mysterious leader, foretold by ancient inscriptions found in the Punjab.” The Burqa (1930) is a murder mystery set on an ocean liner headed for Asia. The Makra Mystery (1931) is about the adventures of an English author in India to get background for his next book. And Olga Knaresbrook—Detective (1933) is about two women detectives working on a case of jewel theft, which dramatically escalates to murder. She was of Scottish ancestry, but living in India for much of her life.

CAMPBELL, JUDITH (7 Nov 1914 – 22 Dec 2004) (pseudonym of Marion Stapylton Pares, possibly aka Anthony Grant) 1950s – 1980(?) Author of three pony stories—Four Ponies (1958), The Merrow Ponies (1960), and Family Pony (1962)—as well as numerous non-fiction works about horses and a biography of Princess Anne (1970). She may also be the author, under the Grant pseudonym, of a single sci-fi work, The Mutant (1980), though this appears to be uncertain.

Campbell, Karen           see BEATY, BETTY [JOAN CAMPBELL]

Campbell, Margaret see BOWEN, MARJORIE

CAMPBELL, MRS VERE (1860 – 1921) (pseudonym of Josephine Elisabeth Campbell, née Ellis) 1880s – 1910 Mother of Marjorie BOWEN. Author of eight melodramatic novels, with which she supported herself and her two daughters after separating from her husband. BOWEN noted that her mother's work "dealt entirely with her own experiences of passion and poverty. She wrote again and again of misunderstood and wronged women and the various attractive, but faithless, men who had crossed their path." Titles are The Crime of Keziah Keene (1889), Of This Death (1891), The Shibboleth (1894), The Problem of Prejudice (1896), Ferriby (1907), Render Unto Caesar (1909), The Master Schemer (1909), and For No Man Knoweth (1910), the last of which just barely qualifies her for this list.

CAMPION, SARAH (1 Jun 1906 – 22 Jul 2002) (pseudonym of Mary Rose Coulton, married name Alpers, aka Anna Flaxman) 1930s – 1950s Daughter of Cambridge historian G. G. Coulton. Author of more than a dozen novels, one of which, Mo Burdekin (1941), set in North Queensland, Australia in the late 19th century, was reprinted in the 1990s. Bonanza (1942) and The Pommy Cow (1944) form a trilogy with Mo Burdekin, and several of her other novels were also set in Australia. She worked as a teacher in the 1930s, including teaching English to German Jews until she was expelled by the Nazis in 1937. Her near future novel, Thirty Million Gas Masks (1937), warned of the Nazi danger. Her other novels are If She Is Wise (1935), Duet for Female Voices (1936), Cambridge Blue (1937), Unhandsome Corpse (1938), Turn Away No More (1940), Makeshift (1940), Hinemoa (1941, under her Flaxman pseudonym), Dr. Golightly (1946), and Come Again (1951). She also published a memoir of her father (1945) and an intriguing non-fiction work, National Baby: The Author's Experiences of Childbirth Under the National Health Service (1950). She emigrated to New Zealand in 1952.

CANDY, EDWARD (22 Aug 1925 – 3 Oct 1993) (pseudonym of Barbara Alison Neville, née Boodson) 1950s - 1980 Medical professional and author of 12 novels, including three mysteries—Which Doctor (1953), set in a children’s hospital, Bones of Contention (1954), set at the Royal College of Paediatricians, and Words for Murder Perhaps (1971), featuring a professor teaching a course on crime fiction whose subject comes to life with the murder of a fellow member of staff. The first two in particular make use of Neville's own medical background, as do the non-mysteries The Graver Tribe (1958), A Lady's Hand (1959) and Doctor Amadeus (1967). Parents' Day (1967) takes place in a coed school in Pembrokeshire, possibly based on Wennington School in Yorkshire, which her children attended (thanks to the author's daughter for this information). I reviewed that novel here. Her other novels are A Season of Discord (1964), Strokes of Havoc (1966), Scene Changing (1977), and Voices of Children (1980). Some sources list a 1956 title, Behind the Gun, from a different publisher, but if this was an additional novel, it has virtually ceased to exist now.

Canham, Doris           see LORD, DOREEN MILDRED DOUGLAS

CANNAN, JOANNA [MAXWELL] (27 May 1896 – 22 Apr 1961) (married name Pullein-Thompson) 1920s – 1960s Mother of children's authors Josephine, Diana, and Christine PULLEIN-THOMPSON and sister of May CANNAN. Author of more than three dozen works of fiction, including novels, mysteries, and children’s books. Among her early novels are The Misty Valley (1922) and Sheila Both-Ways (1928), both of which deal with unhappy marriages, and High Table (1931), set at Oxford (and one of the few Cannan novels to have been reprinted—by Oxford 20th Century Classics in the 1980s). Misty Valley is also to some extent concerned with the aftermath of World War I, though The Simple Pass On (1929, published in the U.S. as Orphan of Mars) is more centrally focused on the fate of former soldiers postwar. Princes in the Land (1938), a novel about motherhood, has been reprinted by Persephone. No Walls of Jasper (1930), Ithuriel's Hour (1931), and Frightened Angels (1936) are psychological studies of murder, while The Hills Sleep On (1935) and A Hand to Burn (1936) are more along the lines of "thrillers." With the advent of WWII, Cannan tried her hand at more traditional whodunits, including the humorous village mysteries They Rang Up the Police (1939) and Death at the Dog (1940), followed in later years by Murder Included (1950, aka Poisonous Relations and The Taste of Murder), Body in the Beck (1952), acclaimed by Barzun and Taylor as one of their 100 best mysteries, Long Shadows (1955), And Be a Villain (1958), and All Is Discovered (1962). Regarding her children's works, Cannan is often credited with inventing the genre of the girls' pony story, with A Pony for Jean (1936) and its sequels, including We Meet Our Cousins (1937), Another Pony for Jean (1938), and others—a genre that would serve her three daughters very well. I reviewed Death at the Dog here.

CANNAN, MAY WEDDERBURN (14 Oct 1893 – 11 Dec 1973) (married name Slater) 1930s Sister of Joanna CANNAN. Primarily known as a poet, Cannan published one novel, The Lonely Generation (1934), described by ODNB as a "fictionalized memoir", which makes use of her experiences in WWI, and an unfinished memoir, Grey Ghosts and Voices (1976). Cannan disagreed with Vera BRITTAIN's assessment of the war as a waste of a generation, noting in the memoir that, "Someone must go on writing for those who were still convinced of the right of the cause for which they had taken up arms." Her war poem "Rouen" has often been anthologized.

CAPES, HARRIET M[ARY]. (c1849 – Mar 1941) (aka Hester Delgairn, aka Sister/Mother Mary Reginald) 1910s – 1930s Nun at St. Dominic's Convent in Staffordshire, missionary, novelist, and biographer of religious figures. Her first fiction was apparently Footsteps in the Ward and Other Stories (1910). Later titles which appear to be fiction (but for which little information is available) are The Vision of Master Reginald, Friar Preacher (1911), "Pardon and Peace": The Last Chronicle of an Old Family (1920), Within the Enclosure (1923), written under her Delgairn pseudonym, and Gold or God? (1932). Strangely, there are in fact two Harriet Mary Capes, both of them authors, the other being a Magdalen Harriet Mary Capes, sister of novelist Bernard Capes, and there has been (and continues to be) confusion between them. Based on library catalogue entries, publisher information, and biographical details, I believe the above to be all the titles published by Sister Mary, while nine earlier children's titles, published 1885-1899 (and therefore too early to be included on this list), are by Magdalen (2 Sept 1843-29 Sept 1927), who also published a novel under the pseudonym Magdalen Brooke. A 1908 publication called Busy Bee's Day: A Fairy Play for Children is presumably by Magdalen as well, though I can't prove it. Should anyone have more detailed information about these authors or publications, please let me know.

CARBERY, MARY (1867 – 6 Feb 1949) (pseudonym of Mary Vanessa Toulmin, married names Evans-Freke and Sandford) 1920s Editor, memoirist, and author of at least two works of fiction. Born and raised in England, she moved to Ireland after her marriage, in 1890, to Algernon William George Evans-Freke, 9th Baron Carbery of Castle Freke in County Cork, at which time she became Lady Carbery, the name she adopted for her writings (despite having been widowed and remarried before she began publishing). Her fiction began with the anonymously-published The Germans in Cork (1917), which imagined an Ireland invaded by Germany. Her novel Children of the Dawn (1923) was also anonymous, and the Spectator described it as a "romance of early Ireland," going on to say, "The period is left a little uncertain, but Cretans, Greeks, Welshmen, and representatives of many of the other famous ancient civilizations of the world figure in the story. They make use, however, of the conventional modern Irish lingo, and address their Arch-Druids as 'Your Riverence.' To call it an historical novel would be rather to stretch the accepted meaning of the term history." Another book, called The Light in the Window, was apparently also published anonymously, but I've not been able to find any information about it. The Farm by Lough Gur (1937) seems difficult to classify: it's weaved together from notes taken by one Mary Fogarty about her middle-class Irish upbringing, but some blurbs suggest it's more of a novel. Happy World (1941) was Carbery's own memoir of childhood. Mary Carbery's West Cork Journal 1898-1901 was published in 1998. Carbery was also known for her love of caravaning, and crossed much of Europe in "Creeping Jenny," a caravan drawn by white oxen. Her sister, Constance Toulmin, also published a memoir, Happy Memories (1960), in which Carbery figures prominently.

Cardella, G.           see BARNETT, ADA

CARDEW, MARGARET [SOPHIE] (29 Nov 1894 – 7 Mar 1960) (née Stokes) 1940s – 1950s Author of two novels. A House in Venice (1941), reviewed here, is about the widow of a poet who becomes entangled with her husband's ex-wife and son while staying in Italy. The Guardian called it "a first novel with a delicious sense of comedy." The Judgment of Paris (1943) is about an American inspirational speaker who has rather more difficulty uplifting the women of Paris—the Guardian called it "a delicate morsel of literary confectionery." Cardew seems to have had a connection to France, as her subsequent works were A French Alphabet (1945), a picture book for young children, and The History of Mère Michel and her Cat (1953), the latter a retelling of an 18th century French tale and an 18th-century guttersnipe cat. Sadly, Cardew's husband died in 1942, just as her writing career was taking off, which may help explain why no more novels were forthcoming.

Cardinal, Jane           see VEHEYNE, CHERRY

Carey, Basil           see BAINES, JOY

CAREY, MABEL COLEBROOKE (8 May 1892 – 22 Mar 1971) (aka M. C. Carey) 1950s Carey worked for the Girl Guides Association, the Junior Book Club, and J.M. Dent & Sons, and published an array of children’s non-fiction and collections of legends and myths. She also wrote what appears to be a novel for children, Nicky Goes Ashore (1957).

CARFRAE, ELIZABETH (dates unknown) (pseudonym of Margaret Wilson, later married name Cradock, née ????? [dates given elsewhere as 1879-1968 seem to be based on an incorrect identification]) 1920s – 1960s One of the first major Mills and Boon authors of romantic fiction, publishing over 40 novels in all. Good Morning, Miss Morrison (1948), about a teacher in a girls' school, is, according to a bookseller blurb, in part about her choice between "a steady-Eddie type and a glamorous fighter pilot during wartime." Symphony in Green (1941), The Lonely Road (1942), Happy Families (1944), To-Morrow Sometimes Comes (1945), and Penny Wise (1946) also have wartime themes. Other titles include Barbed Wire (1925), Daffodils in the Wind (1927), The Trivial Round (1930), The Radiant Years (1931), Sunlight on the Hills (1934), Bridal March (1936), Blue Heaven (1939), The Season of Snows (1950), Sunshine in September (1955), Three Times a Bridesmaid (1958), and Brief Enchantment (1962). The Devil's Jest (1926) seems like an unusual addition to her body of work, described as a "thrilling mystery melodrama on a West Indian island." Her personal life was complicated: John Herrington was able to confirm from contemporary articles that she was a Margaret Wilson who later married (or perhaps didn't marry) sea captain Frank Edward Cradock. He had been married previously (and would marry again), but they are together on the 1939 register in Surrey, where her birth date is given as 11 Mar 1894 (10 years older than Frank). She could be the Margaret M. Cradock (1887-1961) in UK death records, but there is no way to be certain at present.

CARLTON, GRACE (17 Nov 1878 – 19 Nov 1970) (née Greenwood, aka Cecil Garth) 1920s, 1940s Daughter of publisher and editor Thomas Greenwood. Biographer, children's writer, and author of two novels—The Wooden Wedding (1923), a humorous tale of a young married couple taken in by a shyster literary agent and gets them (under pseudonyms) into an admiring correspondence with each other, and Shuttlecock (1947), set in Trieste between the wars, a city the author knew well. The Black Ace (1924) is a children’s adventure tale about flying. She later published biographies of her father and of Friedrich Engels. Her pseudonym appeared on early poetic works.

CARLYLE, ANTHONY (14 Nov 1887 – 13 Apr 1934) (pseudonym of Gladys Alexandra Milton, née Yardley) 1920s - 1940 Daughter of Maud YARDLEY, and author of two dozen romantic novels for Mills & Boon and other publishers. Titles include The Hoofslide (1920), A Gamble with Hearts (1922), The Tavern and the Arrows (1922), Like Ruth of Old (1923), The Poppy Bowl (1926), Cock Crow (1930), A Society Sin (1936), In Cinderella's Slippers (1937), The House of Royal (1939), and A Vow of Vengeance (1940).

CARMICHAEL, AMY [BEATRICE WILSON] (16 Dec 1867 – 18 Jan 1951) 1920s – 1930s Author of numerous inspirational and non-fiction works about Christianity, as well as several works of Christian-themed fiction, including The Widow of the Jewels (1928), Ploughed Under: The Story of a Little Lover (1934), and Mimosa, Who Was Charmed (1925).

Carmichael, Ann           see MACALPINE, MARGARET [MACFARLANE] HESKETH

CARMICHAEL, FRANCES (dates unknown) 1910s Author of one novel, The Witch of Brent (1934), portraying 17th century witchhunting in an English village. She is presumably the same person who published two cookbooks, Cooking for Christmas (1949) and Pickles and Chutneys (1954), but I haven’t found any details to identify her further.

Carmichael, Marie           see STOPES, MARIE

Carnac, Carol           see RIVETT, EDITH CAROLINE

Carnie, Ethel           see HOLDSWORTH, ETHEL CARNIE HOLDSWORTH

CAROL, ANGELA (dates unknown) 1940s Untraced author of three novels about which I can find no information except their titles—June in Springtime (1942), The Shadows Flee Away: A Romance (1944), and Daughter by Proxy (1948). John Herrington found a Matilda (or possibly Mathilda) Angela Carol, born c1912, possibly outside of the U.K., died 1954. But there is nothing to say she is the author, only that she’s the only likely possibility if the name isn’t a pseudonym.

Carr, Catharine           see WADE, ROSALIND

CARR, GERTRUDE KENT (28 Oct 1871 – 17 Mar 1955) (married name Oliver, aka Kent Carr, aka G. Kent Oliver) 1900s – 1920s Author of nonfiction for children as well as an array of boys' school stories, including Brought to Heel, or, The Breaking-In of St. Dunstan's (1904), Playing the Game! (1908), Rivals & Chums (1908), Not Out! (1909), which Spectator praised enthusiastically, The Shaping of Jephson's (1919), Caught Out (1920), Dixie of the Cock House (1921), and The Werewolf of Whispers School (1923). Other titles such as The Reign of Lady Betty (1908), The Boy Bondsman, or, Under the Lash (1910), and The Big Row at Ranger's (1922), do not have school settings.

Carr, Jolyon           see EDITH PARGETER

Carr, Judith           see EVELEEN LENORA FAIRBANK

Carr, Kent           see GERTRUDE KENT CARR

CARR, LEONORA (12 Sept 1885 - 18 Mar 1961) (née Wood) 1920s – 1930s Author of four novels which seem directly in the romantic melodrama line. The Pitiless Heritage (1927) is about an incompatible marriage and “an hereditary taint,” The Peacock Plucked (1931) deals with a woman paralyzed on her wedding day and the sacrifices made by her husband, Charm in Motley (1933) features a Cornish girl’s road to success on the stage, and Devil’s Furrow (1935) focuses on a girl raised by two wealthy spinsters for a life of charity, who rebels and marries instead, but finds difficulties there too.

Carr, Philippa           see ELEANOR HIBBERT

CARRIER, ELSÉ HAYDON (1879 – 21 Feb 1958) 1910s Poet and author of three early novels—The Meadow Beyond (1910), A Soul in Shadow (1913), which has mystery elements, involving the hero’s corrupt twin, and The King's Token (1914), about Henry II. Carrier then went on to publish several significant works about the geology of England and Europe. Strangely, she was in the news in 1946 as the victim of an assault in her home by a man posing as a war damage inspector—she was unconscious for at least two weeks, and at one time her condition was described as “precarious.”

CARRINGTON, LEONORA (6 Apr 1917 – 25 May 2011) (married names Leduc and Weisz) 1930s – 1970s Painter, author of fiction, poetry, plays, and essays, and one of the longest surviving members of the surrealist movement. Carrington was the lover of painter Max Ernst in Paris, before WWII and subsequent events took her to Spain, Portugal, and finally, for most of her later life, Mexico. Best known now for The Hearing Trumpet (1974), a strange, hilariously surreal novel narrated by a 92-year-old woman in an ominous home for the elderly, which was reprinted in 2004. Her short fiction, including stories written in the 1930s, was collected by Virago in The Seventh Horse and Other Tales (1988), and her surreal memoir of her time in a Spanish asylum following a nervous breakdown, Down Below, was also published by Virago and has now been reprinted by New York Review Books Classics. NYRB are also publishing a short collection called The Milk of Dreams, which includes stories Carrington wrote and illustrated for her own children. Carrington's art has received increased attention in recent years as well, and in 2011 Mexican author Elena Poniatowska published a novel about Carrington's life, translated into English in 2015.

CARROLL, KAY (13 Oct 1909 - 2003) (pseudonym of Katherine Alexis Charles, née MacAndrew, aka Alexis Macandrew) 1940s – 1950s Author of eight novels as well as a memoir, Compass Course: The Log of an Air Force Officer's Wife (1941), set in the years 1933-1941 and described as "a vastly entertaining story by an Air Officer's wife with a quick and witty mind and a Service heart." Her first novel, Down to the Sea (1930), appeared under her maiden name and dealt with “the youth of the present day with great vivacity, humour and vividness.” After her marriage and memoir, she went on to publish seven more novels under her pseudonym—But Westward, Look— (1943), Farthing Gate (1945), which I reviewed here, Guest of Honour (1947), Hail and Farewell (1948), But Winter and Rough Weather (1950), Harmony Row (1950), and Anthea (1952).

CARROLL, NINA (20 Sept 1932 – Jan 1990) (married name Steane) 1940s Well-known artist who wrote and illustrated her one children's book—Adventure on the Moon (1947)—when she was only 12.

CARSWELL, CATHERINE [ROXBURGH] (27 Mar 1879 – 18 Feb 1946) (née Macfarlane, earlier married name Jackson) 1920s Book reviewer and author of two novels, Open the Door! (1920) and The Camomile (1922), reprinted by Virago in the 1980s. She was a close friend of D. H. Lawrence (apparently introduced by Ivy Low, later Ivy LITVINOV), and he read Open the Door! in manuscript. Carswell became better known for her work as a biographer of literary figures such as Robert Burns, Lawrence, and Boccaccio. She assisted Susan TWEEDSMUIR, John Buchan's widow, in preparing John Buchan by his Wife and Friends (1947), and worked on a memoir, published posthumously as Lying Awake (1950).

Carter, Diana           see COOPER, GWLADYS DOROTHY

Carter, Dorothy           see MARSH, EILEEN

CARTER, WINIFRED [ELEANOR] (28 Jul 1883 – 7 Dec 1949) (née Naylor) 1910s – 1940s Mother of Felicity Winifred Carter, who wrote as Emery BONNETT. Playwright and novelist whose early works seem to be romances or problem stories. Ashes of Eden (1915) tells of a young girl making a bid for freedom from social norms who kills a man who assaults her and winds up on a poultry farm for fallen women. Later fiction includes historical novels: Sarah (1943) is about the life of the Duchess of Marlborough, Princess Fitz (1945), made into a film in 1947, is an historical novel about the life of Mrs Fitzherbert, consort of George IV, and Dr. Johnson's "Dear Mistress" (1949) focuses on Hester Thrale, the unrequited love interest of Samuel Johnson.

CARTERET, ANNE (dates unknown) 1930s Unidentified author of a single novel, Witch Wife (1935), about a British student who marries a German man, whose brother, “working for the cause that means everything to him, brings tragedy to them.”

CARTLAND, BARBARA [HAMILTON] (9 Jul 1901 – 21 May 2000) (married name McCorquodale, aka Barbara McCorquodale, aka Marcus Belfrey) 1920s – 2000s Author of 700+ romance novels over 75+ years, one of the bestselling and most prolific authors of all time and a prominent figure in British social life and media. Her specialty was historical romance, most set in the Victorian period, and her heroines tended to be highly moral (though Cartland herself was famed for her bawdiness in interviews). She also published several biographies, most of European royalty, and several memoirs, including We Danced All Night (1970), which covered World War I, and The Years of Opportunity (1948), about World War II.

CARTMELL, ESME (dates unknown) 1940s Untraced (and possibly male?) author of one novel, Rescue in Ravensdale (1946), a children's holiday adventure set in the days leading up to WWII and in part satirizing some of the most stereotypical elements of children's adventure stories.

CARUS, DOROTHY (12 Mar 1898 - 24 Jan 1984) (full name Dorothy Sackville Carus-Wilson, née Berkeley) 1930s Author of one novel, Silver Tares (1935), set in the Austrian Tyrol, about a soldier whose seduction of a peasant girl results in her death in childbirth, and his subsequent loss of memory and reputation as a holy man.

Caryl, Valentine           see HAWTREY, VALENTINA

CASTANG, [EDITH] VIOLA (10 Sept 1909 – 16 Sept 1979) 1930s – 1970s Author of a dozen novels, now mostly very scarce. Reviews of the first two, At Last a God (1932) and Country Party (1933), suggest romantic comedies—the first dealing with a young girl with her head full of romance novels, and her bumpy path to the real thing. Other titles include Pirated Poet (1935), I Am Your Adventure (1945), Mrs Clements (1947), Lost Within the Hill (1948), This Can't Be Love (1950), Mate in Two Moves (1951), Bitter Honey (1952), Troubled Summer (1952), and The Invisible Cord (1958). After a considerable absence, she returned in 1972 with one final novel, a mystery evocatively titled A Smell of Garbage (1972).

Castillo, Carmen           see COOPER, GWLADYS DOROTHY

CASTLE, AGNES (1863 – Apr 1922) (née Sweetman) 1890s – 1920s Sister of M. E. FRANCIS and co-author, with husband Egerton Castle, of several novels, most historical, including The Bath Comedy (1900) and its sequel Incomparable Bellairs (1903), which reportedly may have influenced Georgette HEYER. Online sources suggest that she wrote only or primarily with her husband, but the British Library lists numerous additional titles credited only to her. Other titles include To the Tune of Little Red Heels (1903), Diamond Cut Paste (1909), Chance the Piper (1912), The Ways of Miss Barbara (1914), Forlorn Adventurers (1915), Count Raven (1916), Pamela Pounce (1920), and Romances in Red (1921). The couple's neighbors in Surrey included Grant Allen and Arthur Conan Doyle, and they also wrote a series of books about their house and garden there.

Castle, Frances           see BLACKBURN, [EVELYN] BARBARA

CASTLETON, ANN (dates unknown) 1940s Untraced author of five girls' stories, four of them set in schools, often about girls discovering their true identities. Titles are The Secret of Storm Abbey (1946), Bracken had a Secret (1947), The Witch's Wood (1948), Gen Finds a Family (1949), and That Holiday at School (1949).

CATLOW, JOANNA (17 Jul 1911 – 1 Jul 2001) (pseudonym of Joan Lowry, née Catlow, possibly aka Joan Lea) 1950s – 1960s Author of four novels, apparently psychological dramas—Sisters to Simon (1955), The Sapphire Smoke (1957), The Night of the High Wind (1960), and The Enchanted Land (1963).

CAVAN, ROMILLY (13 Jul 1914 – 5 Aug 1975) (pseudonym of Isabel Wilson, sometimes spelled Isabelle, married name Hiscock) 1930s Daughter of novelist Desemea WILSON, who most notably published under the name "Diana Patrick", Cavan has sometimes been erroneously claimed to be a daughter of E. F. Benson. Author of six novels—Heron (1934, aka The Daughters of Richard Heron), To-morrow Is Also a Day (1935), The Splendour Falls (1936), Characters in Order of Appearance (1938, discussed briefly here), Mary Cloud (1939), and Beneath the Visiting Moon (1940). The last is set on the eve of World War II—I enthusiastically reviewed it here, and it was reprinted as a Furrowed Middlebrow book by Dean Street Press in 2019.

CECIL, MARY (c1921 – 28 Aug 2011) (full name Mary Cecil Pook, née Williams) 1950s – 1960s Author of three novels. In Two Minds (1959) details a young girl's nervous breakdown. Something in Common (1960) is about an upper crust young woman performing with ENSA. And Growing Pains (1964) is a semi-autobiographical family tale. The Spectator review of the last describes Cecil as "a writer of immense charm."

CECIL, RACHEL [MARY VERONICA] (26 Feb 1909 – 29 Jul 1982) (née MacCarthy) 1950s Author of a single novel, Theresa's Choice (1958), about a young woman juggling three men in her search for a husband. A review in the Indianapolis Star says: "As Theresa roams the coils and pitfalls of romantic entanglements, Lady Cecil takes her and us on a glorious tour of English social life of the early 30s." Cecil was the daughter of literary critic Desmond MacCarthy and the wife of Oxford professor and literary scholar Lord David Cecil.

Chace, Isobel           see HUNTER, ELIZABETH [MARY TERESA]

CHALLACOMBE, JESSIE (1864 – 10 Jan 1925) (née Worsfold) 1890s – 1910s Author of nearly a dozen works of fiction, at least some for children and all published by Christian-oriented publishers. Titles include The Brothers' Promise (1897), A Poor Man's Palace Rebuilt (1902), Nell Garton (1904), Jane Stiggins (1910), Wait and Win (1912), and Tops: The Story of a Poor Waif (1913). Her non-fiction Jottings from a Farnborough Note Book (1922) was reprinted in 1980 with the subtitle "a story of an old world village".

Challoner, HK           see MILLS, MELANIE

CHAMBERS, PEGGY (13 Aug 1911 – 13 Mar 2004) (full name Margaret Ada Eastwood Chambers) 1960s Author of a single novel, The Governess (1960), described by one reviewer as a "quiet, lavender-scented romance of mid-Victorian upper-middle-class society." Chambers published several non-fiction works about women in the medical and social work professions, but apparently no other fiction.

CHAMPNEYS, A[DELAIDE]. M[ARY]. (8 Mar 1888 – 15 Apr 1966) 1910s – 1940s Author of 10 novels, one poetry collection, and one (probably) children's title. Her best known title is Miss Tiverton Goes Out (1926), which I enthusiastically reviewed here. The House Made with Hands (1924) is about a young woman who clings to her childhood home as a symbol of happiness. The Bookman describes The Longer Day (1930) as a "detailed and intimate study of the life of a strange woman who once ran away from a picnic at which Tennyson, Ruskin, Huxley, Darwin, Browning and other literary notables were guests, because she was not particularly interested in what was being said or done." And Memorial to George, By Himself (1930) seems perhaps to be a children's book, though information is sparse, and is perhaps narrated by a squirrel. Champneys' other novels are Bride Elect (1913), The Recoiling Force (1914), This Day's Madness (1926), November Night (1928), I Can Wait (1933), Fool's Melody (1937, co-written with her brother Michael Weldon Champneys), and Red Sun and Harvest Moon (1947).

CHAN-TOON, MRS. M[ABEL MARY AGNES]. (1872 - 1922) (née Cosgrove, second married name Woodhouse-Pearse) 1900s – 1910s Author of novels about Burma, some exploring interracial relationships. She had a dramatic life, including a marriage to the nephew of the King of Burma, terms reportedly served in both English and Mexican prisons (for theft and blackmail respectively), and involvement in a forgery case regarding a lost play by Oscar Wilde, with whom she seems to have been friends. Her fiction includes A Marriage in Burma (1905), Leper and Millionaire (1910), Mrs Helen Wyverne's Marriage (1912) and Love Letters of an English Peeress to an Indian Prince (1912).

CHANNON, E[THEL]. M[ARY]. (17 Oct 1875 – 6 Jun 1941) (née Bredin) 1900s – 1930s Author of three dozen works of fiction, including novels, mysteries and children's books. She is probably best known now for her girls' school stories, the most famous of which include Expelled from St. Madern's (1928), Her Second Chance (1929), The Honour of the House (1931), A Countess at School (1931), and A Fifth-Form Martyr (1935). Several of these have been reprinted by Books to Treasure. The Surprising Holidays (1926) is a humorous tale about a family deprived of servants and incompetent in dealing with domestic issues. Her adult novels, which according to Hilary Clare tend toward the melodramatic, include The Authoress (1909), The Real Mrs. Holyer (1911), Miss King's Profession (1913), The Perfect Miss Coverdale (1925), The Griffin (1928), and Little G (1936). Later in her career, Channon published several mysteries, including The Chimney Murder (1929), Twice Dead (1930), The House with No Address (1931), and The Gilt-Edged Mystery (1932). I wrote about Little G here, which, along with the first two mysteries, was reprinted by Greyladies.

Chapman, Clodagh           see GIBSON-JARVIE, CLODAGH [MICAELA]

CHAPMAN, DORA [BARR] (5 Aug 1893 - 1941) (married name Francis, aka Dora B. Francis) 1920s – 1930s Author of 10 girls' school stories noted by Sims and Clare for their relative realism. Titles are That Rebellious Schoolgirl (1924), Betty Plays Up (1925), An Eventful Term (1927), That Unruly Trio (1928), That Detestable New Girl (1931), Treacle of St. Mike's (1933), Jennifer of Croft House (1934), Chums at St. Jude's (1934), Beryl the Rebel (1935), and The Knights of Study 13 (1935). Though she married in 1925, only the last of her books seems to have appeared under her married name.

CHAPMAN, ESTHER (22 Oct 1894 – 12 Oct 1987) (née Hyman, later married name Hepher, aka Esther Hyman) 1920s – 1950s Editor for some time of the West Indian Review and author of four novels, at least two of which were set in Jamaica. The novels are Punch and Judy: A Comedy of Living (1927), Study in Bronze: A Novel of Jamaica (1928), Pied Piper (1939), and Too Much Summer (1953). The first two were published under her maiden name. Slso wrote travel guides about Jamaica, beginning with Pleasure Island: The Book of Jamaica (1952)

CHAPMAN, HESTER W[OLFERSTAN]. (26 Nov 1899 – 6 Apr 1976) (née Pellatt, other married name Griffin) 1930s – 1960s Author of a dozen popular and acclaimed biographies, often of royalty, and nearly as many novels. Much of her fiction is historical, including She Saw Them Go By (1933), I Will Be Good (1945), The Stone Lily (1957), Eugenie (1961), and Fear No More (1968). Long Division (1943), mentioned by Barbara Pym in her diaries, has a contemporary wartime setting and is about an unhappily married women who sets up a prep school, while Ever Thine (1951) is set over the course of 20 years at a boys' prep school, focusing on the headmaster's wife. Her other novels are To Be a King: A Tale of Adventure (1934), Worlds Apart (1947), King's Rhapsody (1950), based on a play by Ivor Novello, and Falling Stream (1954).

CHAPPELL, [SARAH] JENNIE (JANE) (3 Jul 1857 – 27 Mar 1938) 1870s – 1930s Prolific author of children's (and perhaps adult?) fiction over more than half a century. Titles include Oughts And Crosses (1886), Those Barrington Boys (1894), The Mystery of Marnie (1906), Holidays at Waverlea (1914), The Lost Doll (1920), and The Changeling (1926).

CHAPPELL, MOLLIE (MARY) [BEBB] (16 Aug 1913 - 2004) (née Hancock) 1950s – 1980s Born and raised in Wales but living in later years in Rhodesia, Chappell began her career with 11 children’s titles in the early 1950s, followed by 36 romantic novels for adults from 1956 to 1985. Several of her early children's books make use of her time in Rhodesia, including her debut, Rhodesian Adventure (1950), as well as The House on the Kopje (1951) and its sequel, The Fortunes of Frick (1953), reviewed by Barbara at Call Me Madam here. The Sugar and Spice (1952) is about young girls running a tea shop for the summer, while Cat With No Fiddle (1954) is a family adventure story. Other children's titles include St. Simon Square (1952), The Mystery of the Silver Circle (1955), and Kit and the Mystery Man (1957). Among her romance novels are The Widow Jones (1956), Bachelor Heaven (1958), The Measure of Love (1961), Come by Chance (1963), The Ladies of Lark (1965), The Wind in the Green Trees (1969), Valley of Lilacs (1972), Five Farthings (1974), In Search of Mr. Rochester (1976), Dearest Neighbour (1981), and Stepping Stones (1985).

Charles, Anita           see POLLOCK, IDA [JULIE]

CHARLES, GERDA (10 Mar 1915 – 4 Nov 1996) (pseudonym of Edna Lipson) 1950s – 1970s Novelist known for her focus on Jewish life in England, though she herself said that her main concern was "the region of everyday hurt." Titles are The True Voice (1959), The Crossing Point (1961), A Slanting Light (1963), A Logical Girl (1966), and The Destiny Waltz (1971, the first Whitbread Novel of the Year).

Charles, Theresa           see SWATRIDGE, IRENE MAUDE

Chandos, Fay           see SWATRIDGE, IRENE MAUDE

CHARLTON, [YVONNE] MOYRA [GRAHAM] (1918 - 2000) 1930s – 1940s Children’s author whose first book, Tally-Ho (1930), a pony story, was written when she was only 11. Later titles, some of them also animal stories, include Patch: The Story of a Mongrel (1931), The Midnight Steeplechase (1932), Three White Stockings (1933), My Lord Goes Wayfaring (1935), Echoing Horn (1939), Pendellion (1948), and Wind from Spain (1950). One Man in His Time (1938) seems to be an adult historical novel.

CHARQUES, DOROTHY (4 Jun 1899 – 20 Mar 1976) (née Taylor, aka R. D. Dorothy, second married name Emms) 1920s – 1970s Author of twelve novels, including two early works—Above and Below (1929) and After the Party (1933)—with first husband Richard Charques. She received particular acclaim for her portrayals of English rural life in the past, including in her trilogy—Time's Harvest (1940), The Running Heart (1943), and Between the Twilights (1949)—about a family in the 1870s ruined by a murrain outbreak among their cattle. The Dark Stranger (1956), is a "story of witchcraft and conspiracy during the English Civil War," while The Nunnery (1959) is set in 1535 and deals with a young heiress placed in a convent. Other novels are The Tramp and His Woman (1937), Between Sleeping and Waking (1938), Men Like Shadow (1952), The Valley (1954), and A Wind from the Sea (1971).

Chase, Beatrice           see PARR, OLIVE KATHARINE

CHASTEL DE BOINVILLE, NANCY MILLICENT (???? - 1932) (née Somerville) 1910s – 1920s Irish-born author of four novels—O'Reilly of the Glen (1918), Margot (1918), Sons of the Settlers (1920), and The Lad (1923)—about which little is known. The last, at least, sounds a bit overwrought: "Silvia's life tragedy lies in the friends and surroundings to which she sees [her son] doomed through the poverty of her married life." She married a South African vicar.

CHAUCER, EVE (30 Dec 1895 – 17 Jul 1982) (pseudonym of Joan Wheatley, née Johnstone, earlier married names Younger and Pelham Burn) 1930s – 1940s Author of six romantic novels—No Ordinary Virgin (1935), Better to Marry (1936), set in England and Africa, "It is Easier for a Camel" (1936), The Girl Who Wasn't Claudia (1938), The Constant Heart (1939), and Silk Sheets and Breadcrumbs (1940). Her personal life may have been more interesting than her fiction, however, as she was apparently in British Intelligence for a time, along with two of her children from her first marriage. One source, The A to Z of British Intelligence, confuses her with Joan GRANT, also on this list, who wrote about the paranormal and reincarnation.

CHAUNDLER, CHRISTINE (5 Sept 1887 – 15 Dec 1972) (aka Peter Martin) 1910s – 1940s Prolific author of more than fifty children's titles, most of them girls' school stories, in which genre she is one of the most important authors, according to Sims and Clare. Titles include The Right St. John's (1920), The Fourth Form Detectives (1921), A Fourth Form Rebel (1922), Winning Her Colours (1924), An Unofficial Schoolgirl (1925), The Chivalrous Fifth (1927), Meggy Makes Her Mark (1928), The Junior Prefect (1931), and Five B and Evangeline (1932). She also published boys' school stories, such as Carew of the Fourth (1925) and Miggs Minor (1930), under her pseudonym. Chaundler worked for some years on the editorial team of Little Folks. When school stories became less popular, Chaundler continued to publish other children's books, including for younger children, and themed collections of holiday stories, stories about saints, and other titles.

CHESTERTON, ALICE M[ARY]. (7 Jul 1874 – 29 Nov 1952) 1900s – 1910s Author of two girls' stories set at a domestic affairs college—Whittenbury College (1915) and Christal's Adventure (1919). She also published books for young children and several other girls' stories, including Rhondda's Holiday (1909), Miss Netherby's Niece (1912), and The Pansy Patch (1912).

Chesterton, Denise see ROBINS, DENISE NAOMI

CHETWYND, BRIDGET (8 Nov 1910 – 28 Nov 1970) (née Walsh, other married name Sykes) 1940s – 1950s Author of 13 novels, including Sleeping and Waking (1944), which deals with women's lives in WWII, Future Imperfect (1946) an early sci-fi tale about a world run by women, The Bats of Hell (1949), set in the countryside from the 1920s until after WWII, and This Day (1950), described as telling "of one day in the lives of some ordinary people living in London." She also wrote two detective novels, Death Has Ten Thousand Doors (1951) and Rubies, Emeralds and Diamonds (1952), which feature Petunia Best, a former WAAF who sets up a detective agency with a former member of British intelligence. Her other novels are Money Troubles (1940), Town Wife (1940), Crown of Stars (1941), Milo Fane (1942), Hay, Then (1943), High Mountains (1944), and Uneasy Street (1952).

CHISENHALE, MARY (17 Jul 1895 – 5 Jun 1982) (pseudonym of Moya Mary Blanche Edwina/Winnie Stevens, née Godfrey) 1920s – 1930s Author of three novels—Man's Love (1929), Common to Man (1930), and Tiger's Whisker (1934)—which have settings including Mesopotamia and India. She seems to have lived in Asia, probably in India, during the years when she was writing.

CHISHOLM, LILIAN MARY (28 Mar 1906 - 2000) (née Slatcher, aka Jane Alan, aka Anne Lorraine) 1940s – 1980s Prolific Mills & Boon romance author who published under her own name and two pseudonyms. Titles include Afraid to Dream (1941), Hotel Doctor (1942), There Shall Be Stars (1945), There Goes My Dream (1948), Too Bright A Sun (1950), When a Nurse Is Young (1951), The House upon a Rock (1952), Sister at Hilltops (1954), Horseshoe Farm (1956), Rain at Dawn (1957), It Happened At Hallowe'en (1961), The Hospital World of Susan Wray (1965), No Through Road (1971), Love Goes Riding (1980), and New Nurse at St Benedict's (1983). As Jane Alan, she appears to have written at least one children's book, Lulupet and Toffee (1956).

CHITTY, HELEN MARY (15 May 1867 – 2 Sept 1932) (née Latham) 1920s Wife of Indian High Court judge Sir Charles William Chitty. After her husband's retirement and relocation back to England, Chitty published a single novel, The Black Buddha (1926). She had earlier published several short stories in periodicals.

CHITTY, SUSAN [ELSPETH] (18 Aug 1929 -       ) (pseudonym of Susan Hinde, née Glossop) 1950s – 1960s Daughter of Antonia WHITE. Biographer and author of three novels—The Diary of a Fashion Model (1958), about a young woman "whisked from lacrosse to life as a fashion model," White Huntress (1963), about "the adventures of English debs in Africa," and My Life & Horses (1966), about an upper crust girl working with horses. Chitty's biographies include The Woman Who Wrote Black Beauty (1971), The Beast and the Monk: A Life of Charles Kingsley (1974), and That Singular Person Called Lear: A Biography of Edward Lear, Artist, Traveler, and Prince of Nonsense (1989), as well as a memoir of her mother, Now to My Mother: A Very Personal Memoir of Antonia White (1985)

Cholmondeley, Alice           see VON ARNIM, ELIZABETH

CHOLMONDELEY, MARY (8 Jun 1859 – 15 Jul 1925) 1880s – 1920s Aunt of Stella BENSON. Author of ten novels and several story collections. She began her career with a parody of the detective novel called The Danvers Jewels (1887), about a seemingly cursed set of Indian jewels, and its sequel, Sir Charles Danvers (1889). Her greatest success came with Red Pottage (1899, reprinted by Virago), her bestseller satirizing provincial thinking, hypocrisy, and the difficulties of a woman writer. Her story collection, The Lowest Rung and Other Stories (1908), was unusual in its day in that its four stories all focus on strong, independent women. Cholmondeley's other novels are Let Loose (1890), A Devotee: An Episode in the Life of a Butterfly (1897), Diana Tempest (1900), Prisoners (1906), Notwithstanding (1913), After All (1913), and Under One Roof (1917). Other story collections are Moth and Rust and Other Stories (1902) and The Romance of His Life and Other Romances (1921).

CHOMUT, RUTH (19 Feb 1933 – Aug 2011) (née Mikardo) 1950s Journalist and author of a single novel, Road to Within (1958), about a British woman who settles in an Israeli kibbutz, where she meets her husband. The novel was presumably at least somewhat autobiographical, as Chomut did in fact emigrate from the U.K., where she was a graduate of RADA and worked in the theatre, to Israel, where she married and remained for the rest of her life. She also served on the Board of Governors at the University of Haifa.

CHRISTIAN, CATHERINE MARY (22 Jun 1901 – 12 Nov 1985) (pseudonym of Mamie Muhlenkamp, aka Patience Gilmour) 1920s – 1970s Author of nearly three dozen works of fiction, most of it for girls and often with Guide themes. Three—The Marigolds Make Good (1937), A Schoolgirl from Hollywood (1939), and The School at Emery’s End (1944)—are school stories. Among her other children's titles are Three's a Company (1935), Bringing Up Nancy Nasturtium (1938), Diana Takes a Chance (1940), The "Kingfishers" See It Through (1942), Sidney Seeks Her Fortune (1945), The Seventh Magpie (1946), and Phyllida's Fortune (1947). Christian also wrote at least two adult novels—A Stranger Passed (1960), set in pre-revolution France and containing a mystical element, and The Sword and the Flame (1978, published in the U.S. as The Pendragon), a retelling the Arthur legends.

CHRISTIE, AGATHA [MARY CLARISSA] (15 Sept 1890 – 12 Jan 1976) (née Miller, later married name Mallowan, aka Mary Westmacott) 1920s – 1970s The bestselling novelist of all time, author of 66 mystery novels, 6 additional novels under her pseudonym, two memoirs, several story collections, and more than a dozen plays. Among her novels, 33 feature her quirky Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, while 12 feature the deceptively kindly village spinster Miss Marple and 4 feature Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, a happily-married couple with a tendency to find trouble—including in the only Christie novel written during World War II that actually features the war, N or M? (1941). In 1946, Christie published Come, Tell Me How You Live, a memoir of her time on archaeological digs with her second husband. Her full Autobiography (1977) appeared after her death. The six Mary Westmacott novels have sometimes been marketed as romances, but are really domestic dramas—sometimes making interesting use of elements of her personal life, such as Unfinished Portrait (1934), which hints at some of the tragedies and drama that may have led to her famous 1926 disappearance. Opinions differ as to Christie's best mysteries, but among the most famous are The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), Murder on the Orient Express (1934), The ABC Murders (1936), and And Then There Were None (1939). My own recommendations would also include The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), The Body in the Library (1942), Crooked House (1949), A Murder Is Announced (1950), and Cat Among the Pigeons (1959). Her plays most notably include The Mousetrap (1952), the longest-running play in history, and Witness for the Prosecution (1953), which was made into a particularly brilliant film. Christie's self-deprecating humor is apparent in her creation of Ariadne Oliver, a ditsy bestselling mystery writer with a passion for apples, who shares some of Christie's quirks and assists Poirot in six of his cases. Oliver also appears solo in a single novel The Pale Horse (1961). See the official Christie website here. I've also written about her here.

CHRISTIE, KATE (KATHLEEN) (dates unknown) (married name Tillis) 1950s – 1960s Author of six novels, including Smith (1954), set in Cumberland and praised by Julian Symons, Harold in London (1956), Morgan (1957), Goodbye, Jimmy, Goodbye (1961), apparently about an alcoholic, The Waiting Game (1962), and Child's Play (1968), described as a horror tale. A memoir, Apparitions: An Autobiographical Study in Parapsychology (1965), describes her experiences as a "sensitive," someone who can make contact with the dead. An interview from the early 1980s suggests she and her husband lived for some time in Rome and in India, and concludes with the statement, "She still writes but does not publish her work." We have been unable to trace her in public records, but she appears to have died prior to 2012.

CHRISTIE, [ELIZABETH] MAY (10 Mar 1894 – 16 Feb 1946) (married names Martin and Stamatiadis, later changed to Mazzavini) 1920s – 1930s Author of more than 30 romantic novels—and many more published serially. Titles include At Cupid's Call (1921), The Girl in the Corner Flat (1923), The Girl Who Dared (1925), The Whirlwind Lover (1927), Kitty Sees Life (1929), The Jazz Widow (1930), Playgirls in Love (1932), The Affairs of Patricia (1935), and Women in Love (1937). She became an American citizen in 1936.

CLAMP, HELEN MARY ELIZABETH (2 Jan 1892 – 1 Jan 1973) (married name Overall, aka Irina Karlova, aka Olivia Leigh, aka H. M. E. Clamp) 1920s – 1960s Author of more than 70 novels, including romance, adventure, historical, and supernatural fiction. Titles (some more creative than the norm) include Desert Sand (1925), The Great God Jazz (1928), The Sexless Trinity (1930), The Power and Glory Girl (1931), Feather Bed Jane (1931), Wild Cat: A Romance of the African Jungle (1935), Dead Man's Bride (1940), The Gay Blue Waggon (1941), Broomstick (1946), Thank You, Philip (1950), I Married Her Son (1950), United in Eden (1954), Pink Wedding (1957), Frivolity Fair (1961), and Louis XV and the Ugly Sisters (1968). Pretty Sinister reviewed Dreadful Hollow (1942) here, describing it as a "Gothic supernatural novel with detective novel elements."

CLARE, AUSTIN (1846 – 16 Mar 1932) (pseudonym of Wilhelmina Martha James) 1860s – 1910s Victorian author of nearly 50 volumes of fiction, published steadly for nearly half a century. Titles include Andre's Trial (1868), The Belles of Freiburg (1880), Stolen From the Sea: A Story of Farm Life in Brittany (1884), 'Crooked S' (1891), An Ill-Matched Pair (1896), The Tideway (1903), and Another Pair of Shoes (1911). One final book, A Pair in Paradise (1931), appeared just before her death.

Clare, Helen           see CLARKE, PAULINE

CLAREMONT, FRANCESCA (26 Feb 1896 - 17 Mar 1971) (née ????) 1930s, 1960s Perhaps arguably of French origins, Claremont had close ties to Provence and presumably lived there at some time, but she gave her birth nation as England on U.S. immigration forms and lived mostly in England as an adult. She published poetry, a volume of children’s stories, and a biography of Catherine of Aragon (1939), as well as five novels. Magical Incense (1932), set partly in Germany, is about the difficulties of the three daughters of a country parson. Lost Paradise (1933), which seems to have received particular acclaim, is about a Frenchwoman, married to an Englishman, who puts her lush recollections of her old home into letters to her cousin. Turn Again, Ladies (1934), about an embittered woman, widowed from an unhappy marriage, who must find a way forward with her daughter and a close friend. Dead Waters (1936), a historical adventure set in Provence in 1288, in the time of the crusades. The Shepherd's Tune (1960) is also set in Provence just before the outbreak of World War II, about a young shepherd who seems to cause strange disruptions among the locals. Claremont was a Montessori teacher for most of her life; following her husband’s death, she moved to Los Angeles and became a director of the teacher training institute there. Despite all this detail, I haven’t been able to trace her maiden name.

CLARK, CATHERINE ANTHONY [MARY] (5 May 1892 – 24 Feb 1977) (née Smith) 1950s – 1960s Born and raised in England, though she and her rancher husband immigrated to British Columbia when she was in her twenties. Newspaper columnist and author of seven children's titles with fantasy and folkloric themes, the first of which, The Golden Pine Cone (1950), appeared when she was in her late fifties. Her other titles are The Sun Horse (1951), The One-Winged Dragon (1955), The Silver Man (1959), The Diamond Feather, or the Door in the Mountain (1962), The Man with Yellow Eyes (1963), and The Hunter and the Medicine Man (1966).

CLARKE, ISABEL C[ONSTANCE]. (1869 – 13 Apr 1951) 1890s – 1950s Author of more than 50 novels over the course of more than half a century, most informed by her Catholic faith. She lived in Rome for 26 years, spent most of WWII in Jamaica, and seems to have spent time in Tunisia as well, and each location is reflected in some of her fiction. Titles include The Episode of Alethea (1897), Prisoners' Years (1912), By the Blue River (1913), Fine Clay (1914), Young Cymbeline (1917), The Elstones: A Family Record (1919), The Light on the Lagoon (1921), Average Cabins (1922), The Villa by the Sea (1924), It Happened in Rome (1925), Decree Nisi (1932), Laughing Prelude (1934), Family Symphony (1936), Cloudy Summits (1939), Welcome: A Romance of Jamaica (1943), Portrait of Celandine (1947), and Euphemia (1950). Quiet Village (1948) seems to have some elements of a mystery story, involving an unknown woman who dies after giving birth in a Cornish village, with subsequent intrigue and revelations about her true identity. Clarke also published several biographies, including Haworth Parsonage: A Picture of the Brontë Family (1927), Elizabeth Barrett Browning: A Portrait (1929), Katherine Mansfield (1944), and Maria Edgeworth, Her Family and Friends (1950).

CLARKE, MOMA (1869 – 20 Jun 1958) (pseudonym of Maria Elvins Clarke, née Pountney) 1940s Journalist, author of travel and other non-fiction titles about France, and author of a single novel, A Stranger Within the Gates (1942), about a young British woman who marries a Frenchman and must adapt herself to his family and to French culture. Clarke was the Paris fashion correspondent for the Times for many years. Of her non-fiction, French Cameos (1925) appears to be a collection of some of her articles about French culture, and Light and Shade in France (1939) reflects on her travels and adventures during three decades in France.

CLARKE, [ANNE] PAULINE (19 May 1921 – 23 Jul 2013) (married name Blair, aka Helen Clare, aka Pauline Hunter Blair) 1940s – 1970s Author of more than two dozen children’s books, most famously The Twelve and the Genii (1962, published in the U.S. as The Return of the Twelves). The Pekinese Princess (1948) is a fairy tale set in a kingdom ruled by dogs, The White Elephant (1952) is about two children caught up in a jewel heist, and The Boy with the Erpingham Hood (1956) is set in the leadup to the battle of Agincourt. Other titles include Merlin's Magic (1953), Five Dolls and the Monkey (1956), Torolv the Fatherless (1959), Keep the Pot Boiling (1961), Crowds of Creatures (1964), and The Two Faces of Silenus (1972). After many years of not publishing fiction, Clarke published an adult novel, Jacob’s Ladder, in 2003, focused on village life and characters dealing with approaching old age.

CLARKE, Renée (dates unknown) 1940s Untraced author of a single school story, A Turbulent Term (1948), which was originally subtitled "A Girls' School Mystery & Adventure Story."

CLAVERING, MOLLY (23 Oct 1900 – 12 Feb 1995) (aka B. Mollett, Marion Moffatt, and Emma Munro) 1920s – 1970s A neighbor and friend of D. E. STEVENSON and the author of 14 novels published in book form, as well as an additional 24 shorter novels serialized in The People's Friend. Her best-known works are Mrs. Lorimer's Family (1953), a domestic comedy-drama reminiscent of Stevenson's work (and perhaps based to some extent on Stevenson's family life in Moffat in Scotland and Clavering's relationships with them), and Near Neighbors (1956), about an elderly spinster who finds a new interest in life after befriending the family next door. The former was Clavering's only book to have an American edition and was selected for the People's Book Club, while the latter was reprinted by Greyladies in recent years. Her other novels published in book form are three very early and vanishingly rare titles, Georgina and the Stairs (1927), The Leech of Life (1928), and Wantonwalls (1929), four from the 1940s published under the pseudonym B. Mollett—Susan Settles Down (1936), Yoked with a Lamb (1938), Love Comes Home (1938), and Touch Not the Nettle (1939)—and five more under her own name in the 1950s and 1960s—Because of Sam (1954), Dear Hugo (1955), Result of the Finals (1957), Dr. Glasgow's Family (1960), and Spring Adventure (1962). Her 24 People's Friend novels appeared under her other two pseudonyms between 1952 and 1976. I put together all the information I had found about Clavering and her books here, with the kind assistance of a cousin of the family. I've also written about her here, and Dean Street Press have reprinted many of her works as Furrowed Middlebrow books.

CLAYTON, IVY M[ARY]. (16 Jul 1885 - 9 Feb 1954) (married name Turverville-Crewe, sometimes given as Crewe) 1920s – 1940s Composer, dramatist, and author of five novels. Her first work was a play, The Triumph of Peace (1914); it was only published in 1918, though written a few months before World War I began, but reportedly predicting some events. Perhaps, though, "the final tableau, when Constantine proclaims the state of Universal Peace to the assembled multitudes," might have been overoptimistic. The Shadow on the Universe, or, The Physical Results of War (1915) was a passionate treatise against war. After a period of silence, she published four romantic melodramas, beginning with Desert Flames (1927), in which a young woman strays into the desert and meets an attractive hermit known for his loathing of women. The Love Call (1928) is "a story of love on a flower farm in Hampshire," and in Outside Heaven's Gates (1930), "a fairy-like girl elopes with her lover to Paris, where, after terrifying complications, they eventually pass 'within the gates'". Golden Bondage (1938) is the "rhapsodic" romance of an unconventional young singer who doesn't believe in marriage. I couldn’t find any details about Apassionata (1943), though it was subtitled “A Romance”.