BREARLEY, HILDA (26 Sept 1901 – 15 Apr 1955)
(married name Barber)
1940s – 1950s
Daughter of Henry Brearley, a well-known singer at the turn of the century.
Author of three children's books during and after World War II, including Island Farm (1940), Castle in the Sun (1947), and Adventure for Elizabeth (1952).
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BREARLEY, MARY (1879 – 28 Mar 1971)
(pseudonym of Mary Salkeld Jayne, née Robinson)
1920s – 1930s
Biographer and author of five novels. Monte
Felis (1923) sounds distinctly melodramatic, about a woman whose husband
is institutionalized, who falls in love with another man only to find that
her husband has been released. Other titles are Marsh Fires (1925), The
Owners of Sorrows End (1926), A
Good Marriage (1928), and Papa and
Mama (1933). She spent much of her life in Lisbon, and her one biography
dealt with the Lisbon Inquisition.
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BREARY, NANCY (ANNIE) [FLORENCE] (7 Mar 1903 – 8 Dec 1988)
1940s – 1960s
Author of nearly 30 energetic and humorous girls’ school tales, somewhat
based on her own school days at Kingsdown School in Dorking. Titles include Give a Form a Bad Name (1943), No Peace for the Prefects (1944), A School Divided (1944), The Snackboat Sails at Noon! (1946), Juniors Will Be Juniors (1947), It Was Fun in the Fourth (1948), Five Sisters at Sedgewick (1950), Hazel, Head Girl (1952), Fourth Form Detectives (1954), Study Number Six (1957), Junior Captain (1960), The Fourth Was Fun for Philippa
(1961), and Too Many Girls (1962).
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BRENNAN, ELIZABETH (?1907 - ????)
1940s
Untraced Irish author of six works of fiction in the 1940s, at least some of
them for children. The early titles include Out of the Darkness (1945), The
Wind Fairies (1946), Am I My
Brother's Keeper (1946), Whispering
Walls (1948), The Wind Fairies
Again (1948), and Wind Over the
Bogs (1950). We have confirmed that she is not the same Elizabeth Brennan who published romantic novels in
the 1960s-1980s.
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BRENT-DYER, ELINOR M[ARY]. (6 Apr 1894 – 20 Sept 1969)
(pseudonym of Gladys
Eleanor May Dyer)
1920s – 1960s
Author of
nearly 100 books, including the longest and most successful series of girls'
school stories, the Chalet School series,
which included 58 titles in its original editions (split into 62 when
released, in sometimes heavily abridged versions, in paperback) and spanned
nearly 50 years, beginning with The
School at the Chalet (1925) and concluding with Prefects of the Chalet School (1970), published posthumously. The
Friends of the Chalet School website here is an invaluable resource for Brent-Dyer fans.
Several books in the series, most notably The
Chalet School in Exile (1940) and The
Chalet School Goes to It (1941, reprinted as The Chalet School Goes to War), deal with World War II.
Brent-Dyer also wrote other shorter series, including the La Rochelle series
beginning with Gerry Goes to School
(1922), and a dozen or so standalone stories, as well as one novel for
adults, Jean of Storms, serialized
in 1930 but not published in book form until 1996. I've written a bit about
Brent-Dyer here.
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BRERETON, D. KATHERINE (dates unknown)
1950s?
Particularly elusive author of one children's title, The Savages on Gale Island. Even the year of publication is in
some doubt, though 1950 seems to be a bookseller consensus. The book is not
listed in the British Library or Library of Congress catalogues, nor in
Worldcat, though copies are available for sale. She was also the author of a
number of stories in periodicals at around the same time.
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Brett,
Rosalind
see WARREN, LILLIAN
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BRIDGE, ANN (11 Sept 1889 – 9 Mar 1974)
(pseudonym of Mary Ann Dolling O'Malley,
née Sanders)
1930s – 1970s
Author of more than 20 novels, often set in exotic locales, combining
historical perspective, romance, and the excitement of travel and making use
of her own experiences as a diplomat's wife. Her first novel, Peking
Picnic (1932), garnered comparisons to E. M. Forster's A Passage to India. Illyrian Spring (1935), set in
Yugoslavia, was credited with sparking that nation's tourism industry. Bridge
herself was most proud of the novels which made use of historic turning
points of the recent past, including Frontier
Passage (1942), The Dark Moment
(1952), A Place to Stand (1953) and
The Tightening String (1962), the
latter two taking place in Hungary before and during World War II. She also
wrote a series of romantic thrillers featuring Julia Probyn, beginning with The Lighthearted Quest (1956).
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BRIGGS, ELSPETH [MARGARET] (8 Jun 1902 – 20 Feb
1961)
1930s – 1960s
Sister of novelist, children's author, and scholar Katharine Mary BRIGGS.
Historical novelist and children's author with a particular interest in the
17th century. Her novels are Borrowed
Names (1932), Restoration
(1935), The Rhyme for Porringer
(1939), Service Is None Heritage
(1948), Another Unicorn (1954), and
Seven Bold Sons (1962), the last of
which was Briggs' favorite of her works. Her children's titles are The White King (1948) and Squire's Fairing (1960).
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BRIGGS, KATHARINE MARY (8 Nov 1898 –
15 Oct 1980)
1930s – 1970s
Sister of Elspeth BRIGGS. Playwright, actress, and literary scholar best
known now for her children's titles, including the fantasy tales Hobberdy Dick (1955), about a
hobgoblin in 1650s England, and Kate
Crackernuts (1963), about a girl trying to protect her sister from a
witch—both of which were reprinted by Faber Finds. She also published two
earlier historical novels for adults, The
Lisles of Ellingham (1935) and The
Castilians (1949), and several non-fiction works on Shakespeare and
folklore. Her Selected Works was
published by Routledge in 2003.
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BRIGGS, PHYLLIS [MIDWOOD] (18 Apr 1904 – 11 Jun 1981)
(aka Philip Briggs)
1930s – 1960s
Author of around 20 works of children’s fiction, roughly half under her masculine
pseudonym. Among those titles are two works of junior science-fiction, Escape from Gravity (1955) and The Silent Planet (1957). Other titles
include Wolf of the North (1937), North with the "Pintail"
(1943), The Cat of Pine Ridge
(1944), The Keeper of the Lake
(1945), Orchid Island (1947), The Turning Point (1953), and Three Rovers (1958).
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BRIGHT, PAMELA [MIA] (1914 – 13 Aug 2012)
1950s – 1970s
Red Cross nurse and author of three novels—Breakfast at Night (1956), which "describes the first three
years of a nurse's training at one of the most famous teaching hospitals in
the world, Edinburgh Infirmary", The
Day's End (1959), about life and death in a cancer ward, and Hospital at Night (1971). Life in Our Hands (1955) was her
memoir of her time with the British Second Army during the last year of WWII.
The Nurse and Her World (1961) was
non-fiction for children, and A Poor
Man's Riches (1966) dealt with her travels in the Middle East and with
the UN relief efforts in Palestine.
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BRILL, EDITH [MAY] (11 Feb 1899 – 13 Feb 1986)
(married name Timperley)
1930s
Probably best known now for various
books about the culture and history of the Cotswolds and for her late
children’s title, The Golden Bird (1970), a retelling of a Polish folk
tale illustrated by Jan Pienkowski, which has enthusiastic reviews on Goodreads,
Brill also published five novels—The Mink Coat (1930), a family story
which garnered praise from the Spectator, New Bed (1931), about
a woman who marries an older man to escape life as a barmaid, Heart Alone
(1933), described as a “quiet and pleasantly written romance,” Three Maids
of Islington (1933), and London Ladies (1934).
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BRINTON, SYBIL G[RACE]. (12 Aug 1874 – 26 Feb 1927)
(married name Preen)
1910s
Author of a single novel, Old Friends
and New Fancies: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen (1914),
generally claimed as the originator of the genre of Jane Austen sequels and
spin-offs, which combines characters from all six Austen novels into a new
romance. The novel was reprinted by Sourcebooks in recent years, and was
positively reviewed here.
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BRITTAIN, VERA [MARY] (29 Dec 1893 – 29 Mar 1980)
(married name Catlin)
1920s – 1940s
Novelist and memoirist best known for Testament
of Youth (1933), a devastating memoir about the personal ravages of World
War I on her life, which included losing not one but two fiances, a close
friend, and her brother, with whom she was very close. The book also describes
her subsequent involvement with pacifism. It was made into a film in 2015.
Although less well-known than her memoir, Brittain also published five
novels, which often deal with war and its traumas as well as her pacifist
beliefs. The Dark Tide (1923) is
about two young women at Somerville College immediately after WWI, and
contains a thinly veiled portrait of her friend Winifred HOLTBY. Honourable Estate (1936), a family
saga, is often considered her best novel. The others are Not Without Honour (1924, Account
Rendered (1945), and Born 1925
(1948). England's Hour (1941) was
Brittain's memoir of the early days of World War II. According to Jenny
Hartley, Brittain's pamphlet Seed of
Chaos (1944) was "almost the only public protest against the
obliteration bombing of German cities." In more recent years, Brittain's
diaries and letters have begun to be published, including Chronicle of Youth: The War Diary,
1913-1917 and Wartime Chronicle:
Diary 1939-1945.
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BROADBENT, UNA [FRANCES DELMA RUSSELL] (14 May 1900 – 1 Jun 1984)
1930s
The author of
several plays in the 1930s, Broadbent also published one novel, Perilous Grain (1934), set in Homeric
Greece.
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BROADWOOD, J. W. (30 Dec 1867 – 11 Aug 1945)
(pseudonym of Jane
[sometimes Judith] Winifred Kate Bradshaw, married name Sheldrake)
1920s
Author of three novels—Pawning Tomorrow
(1924), The Keys of Heaven (1927),
and The Horoscope of Duke Camillo
(1928), the last of which, at least, is historical in theme.
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BROEMEL, ROSE (???? – 28 Jan 1935)
(née Mills, aka Rose
D'Evelyn)
1930s
Apparently a well-known singer under her stage name Rose D'Evelyn, Broemel
published a single thriller, The
Elusive Criminal: A London Mystery (1930). She was previously traced as
one Rose Edith Mills born 1867, but John Herrington has now disproven this as
that Mills died 1901. One census which seems to be the author gives her
middle name as Esme.
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BROMIGE, IRIS [AMY EDNA] (2 Jun 1910 – 1 Oct 2004)
(née ?????)
1940s – 1990s
Author of around 50 romantic novels, often set in the English countryside. Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical
Writers describes her work as “pleasant, family oriented novels set in an
England where late 20th-century realism rarely intrudes.” Titles include The Traceys (1946), Chequered Pattern (1947), April Wooing (1951), Gay Intruder (1954), A New Life for Joanna (1957), The Flowering Year (1959), Fair Prisoner (1960), The Family Web (1963), An April Girl (1967), The Broken Bough (1973), The Happy Fortress (1978), and Farewell to Winter (1986).
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BROOKE, CAROL (8 Jun 1924 – 7 Jan 2013)
(pseudonym of Valerie Patricia Ramskill, née
Roskams)
1940s – 1960s
Author of 16 romantic novels. Her debut, Light
and Shade (1947), seems to be set during WWII. Others include To Reach the Heights (1948), Devils' Justice (1948), The Changing Tide (1952), As Others See Us (1952), No Other Destiny (1955), Shadow of the Past (1960), This Day's Madness (1962), and Till All the Seas (1964).
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BROOKE, EMMA FRANCES (24 Dec 1844 – 28 Nov 1926)
(aka E. Fairfax Byrrne)
1880s – 1910s
Author of more than a dozen volumes of religious fiction for adults and
children, including the school story Reaping
the Whirlwind (1885). Others include A
Superfluous Woman (1894), The
Engrafted Rose (1899), Susan Wooed
and Susan Won (1905), The Story of
Hauksgarth Farm (1909), and The
House of Robershaye (1912).
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BROOKE, MONICA (dates unknown)
1950s
Untraced author of a single girls' school story, The Girl Who Hated School (1950). It seems likely that she is the
same Monica Brooke who published two romance novels the following year—When Passion Waits (1951) and Divided Desire (1951)—but this is not
certain.
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BROOKE-ROSE, CHRISTINE [FRANCES EVELYN] (16 Jan 1923 – 21 Mar 2012)
(married name
Peterkiewicz)
1950s - 2000s
Critic, poet,
and author of sixteen experimental novels known for their wordplay, unusual
structures, and occasional forays into science-fiction. Titles include The Languages of Love (1957), The Dear Deceit (1961), Out (1964), Thru (1975), Amalgamemnon
(1984), Xorandor (1986), Verbivore (1990), Textermination (1991), and Life,
End Of (2006). Brooke-Rose worked with British Intelligence at Bletchley
Park during World War II.
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BROPHY, BRIGID [ANTONIA] (12 Jun 1929 – 7 Aug 1995)
(married name Levey)
1950s – 1970s
Novelist, critic, and early campaigner for animal rights. Brophy’s
experimental, philosophical, and politically-engaged fiction includes Hackenfeller's
Ape (1953), The King of a
Rainy Country (1956), Flesh (1962), The Finishing Touch
(1963), The Snow Ball (1964), In Transit (1969), and Palace
Without Chairs: A Baroque Novel (1978). She also published one work for
children, Pussy Owl (1976), which was read on the BBC.
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BROSTER, D[OROTHY]. K[ATHLEEN]. (2 Sept 1878 – 7 Feb 1950)
1910s – 1940s
Author of sixteen novels, most historical in nature. Her first two novels
were co-written with Gertrude Winifred TAYLOR. Some of her best-known solo
works were The Yellow Poppy (1920),
set in the unrest following the French Revolution, Mr. Rowl (1924) (which, incidentally, is read by a character in
Diana TUTTON’s Guard Your Daughters),
her Jacobite trilogy—comprised of The
Flight of the Heron (1925), The
Gleam in the North (1927), and The
Dark Mile (1929)—The Sea without a
Haven (1941), and The Captain's
Lady (1947). In the 1930s, Broster tried her hand at parody with Ships in the Bay! (1931), set in 18th
century Wales, and Word under Snow
(1935), co-written with G. Forester, a parody of detective fiction (possibly
Dorothy L. SAYERS in particular). Broster is also known for her short tales
of horror, collected in the volumes A
Fire of Driftwood (1932) and Crouching
at the Door (1942).
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BROUGHTON, RHODA (29 Nov 1840 – 6 Jun
1920)
1860s - 1920
Best known as a Victorian novelist who, according to ODNB, wrote "eloquently about the economic pressures upon
women" and was “shocking” in her day. Her debut, Cometh Up as a Flower (1867), was a major bestseller. Subsequent
novels include Red as a Rose Is She
(1870), Goodbye, Sweetheart (1872),
Belinda (1883), A Beginner (1894), Concerning a Vow (1914), and A Fool in Her Folly (1920). She was
also known for her ghost stories, collected in volumes such as Tales for Christmas Eve (1873, aka Twilight Stories), Strange Dream and Other Stories
(1881), and Betty's Visions and Mrs.
Smith of Longmains (1886). A selection of these tales was published in
1995.
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BROWN, BEATRICE CURTIS (24 Aug 1901 – 18 Apr 1974)
(married name Horton)
1920s – 1930s
Author of four well-received novels, all but one historical in nature and
most based in fact. Elizabeth
Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston (1927) is about an 18th century society
woman convicted of bigamy. Alas Queen
Anne (1929) seems to have been taken by some critics as a biography, but
it appears to have been at least somewhat fiction. For the Delight of Antonio (1932) received particular acclaim,
telling of an Englishman participating in the Venetian revolt against Austria.
The Sancroft Sisters (1934) was
nearly contemporary in subject matter, following three young girls growing up
in the 1920s. Brown also published a popular volume of poetry for children, Jonathan Bing and Other Verses (1934),
biographies of Anthony Trollope and Isabel Fry, and a memoir, Southwards from Swiss Cottage (1948).
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Brown, Bellamy
see BROWN, JOAN MARY WAYNE
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BROWN, DELIA (dates unknown)
1950s
Untraced author of a single novel, Gin
and Lilies (1953), described in a snippet review as a "murder at the
poker table mystery." This seems to have been the pseudonym of an
established romance writer, but it's not known which one.
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BROWN, EDITH CHARLOTTE (30 Jan 1876 – 6 Jun 1947)
(née Hubback, aka Mrs
Francis Brown)
1920s
Great niece of
Jane Austen, who published two Jane Austen sequels, Margaret Dashwood, or,
Interference (1929), and Susan
Price, or, Resolution (1930). Brown also “finished” Austen’s The Watsons in 1928, as had her
grandmother, Catherine Hubback, before her.
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BROWN, FRANCES (dates unknown)
1920s – 1930s
Untraced author of nine romantic novels—A
Lover on Loan (1927), Caught on the
Rebound (1927), The Girl on a
Pedestal (1928), A Lost Chance
(1928), The Unwanted Bride (1930), Barbara Lee (1931), Fooled by a Flirt (1931), A Beautiful Temptress (1933), and His Dancing Daughter (1937).
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BROWN, JOAN MARY WAYNE (21 Apr 1906 –
26 Apr 1998)
(aka Mary Gervaise, aka Hilary Wayne, aka Bellamy
Brown)
1920s – 1970s
Best known for her dozens of girls' school and pony books under the name Mary
Gervaise, especially the
Georgie series (1950-1965), Brown also published dozens of adult novels and
romances under her Wayne and Brown pseudonyms. Among her straightforward
school stories are Tiger's First Term
(1928), Don-Margery, Schoolgirl
(1928), Nancy No-good at School
(1929), The School on the Hill
(1930), Nutmeg at School (1933), Pat in the Fifth (1937), and The Two Veronicas (1939). Horse
stories (some with school content) include A Pony of Your Own (1950), Ponies
in Clover (1952), The Pony Clue
(1955), The Vanishing Pony (1958),
and Puzzle of Ponies (1964).
Romances include Sweet and Kind
(1947), Gay Experiment (1948), It Happened to Hilary (1952), Flower of the Night (1955), Wish for a Whirlwind (1958), Beware of Loving (1966), and Perilous Freedom (1972).
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BROWN, MARIE R. (dates unknown)
1920s
Untraced author of a single romantic novel, The Girl They Scorned (1927).
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BROWN, PAMELA [BEATRICE] (31 Dec 1924 – 26 Jan 1989)
(married name Masters)
1940s – 1970s
Actress and children's author (not to be confused with another actress,
Pamela Mary Brown) whose work often made use of her own theatrical
experiences. The Swish of the Curtain
(1941), written at the precocious age of 15, tells of children setting up
their own theatre, Family Playbill
(1951) deals with a theatrical family in the Victorian era, and Backstage Portrait (1957) is about a
girl working as stage manager in her uncle’s theatre. Other titles include Blue Door Venture (1949), The Windmill Family (1954), Showboat Summer (1956), The Other Side of the Street (1965), Summer Is a Festival (1972), and Every Day Is Market Day (1977).
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BROWNE, ALICE MAUDE (1848 – 13 Apr
1936)
(aka John Ryce)
1890s – 1920s
Author of three novels, two under her pseudonym—The Rector of Amesty (1891) and An Oath in Heaven: An Early Victorian Romance (1903)—and one, That Colony of God (1923), as Alice M.
Browne.
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BROWNE, ANNA MARIA (27 Oct 1938 – 1 Jun 2002)
1950s
Author of a single novel, Whom the Gods
Love (1959), described by no lesser reviewer than Muriel Spark as
"an effective and sometimes thrilling account of young life in Rome
under Nero."
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BROWNE,
EDITH OPHELIA (1883 – 4 Mar 1937)
1920s – 1930s
Author of nine novels, about which information is scarce. The titles are
The Wall of Shields (1927), The Broken Cup (1928), When the Saints Slept (1930), The Green Eagle (1932), Fair Rosamund (1932), The King's Evil (1933), The Fair Age of Youth (1933), A Kingdom Divided (1934), and Thus Merlin Said (1934). She had
already published Short Biographies of
the Worthies of Worcestershire (1916).
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BRUCE, DORITA (DOROTHY) [MORRIS] FAIRLIE (20 May 1885 – 21 Sept 1970)
1920s – 1960s
One of the best known school story authors, known for several series,
including nine titles in the “Dimsie” series, six titles in the “Springdale”
series and a total of eight titles in the interrelated “St Bride’s” and
“Maudsley” series, as well as the shorter “Toby” and “Sally” series, each
containing three titles. Unlike most school story authors, Bruce followed
three of her heroines into adulthood, perhaps not coincidentally in stories
set during World War II—Dimsie in Dimsie
Carries On (1941), Toby in Toby at
Tibbs Cross (1943), and Nancy from the “St Brides’s” series in Nancy Calls the Tune (1944). She also
published nine novels for young adults (or in some cases, possibly originally
intended for adults) in the “Colmskirk” series—interrelated novels all set in
and around the fictional Scottish town of Colmskirk, probably modelled on
Largs. Four of these—The King's Curate
(1930), Mistress-Mariner (1932), A Laverock Lilting (1945), and The Bees on Drumwhinnie (1952)—are
historical, while the rest—Wild Goose
Quest (1945), The Serendipity Shop
(1947), Triffeny (1950), The Debatable Mound (1953), and The Bartle Bequest (1955), are set in
the present day. The latter were all reprinted by Girls Gone By in recent
years, but the historical titles are increasingly difficult to find. I
written about her several times here, and there’s a very
informative site dedicated to Bruce here.
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BRUCE, HEATHER (dates unknown)
1930s – 1940s
Untraced author of four novels, probably romantic in nature—The Tide of Fortune (1938), Somebody After All (1939), The Cousin from Canada (1939), and The Everlasting Hills (1941).
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BRUCE, KATE (KATHERINE) MARY (8 Nov 1897
– 30 Oct 1961)
(née Maugham)
1920s – 1950s
Niece of Somerset Maugham and author of sixteen novels, which seem to be
cheerful and humorous in theme. The
Chequer Board (1922) is set in the theatre just after World War I, while Clipped Wings (1923) is about a girl
married to the wrong man. The others are Romany
Stranger (1930), Rest Awhile
(1931), Tory Blaize (1932), Duck's Back (1933), Snow-Storm (1934), Guappa (1935), Company Drill (1937), Men
Are So Helpless (1938), Meet Me at
Gooly's (1939), Women Never Learn
(1940), Figures in Black-Out
(1941), Daughters (1949), The Poodle Room (1954), and Felicity (1956).
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BRUCE, MARY (dates unknown)
1920s
Untraced author of a single romantic novel, The Pretty Sister (1928).
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BRUCE, MILDRED MARY (10 Nov 1895 – 21 May 1990)
(née Petre, aka Mrs.
Victor Bruce)
1930s
Pioneering aviator, auto enthusiast, and businesswoman, who wrote memoirs of
her various exploits including Nine
Thousand Miles in Eight Weeks (1927) and The Bluebird's Flight (1931). Her semi-autobiographical humorous
sketches were published as The
Peregrinations of Penelope (1930), with illustrations by Joyce Dennys,
and just barely qualify her for this list.
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BRYANT, MARGUERITE (28 Nov 1870 – 13 Nov 1962)
(married name Munn)
1890s – 1920s
Author of seventeen novels which might be romantic in nature. Titles include A Great Responsibility (1895), A Woman's Privilege (1898), The Princess Cynthia (1901), Anne Kempburn, Truthseeker (1910), The Dominant Passion (1913), The Shadow on the Stone (1918), A Courageous Marriage (1921), Mrs Fuller (1925), and Dear Idiot (1926).
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BRYHER (2 Sept 1894 – 28 Jan 1983)
(pseudonym of Annie
Winifred Ellerman, married names McAlmon and Macpherson)
1920s – 1970s
Novelist and memoirist, as well as an important mover and shaker in
avant-garde culture in the modernist period. Apart from her writing, her
claims to fame include being the partner of American poet and novelist H.D.
(Hilda Dolittle); helping Robert McAlmon finance the Contact Press in Paris
(first publisher of an extraordinary array of young modernists—including
Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Djuna Barnes, and William Carlos Williams);
supporting James Joyce and his family before Joyce became world famous;
starting the experimental film company POOL; and lending financial support to
Freud and the early psychoanalytic movement in Austria, as well as helping
Jewish refugees escape from Germany in the years before WWII. Her first two
novels, Development (1920) and Two Selves (1923), appear to be the
first novels openly exploring a young woman's coming to terms with being a
lesbian. West (1925) is a travel
memoir inspired by a trip she and H.D. made to America. Most of her later
novels, including The Fourteenth of
October (1954), The Player's Boy
(1957), Roman Wall (1955), Gate to the Sea (1959), The Coin of Carthage (1964), and This January Tale (1968), have
historical settings, though in 1956 she revisited her WWII experiences in the
powerful novel Beowulf, about two
women running a tea shop during the Blitz (reportedly based on a real shop
she and H.D. frequented). She published two memoirs, The Heart to Artemis: A Writer's Memoirs (1963) and The Days of Mars: A Memoir 1940–1946
(1972).
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Bryan, John
see DELVES-BROUGHTON,
JOSEPHINE
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Bryson, Leigh
see RUTLEDGE, NANCY
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BUCHAN, ALICE [CAROLINE HENRY] (5 Jun 1908 – 19 Dec 1993)
(married name Fairfax-Lucy,
aka Alice Fairfax-Lucy)
1930s
Daughter of Susan TWEEDSMUIR and novelist John Buchan, niece of novelist Anna
BUCHAN (aka O. Douglas). Biographer and historian who began her career with a
single novel, The Vale of Maenalus
(1931), which, according to the Spectator,
is about "three ineffectual young people making love by quotation."
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BUCHAN, ANNA [MASTERTON] (24 Mar 1877 – 24 Nov 1948)
(aka O. Douglas)
1910s - 1940s
Sister of novelist John Buchan and sister-in-law of Susan TWEEDSMUIR. Author
of thirteen quiet novels of Scottish life, some with overlapping characters.
Titles are Olivia in India (1912), The Setons (1917), Penny Plain (1920), Ann and Her Mother (1922), Pink Sugar (1924), The Proper Place (1926), Eliza for Common (1928), The Day of Small Things (1930), Priorsford (1932), Taken by the Hand (1935), Jane's Parlour (1937), People Like Ourselves (1938), and The House that Is Our Own (1940). She
was at work on an additional novel, The
Wintry Years, when she died, and eight chapters of it were published in
the posthumous collection, Farewell to
Priorsford (1950). Her memoir, Unforgettable,
Unforgotten (1945), includes details of her family life and famous
brother. Barb at Leaves & Pages has reviewed most of Buchan's work—see here.
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Buchan, Susan
see TWEEDSMUIR, SUSAN
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BUCHANAN, EMILY HANDASYDE (22 Feb 1872 – 11 May 1953)
(aka Handasyde)
1900s, 1930s
Author of four
high-society romances in the 1900s—A
Girl's Life in a Hunting Country (1903), For the Week-End (1907), Other
Things Than Love (1909), and The
Heart of Marylebone (1910)—along with one volume of children's stories, The Four Gardens (1907). She
apparently returned to publish one further novel, Spare That Tree, in 1939, about which information is sparse.
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BUCHANAN, MERIEL (5 Sept 1886 – 6 Feb 1959)
(married name Knowling)
1910s
A journalist and memoirist of Russian political issues and biographer of
royalty and families, Buchanan also published two early novels, White Witch (1913) and Tania: A Russian Story (1914). Her
memoir, Ambassador's Daughter,
appeared in 1958. Among her biographies are Anne of Austria: The Infanta Queen (1936) and Queen Victoria's Relations (1954). She
also published a cookbook, Good Food
from the Balkans (1956).
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BUCK, DOROTHY [LOUISA MARIAN] (15 Feb 1897
– 12 Jul 1946)
(married name Chavanne)
1920s – 1940s
Author of a dozen books, of which the first, The New Lotus-Eaters (1928), appears to be a travel book about
Tunisia. Some of her novels are also set in North Africa. Titles include The Sliding Door (1930), My Friend Pierrot (1932), The Last Oasis (1932), The Dark Cavalier (1936), The Snake Charmer (1937), The Harem Window (1939), and Where the Road Ends (1946).
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BUCKINGHAM, M. E. (18 Oct 1903 - 1975)
(pseudonym of Agnes Mary
Easton, née Huntingford)
1930s – 1960s
Author of seven children’s books, most or all featuring animals and set in
Asia and India. Titles are Phari: The
Adventures of a Tibetan Pony (1933), Zong:
A Hill Pony (1934), Argh: The Tale
of a Tiger (1935), Rajah the
Elephant (1937), Arrowflag
(1940), The Great Carlos (1945),
and Odd
Boy Out (1963).
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BUCKLE, ELIZABETH [BRAITHWAITE] (12
Dec 1865 – 14 Jan 1949)
(née Turner)
1910s – 1930s
Short story author and memoirist. Her story collections include Wayside Lamps (1913), Wayside Neighbors (1914), and Cottage Pie (1931). The Cup of War (1915) is a short
memoir of her World War I experiences, and Triumphant Over Pain (1923) seems to also deal with the war. It's
unclear what type of work A Kingly
Grave in France (1919) is.
|
Buckley, Eunice
see ALLATINI, ROSE
|
BUCKMASTER, CELIA [JOYCE] (28 Nov 1915 – 20 Oct 2005)
(married names
Gibson-Fleming and Leach)
1950s
Wife of
anthropologist Sir Edmund Leach and close friend of poet Lynette ROBERTS.
Painter and author of two novels of village life, Village Story (1951) and Family
Ties (1952), both originally published by Hogarth Press and both
reprinted by Dean Street Press as Furrowed Middlebrow books in 2020.
Reviewing the latter in the TLS Julian
Symons said, "For all the apparent superficiality of her comedy, Miss
Buckmaster has a feeling for reality, her Thirkell is tinged with
Chekhov." I've written about her here. A third novel, Story
About Life and So On, was written in the later 1950s or 1960s, but
remains unpublished.
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BUCKROSE,
J. E. (1868 – 9 Aug 1931)
(pseudonym
of Annie Edith Jameson)
1900s – 1930s
Author of more
than three dozen novels, apparently mostly cheerful comedies of middle-class
life. War-Time in Our Street (1917)
is presumably a WWI home front novel. Silhouette
of Mary Ann (1931) is a fictional portrayal of novelist George Eliot.
Other titles include The Wood End
(1906), The Pilgrimage of a Fool
(1910), Down Our Street (1911), Because of Jane (1913), Gay Morning (1914), Aunt Augusta in Egypt (1915), The Gossip Shop (1917), The Silent Legion (1918), Marriage While You Wait (1919), A Knight Among Ladies (1922), Susan in Charge (1923), Payment in Kind (1928), and Doctor's House (1932).
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BULLARD, MARGARET [ELLEN] (23 Aug 1907 – 29 Jun
2009)
(née Thomas)
1950s
Author of three humorous novels—Wedlock's
the Devil (1951), described by John Betjeman as "a sort of
unscrupulous Cranford", A Perch in Paradise (1952), set in
Cambridge before, during, and after WWII and which, according to Marghanita
Laski, "varies from the exceptionally witty to the vulgar", and Love Goes West (1953), about an
English civil servant and his wife sent from their cozy life in England to
California in search of cheap sardines. She was the wife of Sir Edward Crisp
Bullard, a Cambridge scientist knighted for "ending the menace of the
German magnetic mine in the Second World War by inventing degaussing of
ships", and really did spend time with him in California, where he
worked in later years at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.
Despite her high-profile husband, records on Margaret herself are difficult
to find, and the dates above are highly probable but not certain. She is, however,
not to be confused with the Margaret Bullard who was the wife of diplomat
Julian Bullard, who published non-fiction works.
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BULLINGHAM, ANN (8 Jul 1905 – 23 Mar 1967)
(pseudonym of Anastasia
[Ann] Miles Jones, née Colfer)
1950s
Author of three children's novels about Penelope and friends in the English
countryside, including Penelope
(1953), Penelope and Curlew (1957),
and Summer on the Hills (1960).
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BURCHELL, MARY (24 Aug 1904 – 22 Dec 1986)
(pseudonym of Ida Cook)
1930s – 1980s
Author of well
over 100 romantic novels for Mills & Boon under her pseudonym, but it's
her own story that deserves a movie adaptation. In the 1930s, she and her
sister used their reputation as eccentric opera fanatics to travel to and
from Nazi Germany for performances. On their return from each trip, they
would smuggle valuables from Jewish families into England, which provided
immigration guarantees to the British government and allowed the families to
be accepted into England. On at least one occasion, the sisters wore priceless
jewels with their frumpy homemade dresses, and German officials didn't blink
an eye, assuming they were paste. I wrote a bit more about them here, and Cook's memoir, We Followed Our Stars (1950, reprinted as Safe Passage), written under her real name, describes these
events in her own words. Her numerous novels include many which feature
musical characters or settings, reflecting her personal passion.
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BURDEKIN, KATHARINE [PENELOPE] (23 Jul 1896 – 10 Aug 1963)
(née Cade, aka Murray
Constantine, aka Kay Burdekin)
1920s – 1930s
Author of ten novels, marked by her pacifist and feminist beliefs. She is
best known now for Swastika Night
(1937), a dystopian novel set after centuries of Nazi and Japanese rule of
the world, which has been reprinted in recent years. In The Children's Country (1929), she attempted to create a
"non-sexist" children's story. Quiet
Ways (1930) is a pacifist novel, and Venus
in Scorpio (1940) a historical novel. Other titles are Anna Colquhoun (1922), The Reasonable Way (1924), The Burning Ring (1927), The Rebel Passion (1929), Proud Man (1934), and The Devil, Poor Devil! (1934). In
1990, a previously unpublished novel, The
End of This Day's Business, appeared, set in a society in which women
hold the power.
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Burford,
Eleanor Alice
see
HIBBERT, ELEANOR
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BURGESS, E[STHER]. M[ARGARET]. R[OOKE]. (14 Mar 1895 – 8 Jul 1977)
1930s – 1940s
Guiding aficionado and children's author. Hilary
Follows Up, or, The Peridew Tradition (1939) is a school story, which
Sims and Clare say is reminiscent of Dorita Fairlie BRUCE. Other titles are Dalmira Wins Through (1934), Cherry Becomes International (1946),
and Ready for Anything (1948), as
well as various non-fiction works about games and Guiding.
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BURGESS, L[UCY]. A[DELINE]. (16 Sept
1876 – 12 Oct 1920)
(married name Trudgian)
1910s
Nurse and author of a single novel, With
Drums Unmuffled (1913), apparently a love story set in Gibraltar, where Burgess
seems to have lived for some time.
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BURGESS, MARJORIE [AGNES LOVELL] (22 Aug 1906 – 1 Feb 1996)
(sometimes Lovell-Burgess)
1920s – 1930s
Journalist and author of two novels, Great
Possessions (1927) and Provincial
Interlude (1932), about which information is lacking, plus a book about
“the amateur ciné movement in Great Britain” (1932).
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Burghley,
Rose
see POLLOCK, IDA [JULIE]
|
BURGOYNE, ELIZABETH (19 Aug 1902 – 13
Mar 1987)
(pseudonym of Mabel Elizabeth Pickles)
1930s
Biographer and author of two novels—Travail
(1934) and Road Royal (1935). She
later published Carmen Sylva, Queen and
Woman (1941), a biography of the first queen of Romania, a memoir, Married to Wilfred: The Autobiography of
M. Pickles (1956), and contributed biographical passages to a volume of
Gertrude Bell's personal papers.
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Burke,
Barbara
see BALL, OONA H[OWARD].
|
Burke,
Edward
see BOGGS, WINIFRED
|
BURKE, KATHLEEN (24 Oct 1887 – Nov 1958)
(married names Peabody,
McLean, Hale)
1930s – 1940s
World War I
memoirist and author of romance novels. She was given a CBE in her early 30s
for her work with relief organizations in France and in fundraising for the
Scottish Hospital Service. She was the first woman allowed into the besieged
fortress of Verdun, which she discussed in her memoir The White Road to Verdun (1916). Later, she published five
romantic novels—The Living Way
(1937), Splendid Surrender (1937), Love, Dance a Jig (1938), How Blew the Wind? (1939), and Love Wore a Cloak (1941).
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BURKE, NORAH AILEEN (2 Aug 1907 – 1
Mar 1976)
(married name Walrond, aka André Lamour)
1930s – 1960s
Author of more than twenty novels under her own name and her pseudonym, some
of which made use of her childhood in India. She also published several late
volume of travel writing. Titles include Dark
Road (1933), Merry England
(1934), The Scarlet Vampire (1936),
The Lady Got Burnt (1946), Dusky Bridegroom (1947), and Temptations of Eve (1948). Her memoir
is Jungle Child: On the Author's
Childhood in Northern India (1956).
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BURLEIGH, HILARY (1885 – 10 Apr 1964)
(pseudonym of Edith Mary
John, married names Broade and Hunt Lewis, aka H. H. Lewis)
1930s – 1950s
Author of four novels, all or most of them mysteries and at least two
featuring the same police detectives, but about which little else is known. Titles
are Her Hour of Temptation (1937), Murder at Maison Manche (1948), Pearls and Perjury (1950), and By Whose Hand? (1956).
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BURMESTER, FRANCES G[EORGINA]. (26 May
1848 – 6 Apr 1940)
1900s – 1910s
Author of six novels, which seem to partake a bit of the country melodrama
style later made famous by Mary WEBB. Titles are John Lott's Alice (1902), A
November Cry (1904), Clemency
Shafto (1906), Davina (1909), A Bavarian Village Player (1911), and The Dogs of War (1916).
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BURNETT, FRANCES [ELIZA] HODGSON (24 Nov 1849 – 29 Oct 1924)
(née Hodgson)
1870s – 1920s
Prolific novelist and children’s author, best known for the classic
children's book The Secret Garden
(1911), and for two novels for adults, The
Making of a Marchioness (1901) and The
Shuttle (1906), both reprinted by Persephone. Another children's work, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), was
made into a classic film. Among her numerous other titles are That Lass o' Lawrie's (1877), A Fair Barbarian (1880), Through One Administration (1883), Sara Crewe, or What Happened at Miss
Minchin's (1888), His Grace of
Osmonde (1897), In the Closed Room
(1904), The Land of the Blue Flower
(1909), and My Robin (1912).
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BURNFORD, SHEILA [PHILIP COCHRANE] (11
May 1918 – 20 Apr 1984)
(née Every)
1960s – 1970s
Best known for her debut children's novel, The Incredible Journey (1960), which won numerous awards and has
been filmed twice, and which just
qualifies her for this list, Burnford later wrote two more children's titles,
Mr. Noah and the Second Flood
(1973) and Bel Ria (1977), as well
as two memoirs, The Fields of Noon
(1964) and One Woman's Arctic
(1972).
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BURNS, A. E. (dates unknown)
1910s – 1920s
Untraced author of only two books, the first a school story set in a Catholic
convent school, called The Grand
Duchess Benedicta (1915). Later, Burns published Peggy in Demand (1924), about which information is sparse.
|
Burns, Sheila
see BLOOM, URSULA
|
BURR, SYBIL [EDITH] (13 Oct 1909 – 18 May 2002)
(née Parren)
1950s
Author of seven
children’s titles, including Lantern of
the North (1954, aka Night Train to
Scotland), a mystery with a 15-year-old heroine, My Candle the Moon (1955), The
Saint Bride Blue (1956, aka Highland
Fling), Full Fathom Forty
(1957), Life With Lisa (1958), Operation Blindbell (1960), and Leave It to Lisa (1960). Life With Lisa, her best known work, a
fictional diary of a 12-year-old girl, was reprinted by Puffin in 1979 and
dramatized for Radio 4 in 2003.
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BURROUGHES, DOROTHY [MARY] (25 Dec 1883 – 18 Jul 1963)
1930s – 1950s
Children’s author and illustrator. Although most of her books, such as The House the Moles Built (1939) and Teddy, the Little Refugee Mouse
(1942), are for small children, others like The Odd Little Girl (1932) and Captain Seal's Treasure Hunt (1933) seem to be longer works.
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BURT, JESSIE MAY (30 Nov 1897 – 12 Mar 1988)
1940s - 1950s
Scottish author of 14 novels, beginning with the wartime Seavacuee (1942), about a Scottish boy sent to Canada to escape
the Blitz. Other novels sound like light romances with some melodrama—titles
include Ursula Takes Over (1944), The Gay Gordons (1945), The Swing of the Pendulem (1946), set
in the late 18th century, The
Glendenning Fortunes (1947), Treason
in Fitzroy Place (1948), The
Stepbrothers (1949), A Wife for
Giles (1950), Mr Duffy Calls the
Tune (1951), Chance Inheritance
(1952), The Price of Distinction
(1952), For Love of Annie (1953), Daughter of Paradise (1955), and Tragedy of Love (1956).
|
BURTON, HESTER (6 Dec 1913 – 17 Sept 2000)
(née Wood-Hill)
1960s – 1980s
Teacher, assistant editor of the Oxford
Junior Encyclopedia, and historical children’s novelist. Titles include The Great Gale (1960), set during the
East Anglia floods of 1953, In Spite of
All Terror (1968), set during WWII, and Thomas (1969), set during the Great Plague of London. Others are Castors Away! (1962), Time of Trial (1963), No Beat of Drum (1966), Otmoor for Ever! (1968), Through the Fire (1969), The Henchmans at Home (1970), The Rebel (1971), Riders of the Storm (1972), Kate
Rider (1974), To Ravensrigg
(1976), A Grenville Goes to Sea
(1977), Tim at the Fur Fort (1977),
When the Beacons Blazed (1978), and
Five August Days (1981). She
adapted The Great Gale for radio
and Castors Away! for television.
|
BUSSELL, DOROTHEA (14 Oct 1884 – 1 Apr 1962)
(née Bickerton)
1910s – 1930s
Sister of explorer Frank Bickerton. Poet and author of four novels—The New Wood Nymph (1912), Dunbarrow (1926), The Third Angel (1929), and Translate
No Further (1933)—about which information is sparse.
|
BUSSELL, EMILY (dates unknown)
1930s
Unidentified author of one (or perhaps two) novels. Epitaph for Harriet (1936) is about a young women who, jilted by
one lover, spontaneously marries a poor scientist and must learn to live in a
style to which she is unaccustomed. The publisher, Stanley Paul & Co.,
advertised a second novel, Duet for Two
Ladies, about a struggling, widowed mother of four who takes in a lovely
but insidious woman as a paying guest, but there is no evidence the book ever
actually appeared, and it is not listed in any major card catalogue.
|
BUTCHER, MARGARET [CATHERINE] (29 Oct 1887 – 14 Jan 1983)
(née Cuzner)
1930s – 1950
Journalist and author of four novels. Details are lacking about Destiny on Demand (1938), except that
it is included in some checklists of science-fiction and fantasy. Comet's Hair (1939) is described in a
publisher's blurb as "A perfect picture of all that is good and bad in a
typical English village … The ideal novel for those who require a skilfully
told story full of life-like characters and charming pen pictures." Vacant Possession (1940) is a wartime
novel about a group of neighbors living near the Fulham Road—the Guardian said of it "This is a
conversational novel, and the talkers are well differentiated." Her
final novel, Hogdown Farm Mystery
(1950), appears to be a thriller.
|
BUTLER,
ELIZA MARIAN (29 Dec 1885 – 13 Nov 1959)
(aka E. M.
Butler)
1950s
Professor of German at Cambridge University for a time, and best known
for her scholarly studies of German literature and culture and biographies of
Sheridan (1931) and Rilke (1941). After her retirement from academia,
however, Butler published two short novels, Daylight in a Dream (1951) and Silver Wings (1952). Her memoir, Paper Boats, appeared in 1959.
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BUTLER, GWENDOLINE (19 Aug 1922 – 5 Jan 2013)
(née Williams, aka Jennie
Melville)
1950s – 2000s
Author of more than 70 books in all, including both contemporary and
historical mysteries and, under her pseudonym, of gothic romances and more
mysteries. She published police procedurals in two series, one featuring
Detective Inspector John Coffin, the other featuring a policewoman, Chief
Superintendent Charmian Daniels. She also published historical mysteries set
in Victorian or Edwardian England. Some of her many titles include Receipt for Murder (1956), Dead in a Row (1957), The Dull Dead (1958), Death Lives Next Door (1960), Come Home and Be Killed (1962), A Nameless Coffin (1966), A Coffin for Pandora (1973), The Red Staircase (1980), Windsor Red (1988), The Morbid Kitchen (1995), Coffin's Game (1997), Dead Again (2000), and Dread Murder (2007).
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BUTLER, MARGUERITE L[UCY]. (1879 - 1951)
1930s
Cambridge-trained teacher and later missionary in Bangalore, India, where she
ran a girls' high school. She published one girls' school story, Tulsi (1934), set in an Indian
boarding school, which Sims and Clare praise for its cultural accuracy and
realism, as well as the non-fiction Hindu
Women at Home (1921).
|
BUTLER-JOYCE, JOAN [MARGUERITE] (23 Sept 1904 – 21 Apr 2001)
(née Butler)
1930s
Author of three children's books, including two school stories, Hot Water (1935) and No Responsibility (1940), praised by
Sims and Clare for subverting the clichès of school stories, as well as She Went to London (1938). She also
published one adult novel, Catherine-Wheel
(1939), which according to reviews is a cheerful tale of a young woman's
early adulthood.
|
BUTTENSHAW, DIANA [MARGUERITE] (24 Apr 1918 – 2 Mar 2013)
(married name Byrde)
1930s – 1950s
Author of two
children's titles early in her career—Patrick
(1939) and Dominic: Days in the Life of
a Boy Who Lived in a Forest (1943)—and 10 novels for adults. Some may
have been romances or light adventure, such as The Sleeping Princess (1941), Say
Not Good-Night (1943), and Journey
to Venice (1949), but other titles, such as Incident in Ismalia (1953) and Violence in Paradise (1957), suggest mysteries or thrillers. The
others are The Villach Road (1947),
Pepito of Guadiaro (1948), An Oak for Posterity (1952), The One Black Swan (1955), and Chain of Command (1956). She also
published short fiction of suspense and horror.
|
BUTTS, MARY [FRANEIS] (13 Dec 1890 – 7 Mar 1937)
(married names Rodker and
Aitken)
1920s – 1930s
Modernist
author whose work was out-of-print for decades until something of a revival
occurred in the 1990s. She published five novels—Ashe of Rings (1925), Armed
with Madness (1928), The Death of
Felicity Taverner (1932), The
Macedonian (1933), and Scenes from
the Life of Cleopatra (1935)—and three volumes of stories—Speed the Plough and Other Stories
(1923), Several Occasions (1932),
and Last Stories (1938). Her
memoir, The Crystal Cabinet: My
Childhood at Salterns (1937), was left unfinished at her death. Butts
died suddenly, at the age of 46, of peritonitis. Most of her work is
currently in print from McPherson & Company.
|
BYERS, [AMY] IRENE (30 Dec 1906 – 11 Feb 1992)
(née Cookson)
1950s – 1980s
Author of more than three dozen children's books, many of them adventure and
holiday stories and some including recurring characters. Titles include Mystery at Barber's Reach (1950), The Adventure of the Floating Flat
(1952), Tim of Tamberly Forest
(1954), Adventure at Fairborough's Farm
(1955), The Sign of the Dolphin
(1956), The Missing Masterpiece
(1957), Adventure at the Blue Cockatoo
(1958), Kennel Maid Sally (1960), Tim Returns to Tamberly (1962), The Merediths of Mappins (1964), Joanna Joins the Zoo (1964), The Stage Under the Cedars (1969), Cameras on Carolyn (1971), and Fox on the Pavement (1984).
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BYNG, ELEANOR, VISCOUNTESS TORRINGTON (1880 – 7 Dec 1931)
(née Ellen Mary Sowray)
1920s
Actress and "Gaiety Girl" who had a turbulent marriage with Lord
Torrington, owned racehorses, and eventually opened a nightclub, before
apparently committing suicide due to financial woes. She published one novel,
Over the Garden Wall: A Story of Racing
and Romance (1924). Bear Alley posted his research about her here.
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BYNG, MARIE EVELYN (11 Jan 1870 – 20
Jun 1949)
(née Moreton)
1910s
Viscountess of Vimy and wife of Lord Byng, 12th Governor General of Canada.
Author of two novels, Barriers
(1912) and Anne of the Marshland
(1914), as well as a memoir, Up the
Stream of Time (1945).
|
Byrne, E. Fairfax
see BROOKE, EMMA FRANCES
|
BYRON, MARY (28 Aug 1868 - 1935)
(née Anderson)
1930s
Author of two poetry collections, A
Voice from the Veld (1913) and The
Owls (1920), and a single collection of stories, Dawn and Dusk in the High Veld (1931), described as "[v]ivid
short stories and true sketches of life among the scattered farms of South
Africa." The birth date above comes from an Ancestry family tree—her
actual birth records have so far eluded me.
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