Diana Norman was a British author and journalist writing historical fiction

Historical fiction

Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...

 and non-fiction. She was born in Devon. Her father was a journalist, and she followed this profession until moving to the countryside to "bring up two daughters, study medieval history, and write".
She also published books under the pen name Ariana Franklin, featuring the fictional medieval pathologist Adelia Aguilar.

Diana Norman was married to the film critic Barry Norman

Barry Norman

Barry Leslie Norman, CBE is a British novelist, impresario, film critic and media personality. He was the BBC film critic on television from 1972 to 1998.-Early life:...

. She died on 27 January 2011.

Writing as Diana Norman

• Fitzempress' Law (1980)
• King of the Last Days (1981)
• The Morning Gift (1985)
• Daughter of Lîr (1988)
• Pirate Queen (1991)
• The Vizard Mask (1994)
• Shores of Darkness (1996)
• Blood Royal (1998)
• A Catch of Consequence (2002)
• Taking Liberties (2003)
• The Sparks Fly Upward (2006)

Writing as Ariana Franklin

• A Murderous Procession (2010) also published as The Assasin's Prayer
• Relics of the Dead (UK) published as Grave Goods in the US (2009)
• The Death Maze (UK) published as The Serpent's Tale in the US (2008)
• Mistress of the Art of Death (2007) winner of a prize from the Crime Writers' Association

• City of Shadows (2006)

Non-fiction

• Terrible Beauty: Life of Constance Markievicz, 1868–1927 (1987)
• Road from Singapore (1970, 1979)
• The Stately Ghosts of England (1963, 1977)

External links

• Transworld Publishers
• Ariana Franklin at Random House Group
• Diana Norman Biography at BookBrowse