E. M. Delafield
Encyclopedia
Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (9 June 1890 – 2 December 1943), commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English author
. She is best-known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a Devon
village of the 1930s. In sequels, the Provincial Lady buys a flat in London, travels to America, attempts to find war-work during the Phoney War, and tours the Soviet Union.
, Sussex
. She was the elder daughter of Count Henry Philip Ducarel de la Pasture, of Llandogo
Priory, Monmouthshire
, and Elizabeth Lydia Rosabelle, daughter of Edward William Bonham, who as Mrs Henry de la Pasture
was also a well-known novelist. The pen name
Delafield was a thin disguise suggested by her sister Yoe. She was a debutante in 1909, although it is not known if she ever formally 'came out'. After Count Henry died, her mother married Sir Hugh Clifford
GCMG, who governed the colonies of the Gold Coast
(1912–19), Nigeria
(1919–25), Ceylon (1925–27) and the Malay States.
In 1911, Delafield was accepted as a postulant
by a French religious order
established in Belgium. Her account of the experience, The Brides of Heaven, was written in 1931 and eventually published in her biography. "The motives which led me, as soon as I was 21, to enter a French Religious Order are worthy of little discussion, and less respect" she begins. This account includes being told by the Superior that if a doctor advised a surgical operation "your Superiors will decide whether your life is of sufficient value to the community to justify the expense. If it is not, you will either get better without the operation or die. In either case you will be doing the will of God and nothing else matters." She finally left when she learned that Yoé was planning to join another enclosed order: "the thought of the utter and complete earthly separation that must necessarily take place between us was more than I could bear".
At the outbreak of World War I
, she worked as a nurse in a Voluntary Aid Detachment
in Exeter
, under the formidable command of Georgiana Buller
(daughter of a general who held the Victoria Cross
, and later a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire), and her first novel Zella Sees Herself was published in 1917. At the end of the war she worked for the South-West Region of the Ministry of National Service in Bristol
, and published two more novels. She continued to publish one or two novels each year until nearly the end of her life.
On 17 July 1919, she married Colonel Arthur Paul Dashwood
, OBE, an engineer who had built the massive docks at Hong Kong Harbour. After two years in the Malay States, Delafield insisted on coming back to England and they lived in Croyle, an old house in Kentisbeare
, Devon
, on the Bradfield estate where he became the land agent
. She had two children, Lionel and Rosamund. At the initial meeting of the Kentisbeare Women's Institute, Delafield was unanimously elected president, and remained so until she died.
She was a great admirer and champion of Charlotte M. Yonge, and an authority on the Brontë
s. In 1938 Lorna Mesney became her secretary, and kept a diary to which Delafield's biographer was given access.
Delafield's son Lionel died in late 1940, some suggest by his own hand
, something from which she never recovered. Three years later, after collapsing while giving a lecture in Oxford, Delafield died on December 2, 1943, after a progressive decline which first necessitated a colostomy and visits to a neurologist. She was buried under her favourite yew tree in Kentisbeare churchyard, near her son. Her mother survived her and died in October 1945. Her daughter married one of the Dashwood Baronets
and emigrated to Canada as Rosamund Dashwood
.
Delafield was parodied in a 2004 episode ‘Diatribe of a Mad Housewife
’ of The Simpsons
as the character Esmé Delacroix.
and became a director of Time and Tide
. When the editor 'wanted some light "middles", preferably in serial form, she promised to think of something to submit'. It was thus in 1930 that her most popular and enduring work Diary of a Provincial Lady was born. This largely autobiographical novel substituted the names of "Robin" and "Vicky" for her own children, Lionel and Rosamund. It has never been out of print.
The novel inspired several sequels which chronicled later portions of her life: The Provincial Lady Goes Further, The Provincial Lady in America, and The Provincial Lady in Wartime. She later worked for the Ministry of Information
. The Dictionary of National Biography
says "On the outbreak of the Second World War, she lectured for the Ministry of Information and spent some weeks in France." - however we can surmise from The Provincial Lady in Wartime that in fact she spent quite a bit of time vainly looking for 'proper' war work and working in an ARP
canteen
.
In 1961, Delafield's daughter, Rosamund Dashwood
, published Provincial Daughter, a semi-autobiographical account of her own experiences with domestic life in the 1950s.
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
. She is best-known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
village of the 1930s. In sequels, the Provincial Lady buys a flat in London, travels to America, attempts to find war-work during the Phoney War, and tours the Soviet Union.
Life
Delafield was born in SteyningSteyning
Steyning is a small town and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles north of Shoreham-by-Sea...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. She was the elder daughter of Count Henry Philip Ducarel de la Pasture, of Llandogo
Llandogo
Llandogo is a small village in Monmouthshire, south Wales, located between Monmouth and Chepstow in the lower reaches of the Wye Valley AONB, two miles north of Tintern. It is set on a steep hillside overlooking the River Wye and across into the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England.- History...
Priory, Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
, and Elizabeth Lydia Rosabelle, daughter of Edward William Bonham, who as Mrs Henry de la Pasture
Mrs Henry de la Pasture
Mrs Henry de la Pasture , born Elizabeth Lydia Rosabelle Bonham and after her second marriage styled Lady Clifford, was a British novelist and dramatist.-Biography:...
was also a well-known novelist. The pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Delafield was a thin disguise suggested by her sister Yoe. She was a debutante in 1909, although it is not known if she ever formally 'came out'. After Count Henry died, her mother married Sir Hugh Clifford
Hugh Clifford
Sir Hugh Charles Clifford, GCMG, GBE was a British colonial administrator.-Early life:Clifford was born in Roehampton, London, the sixth of the eight children of Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Clifford and his wife Josephine Elizabeth, née Anstice; his grandfather was Hugh Clifford, 7th Baron...
GCMG, who governed the colonies of the Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
(1912–19), Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
(1919–25), Ceylon (1925–27) and the Malay States.
In 1911, Delafield was accepted as a postulant
Postulant
A postulant was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a monastery or a convent, both before actual admission and for the length of time preceding their admission into the novitiate...
by a French religious order
Religious order
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
established in Belgium. Her account of the experience, The Brides of Heaven, was written in 1931 and eventually published in her biography. "The motives which led me, as soon as I was 21, to enter a French Religious Order are worthy of little discussion, and less respect" she begins. This account includes being told by the Superior that if a doctor advised a surgical operation "your Superiors will decide whether your life is of sufficient value to the community to justify the expense. If it is not, you will either get better without the operation or die. In either case you will be doing the will of God and nothing else matters." She finally left when she learned that Yoé was planning to join another enclosed order: "the thought of the utter and complete earthly separation that must necessarily take place between us was more than I could bear".
At the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, she worked as a nurse in a Voluntary Aid Detachment
Voluntary Aid Detachment
The Voluntary Aid Detachment was a voluntary organisation providing field nursing services, mainly in hospitals, in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The organisation's most important periods of operation were during World War I and World War II.The...
in Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
, under the formidable command of Georgiana Buller
Georgiana Buller
Dame Audrey Charlotte Georgiana Buller, DBE, RRC , best known as Georgiana Buller, was a British hospital administrator and the founder of the first school dedicated to occupational therapy in the United Kingdom....
(daughter of a general who held the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
, and later a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire), and her first novel Zella Sees Herself was published in 1917. At the end of the war she worked for the South-West Region of the Ministry of National Service in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, and published two more novels. She continued to publish one or two novels each year until nearly the end of her life.
On 17 July 1919, she married Colonel Arthur Paul Dashwood
Dashwood Baronets
There have been two Baronetcies created for members of the Dashwood family, one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain...
, OBE, an engineer who had built the massive docks at Hong Kong Harbour. After two years in the Malay States, Delafield insisted on coming back to England and they lived in Croyle, an old house in Kentisbeare
Kentisbeare
Kentisbeare is a village and civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. Its nearest town is Cullompton....
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, on the Bradfield estate where he became the land agent
Land agent
Land agent may be used in at least three different contexts.Traditionally, a land agent was a managerial employee who conducted the business affairs of a large landed estate for a member of the landed gentry of the United Kingdom, supervising the farming of the property by farm labourers and/or...
. She had two children, Lionel and Rosamund. At the initial meeting of the Kentisbeare Women's Institute, Delafield was unanimously elected president, and remained so until she died.
She was a great admirer and champion of Charlotte M. Yonge, and an authority on the Brontë
Brontë
The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family associated with Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte , Emily , and Anne , are well-known as poets and novelists...
s. In 1938 Lorna Mesney became her secretary, and kept a diary to which Delafield's biographer was given access.
Delafield's son Lionel died in late 1940, some suggest by his own hand
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, something from which she never recovered. Three years later, after collapsing while giving a lecture in Oxford, Delafield died on December 2, 1943, after a progressive decline which first necessitated a colostomy and visits to a neurologist. She was buried under her favourite yew tree in Kentisbeare churchyard, near her son. Her mother survived her and died in October 1945. Her daughter married one of the Dashwood Baronets
Dashwood Baronets
There have been two Baronetcies created for members of the Dashwood family, one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain...
and emigrated to Canada as Rosamund Dashwood
Rosamund Dashwood
Rosamund Dashwood was the daughter of celebrated English writer E. M. Delafield, and was one of the top female masters runners in Canadian history....
.
Delafield was parodied in a 2004 episode ‘Diatribe of a Mad Housewife
Diatribe of a Mad Housewife
"Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons fifteenth season, which originally aired January 25, 2004. Marge is inspired to write a romance novel, though after Homer hears rumors that Marge is secretly in love with Ned Flanders due to the storyline of the novel, he grows...
’ of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
as the character Esmé Delacroix.
Diary of a Provincial Lady
Delafield became great friends with Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess RhonddaMargaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda
Margaret Haig Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda was a Welsh peeress and active suffragette.In 1908 she joined the Women's Social and Political Union , and became secretary of the WSPU's Newport branch...
and became a director of Time and Tide
Time and Tide (magazine)
Time and Tide was a British weekly political and literary review magazine founded by Margaret, Lady Rhondda in 1920. It started out as a supporter of left wing and feminist causes and the mouthpiece of the feminist Six Point Group. It later moved to the right along with the views of its owner...
. When the editor 'wanted some light "middles", preferably in serial form, she promised to think of something to submit'. It was thus in 1930 that her most popular and enduring work Diary of a Provincial Lady was born. This largely autobiographical novel substituted the names of "Robin" and "Vicky" for her own children, Lionel and Rosamund. It has never been out of print.
The novel inspired several sequels which chronicled later portions of her life: The Provincial Lady Goes Further, The Provincial Lady in America, and The Provincial Lady in Wartime. She later worked for the Ministry of Information
Ministry of Information
The term Ministry of Information may refer to the following:* Ministry of Information , part of the Cabinet of Egypt* Ministry of Information , part of the Cabinet of Equatorial Guinea...
. The Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
says "On the outbreak of the Second World War, she lectured for the Ministry of Information and spent some weeks in France." - however we can surmise from The Provincial Lady in Wartime that in fact she spent quite a bit of time vainly looking for 'proper' war work and working in an ARP
Air Raid Precautions
Air Raid Precautions was an organisation in the United Kingdom set up as an aid in the prelude to the Second World War dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air-raids. It was created in 1924 as a response to the fears about the growing threat from the development of bomber...
canteen
Canteen
Canteen has several different meanings:*Canteen , a water container*Canteen , a cafe, restaurant, or cafeteria provided for the use of students, workers, or soldiers at a particular school, office, or military base...
.
In 1961, Delafield's daughter, Rosamund Dashwood
Rosamund Dashwood
Rosamund Dashwood was the daughter of celebrated English writer E. M. Delafield, and was one of the top female masters runners in Canadian history....
, published Provincial Daughter, a semi-autobiographical account of her own experiences with domestic life in the 1950s.
Books
- Zella Sees Herself (1915) - her first work, written in Exeter. "curiously savage, self obsessed, alarming" or "quite delightful, full of brilliant touches, serious, sad and funny at the same time". Clearly rather autobiographical.
- A Perfectly True Story - a short story contributed to The Girl Guides' Book. It is an account of Delafield's marriage into the circle of squires & baronets. Kirtington Park was built by Sir James Dashwood, and was the ancestral home of her husband.
- The War Workers (1918) - the travails of working in a Supply Depot under the tyrannical control of Charmain Vivian, who meets her match in a newly-arrived clergyman's daughter Grace Jones.
- The Pelicans (1918) - centres round an agonising account of conversion to the Roman Catholic Church and a death in a convent.
- Consequences (novel)Consequences (novel)Consequences by E. M. Delafield is a 1919 novel about a young woman entering a convent. Its heroine, Alex Clare, refuses to marry the only young man to make her an offer of marriage, and, finding herself regarded as a failure by society, must resort to convent life. E. M. Delafield herself entered...
(1919) - This was republished in 2000 by Persephone BooksPersephone BooksPersephone Books is an independent publisher based in Bloomsbury, London. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone has a catalogue of 93 "neglected novels, diaries, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, biography and cookery books, mostly by women and mostly dating from the early to...
.
- Tension (1920)
- The Heel of Achilles (1920) - the story of a lower middle-class girl marrying into the gentry, whose daughter Jane rebels against her.
- Humbug (1921) - a novel attacking 'amateur educationalists' in which Lily Stanhope marries a shouting bore, but eventually achieves a resolution to strive to eliminate the humbug which has dogged her own upbringing from that of her child.
- The Optimist (1922) - largely dominated by Canon Morchard, an 'utterly impossible clergyman' who starts as a horrible man but becomes quite saintly.
- A Reversion to Type (1923) - a bad hat from a country family marries Rose, a girl he meets on a voyage to Ceylon. After he dies of drink, she makes her life in his family house, finally managing to escape her guilt over her degenerate son.
- The Sincerest Form... (1924?) - a series of parodies of leading novelists including HG Wells, Arnold BennettArnold Bennett- Early life :Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the...
, Eleanor SmithEleanor SmithLady Eleanor Furneaux Smith was an English writer. The eldest of the politician F. E. Smith's three children, she worked as a society reporter and cinema reviewer for a while, then as a publicist for circus companies...
, GB Stern, Evelyn WaughEvelyn WaughArthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
& Rosamund Lehmann.
- Messalina of the Suburbs (1924) - dedicated to Delafield's best friend 'Rose', (Dr Margaret Posthuma), it is based on a famous murder case, in which Ethel Thompson was convicted and hanged in 1923 as an accomplice of her lover Bywaters who attacked and killed her husband. Although she was certainly shocked and astonished by the attack, her letters to Bywaters describe her repeated attempts to poison her husband. (Re-published 1970 Freeport, N.Y., Books for Libraries Press)
- Mrs Harter (1924) - seen through the eyes of Sir Miles Fowler, a crippled baronet. At one level, the story of 'fast' Mrs Harter's developing romance with Captain Patch, which reaches a crisis with the arrival of her husband. However, it is really a study in how differently the same events are perceived by people who are interested in ideas/things/people.
- The Chip and the Block (1925) - Charles Ellery has an egocentric disregard of the need and sufferings of others, but the development whereby he ceased to plague his family and marries a second wife who can control him is highly enjoyable for the reader.
- Jill (1926) - the story of Major Jack Galbriath who, with his wife Doreen has to live on their wits, which are not particularly brilliant.
- The Entertainment (1927) - a collection of short stories, including The Tortoise, where Charles Ellery re-appears.
- The Way Things Are (1927) - Laura - a character notably similar to Delafield - literary, is stuck in country with her dull husband Alfred (of whom she is "very fond"), has a semi-affair with an admirer, Duke Ayland. Meanwhile Lady Kingsely-Browne's daughter Beebee throws herself at a famous author (DHL?) thus losing "the richest commoner in England" who marries Laura's sister. Laura renounces the Duke (in a way that inspired Still Life and Brief Encounter). Described by Rachel FergusonRachel FergusonRachel Ethelreda Ferguson, was an English novelist, playwright and journalist who was born on 17 October 1892 at The Nest, Church Grove, Hampton Wick...
as Delafield's most perfect novel. Reprinted by Virago in 1988 with a new introduction by Nicola Beauman.
- The Suburban Young Man (1928) - Peter has fallen in love with the well-born Antoinette, but his Scottish wife Hope remains in admirable control of the situation. Dedicated "To All Those Nice People who have so often asked me to Write a Story about Nice People".
- What is Love? (1928) - Ellie has been abandoned at an early age by her predatory mother, and is courted by Simon but then dumped in favour of Vicky, Eton-cropped and wearer of an eye-glass.
- Women are Like That (1929) - a collection of short stories dedicated to her sister Yoe.
- Turn Back the Leaves (1930) - dedicated to her agent A. D. PetersA. D. PetersAugustus Dudley Peters was a British literary and talent agent, and a film producer.His agency merged with Fraser and Dunlop Agency to produce Peters, Fraser & Dunlop, which in 1999 became PFD, with offices in London and New York...
, it begins with a doomed love affair in 1890 and ends in 1930 with the old Catholic family it has devastated. It was highly praised by all reviewers.
- Diary of a Provincial Lady (1930) - this became a best-seller and has never been out of print. It was chosen as the Book Society Book of the Month for December, 1930.
- Challenge to Clarissa (1931) - Clarissa Fitzmaurice, a rich harridan, bullies the life out of her husband, his daughter Sophie, and her son by her first marriage, Lucien. But eventually Lucien and Sophie defy Clarissa and marry. She also includes a lady novelist Olivia who has shared her home for many years with her friend Elinor, and whose friendship had weathered, "as Miss Fish resentfully observed, the fuss about The Well of Loneliness."
- The Provincial Lady Goes Further (1932) - continuation, beginning with astonishment at receiving a large royalty cheque (from Provincial Lady). Dedicated to Cass CanfieldCass CanfieldAugustus Cass Canfield was an American publishing executive who was the longtime president and chairman of Harper & Brothers, later Harper & Row.-Early life:...
.
- Thank Heaven Fasting (1932) - Monica Ingram sees no future other than marriage, but a foolish romantic encounter has muddied her reputation and wilted her confidence, and she seems condemned to live forever with her domineering mother. "The best of her 'debutante' works, a minor classic that will endure" (Re-published 1969 Howard Baker, also re-published by Virago).
- Gay Life (1933) - set in the Cote d'Azur, Hilary and Angie Moon have to live on their wits and her beauty.
- General Impressions (1933) - a collection of series of humorous articles in Time and Tide.
- The Provincial Lady in America (1934)
- The Bazalgettes (1936) - a spoof anonymous novel of 1870-6. Delafield asked to be allowed to review it for The Listener but was unable to do so.
- Faster! Faster! (1936) - Claudia Winstoe, a dynamo of energy, runs London Universal Services and her home with equal tyranny. Pushing herself too hard, she dies in a collision, and the family and business get on fine without her.
- As Others Hear Us: A Miscellany (1937) - a collection of humorous sketches which appeared in Punch and Time & Tide.
- Nothing is Safe (1937) - a fictional indictment of parents who forget what their whims may do to the happiness and security of their young children.
- Ladies and Gentlemen in Victorian Fiction (1937) - published by Leonard & Virginia WoolfVirginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
. Delafield was a great fan of Charlotte Yonge.
- Straw Without Bricks: I Visit Soviet Russia - (1937 - published in the U.S. as I visit the Soviets and re-published 1985 by Academy Chicago Publishers). This is her account of six months in Russia, mostly on a collective farm and in Leningrad.
- Three Marriages (1939) - variations on a theme in three short stories.
- The Provincial Lady in Wartime (1940) - resumed at the insistence of Harold MacmillanHarold MacmillanMaurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
. The Lady gets a flat in Buckingham Street (above the offices of her agent AD Peters) and works in the Air Raid Precautions HQ under the Adelphi building. Eventually she gets a job & the diary concludes.
- No One Now Will Know (1941) - a decidedly bleak book in which Fred and Lucian (Lucy) both love Rosalie. The title is a quotation from the Irish poem 'The Glens of Antrim' "No one now will know, which of them loved her the most".
- Late and Soon (1943) - dedicated to Kate O'BrienKate O'BrienKate O'Brien , was an Irish novelist and playwright.-Biography:Kathleen "Kate" Mary Louie O'Brien was born in Limerick City at the end of the 19th century. Following the death of her mother when she was five, she became a boarder at Laurel Hill convent...
. Valentine Arbell is the widowed chatelaine of a large country house in WW2. Her loose daughter Primrose is having an affair with Valentine's former admirer Rory, but Rory rekindles his passion for Valentine and they marry.
- Love Has No Resurrection (1939)
- The Brontes, their lives recorded by their contemporaries (1935 - Published by Leonard & Virginia Woolf. Re-published 1979 Meckler Books)
Drama
- Film script with Vera Allinson: Crime on the Hill (1933), which starred Sally BlaneSally BlaneSally Blane was an American actress. Blane was the sister of actresses Polly Ann and Loretta Young, and half-sister to actress Georgiana Young, the wife of actor Ricardo Montalban...
, Anthony BushellAnthony BushellAnthony Bushell was an English film actor and director, who appeared in 56 films between 1929 and 1961. He also appeared on and directed various British TV series such as Danger Man.-Early life:...
, Lewis CassonLewis CassonSir Lewis Thomas Casson MC was a British actor and theatre director and the husband of Dame Sybil Thorndike.-Early life:...
and Nigel PlayfairNigel PlayfairSir Nigel Playfair was the actor-manager of the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London, in the 1920s. He studied at University College, Oxford....
.
- Film script with Edward KnoblockEdward KnoblockEdward Knoblock was an American-born British playwright and novelist most remembered for the often revived 1911 play, Kismet-Biography:...
: Moonlight Sonata (1938), which starred PaderewskiIgnacy Jan PaderewskiIgnacy Jan Paderewski GBE was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.-Biography:...
, Charles FarrellCharles FarrellCharles Farrell was an American film actor of the 1920s silent era and into the 1930s, and later a television actor...
, Marie TempestMarie TempestDame Marie Tempest DBE was an English singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession".Tempest became the most famous soprano in late Victorian light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, she became a leading comic actress and toured widely in North America and elsewhere...
& Eric PortmanEric PortmanEric Portman was a distinguished English stage and film actor...
.
- To See Ourselves (1930) - Caroline, married to a rather dull Freddie, yearns for love and romance, but is sadly thwarted by domesticity. This play was a great success, broadcast repeatedly and was included in Gollancz's Famous Plays of 1931
- The Glass Wall (1932) - A play about religious vocation, clearly somewhat autobiographical, and with lots of parts for women.
- The Little Boy - a radio play in which Hermione GingoldHermione GingoldHermione Gingold was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric persona, an image enhanced by her sharp nose and chin, as well as her deepening voice, a result of vocal nodes which her mother reportedly encouraged her not to remove. She starred on stage, on radio, in films, on...
's character was murdered.