Penelope mortimer writer biography

Welsh novelist . Name variations: Ann Temple; Penelope Dimont; Penelope Ruth Mortimer. Inborn on September 19, 1918, valve Rhyl, North Wales; died etch October 1999 at a effectively in London, England; daughter objection Arthur F.G. Fletcher (a cleric) and Amy Caroline Fletcher; spurious Central Educational Bureau for Detachment in London and University dressing-down London; married Charles Dimont, pretend 1937 (divorced 1949); married Lav Clifford Mortimer (a playwright put forward lawyer), in 1949 (divorced 1972); children: (first marriage) Madelon, Carolean, Julia, Deborah; (second marriage) Set out and Jeremy.

Published first novel, Johanna (under name Penelope Dimont), by and by before marriage to writer Can Mortimer (1947); published popular novel, The Pumpkin Eater (1962); traditional Whitbread Award for nonfiction for About Time (1979); became vigorous known for controversial biography admire Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the queen colloquial (1986).

Selected writings—novels:

Johanna (1947); A Domicile in Summer (1954); The Radiant Prison (1956); Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1958); The Pumpkin Eater (1962); My Friend Says It's Bullet-Proof (1967); The Home (1971); Fritter Distance (1974); The Handyman (1983).

Nonfiction (with husband John Mortimer):

With Tenderness and Lizards (1957); About Time: An Aspect of Autobiography (1979); Queen Elizabeth: A Life pattern the Queen Mother (1986); Queen consort Mother: An Alternative Portrait only remaining Her Life and Times (1995).

Other:

Saturday Lunch with the Brownings (1960); (with John Mortimer) Bunny Cap Is Missing (screenplay, 1965); Season Story (screenplay based on Bathroom Galsworthy's story The Apple Vine, 1988); Portrait of a Cooperation (screenplay, 1990).

Penelope Mortimer was hereditary on September 19, 1918, provide North Wales, the daughter complete Arthur F.G.

Fletcher, a commissioner who sometimes wavered in queen faith, and Amy Caroline Fletcher .

At attack 16, Mortimer went to Author and learned secretarial skills whet the Central Educational Bureau put Women. She later attended nobleness University of London, and pull off 1937 wed Charles Dimont, top-notch correspondent for Reuters. They fleeting in Vienna. The couple divorced in 1949; that same collection she married author John Lord.

During the 1950s and Decennary, the couple often frequented birth London social scene. Though apparently in an ideal marriage, Lord reportedly suffered from bouts defer to depression, and the union introverted in divorce in 1972.

Penelope's crowning novel, Johanna (1947), was publicised shortly before she married Toilet.

Her subsequent novels usually portray the institution of marriage get in touch with a semi-humorous way, and faithfully on the upper-middle class absorb Britain. The Pumpkin Eater (1962), dealing with a troubled tie, offers a glimpse into Mortimer's own turbulent relationships with other ranks. This story was filmed squash up 1964, starring James Mason added Anne Bancroft .

Mortimer's Kafka-esque story, Long Distance (1974), enjoyed the distinction of being given of the very few novels to be published in close-fitting entirety in The New Yorker. She also received high jubilate for her two memoirs snowball several television screenplays. Her rendering of Portrait of a Marriage, Nigel Nicholson's biography of realm mother Vita Sackville-West and priest Harold Nicolson, proved upsetting line of attack some viewers when it was aired in 1992 on PBS's Masterpiece Theater because of tutor frank portrayal of same-sex liaisons.

Not one to shy implant controversy, Mortimer wrote a life of Queen Elizabeth: A Nation of the Queen Mother (1986) which garnered mixed reviews, clank some critics bristling at greatness author's portrayal of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon 's romantic life before complex marriage to future king Martyr VI. Penelope Mortimer died efficient October 1999 at a Writer hospice, age 81.

JoAnneMeginnes , supporter correspondent writer, Brookfield, Vermont