Evelyn Anthony
Evelyn Anthony | |
|---|---|
 Evelyn in 1986 | |
| Born | Evelyn Bridget Patricia Stephens 3 July 1926 Lambeth, London,UK |
| Died | 25 September 2018(aged 92) Horham Hall,Essex,UK |
| Pen name | Evelyn Anthony |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Spouse |
Michael Ward-Thomas
(m.1955; died 2004) |
| Children | 6 |
Evelyn Bridget Patricia Ward-Thomas(néeStephens;3 July 1926 – 25 September 2018), better known by the pen nameEvelyn Anthony,was a British writer. Anthony was born in the Lambeth district ofLondon.She had a very prolific writing career, translated into at least 19 languages and her 1971 novelThe Tamarind Seedwasadapted for a filmin 1974, starringJulie Andrewsas Judith Farrow.
Early life and education
[edit]Anthony was born Evelyn Bridget Patricia Stephens on 3 July 1926 inLambeth, London.Her father was Henry Christian Stephens, a lieutenant in theRoyal Naval Volunteer Reserve,and her mother was Elizabeth Stephens (née Sharkey).[1][2]She had one older half sister, Phyllis.[2]Her great-grandfather,Henry Stephens,inventedindelible inkand the family had inherited a fortune.[1]Her father invented the dome trainer, which allowedanti-aircraftshooters to train against projected films of aircraft.[2][3]
Anthony was a keen reader as a child and attended theConvent of the Sacred Heartschool inRoehamptonas a boarder from the age of ten.[1][2]She was evacuated to theWest Countryduring World War II.[4]Her parents' marriage was not happy and by the time she was 12, they had divorced. She was close to her father and when his health deteriorated within two years of the divorce, she cared for him at home.[1]
Literary career
[edit]Anthony began her writing career at seventeen, publishing short stories in women's magazines.[1]She used the pen name Evelyn Anthony as Evelyn was gender-neutral and Anthony was derived from the name of St.Anthony of Padua,patron saint of lost things.[1]Her first novels were historical romances, beginning with the publication ofRebel Princessin 1953, which was the first of her Romanov trilogy and focused onCatherine the Great.She also publishedAnne Boleyn(1957),Victoria and Albert(1958), andAnne of Austria(1968).[1][2]Her historical novelsFar Fly The Eagles(1955) andValentina(1966) were both set duringNapoleon's invasion of Russia.[citation needed]
Beginning withThe Legendwhich she published in 1969, she focused on novels with a theme ofespionage.She was one of the few women writing in the genre at the time, a group which includedHelen MacInnesandAnn Bridge.[2][3]She wrote a series of four novels, beginning withThe Defectors(1980), which chronicled the tales of fictional female secret agent, Davina Graham, who became theMI5director. She was influenced by friends of her father, who worked with theSpecial Operations Executiveduring World War II.[2]One of these intelligence officers wasDesmond Bristow,who inspired the novelsThe Rendezvous(1967) andThe Poellenberg Inheritance(1972).[5]
She published novels consistently throughout her life, until the publication of her final novel,Mind Games(2005).[2]She was a best-selling author and her books were translated into at least nineteen languages.[2]Her most famous novel wasThe Tamarind Seed(1971), which was adapted into afilm of the same namein 1974, starringJulie Andrewsas Judith Farrow, a British Home Office functionary andOmar Sharifas Feodor, a Soviet air attaché, lovers involved inCold Warintrigue.[6]Two of her novels –Anne Boleyn(1956) andVictoria(1957) – won the United StatesLiterary Guildaward.The Occupying Powerreceived the 1973Yorkshire Postaward.[5]
Personal life
[edit]Anthony met Michael Ward-Thomas, an executive for theConsolidated African Selection Trust,on a double date atThe Dorchester.They were immediately attracted to each other and switched partners, marrying a few months later, on 16 April 1955.[1][2][5]The couple had four sons and two daughters between 1957 and 1965. In 1968, the family moved toThaxted, Essex,from London as they had purchasedHorham Hall.The cost of restoration and maintenance, however, forced them to sell the manor house in 1976 and they moved toNaas,County Kildare,Ireland, where Anthony had relatives.[2][5]Increased income from her writing allowed her to buy Horham Hall back in 1982, where she subsequently lived until her death.[1][2]
Anthony became involved in charity work involving members of the armed forces and their families. In 1987, she was appointed as afreeman of the City of Londonand a liveryman of theWorshipful Company of Needlemakers.[2]She became the first femaleHigh Sheriff of Essexin 1994.[1][2]The following year, her daughter Kitty died of a heroin overdose, leading Evelyn to not write for another seven years.[1]In 2004 her husband died of a stroke.[1]She died from heart failure on 25 September 2018 at Horham Hall, at the age of 92.[1][2]
Partial bibliography
[edit]The following bibliography includes both historical novels and thrillers.
- 1953:Rebel Princess(later reissued asImperial Highness)
- 1954:Curse Not the King(Museum Press)
- 1955:Far Fly The Eagles(Museum Press)
- 1957:Anne Boleyn
- 1958:Victoria and Albert(Museum Press)
- 1960:Elizabeth(Museum Press) akaAll the Queen's Men(Thomas Y. Crowell)
- 1961:Charles the King(Museum Press) (Doubleday)
- 1963:Clandara(Hurst & Blackett)
- 1964:The French Bride
- 1964:The Heiress(Hurst & Blackett)
- 1966:Valentina(Hurst & Blackett)
- 1967:The Rendezvous
- 1968:Anne of Austria(Hurst & Blackett)
- 1969:The Legend
- 1970:The Assassin(Hutchinson)
- 1971:The Tamarind Seed(Hutchinson)
- 1972:The Poellenberg Inheritance(Hutchinson)
- 1973:The Occupying PowerakaStranger at the Gates(Hutchinson)
- 1974:The Malaspiga Exitalso calledMission to Malaspiga(Hutchinson)
- 1975:The Persian Ransom(Hutchinson)
- 1977:The Silver Falcon(Hutchinson)
- 1978:The Return(Hutchinson)
- 1979:The Grave of Truth(Hutchinson)
- 1980:The Defector(Hutchinson)
- 1981:The Avenue of the Dead(Hutchinson) (Cowrad McCann)
- 1982:Albatross(Hutchinson)
- 1983:The Company of Saints(Hutchinson)
- 1985:Voices on the Wind(Hutchinson)
- 1987:No Enemy But Time(Hutchinson)
- 1988:The House of Vandekar(Hutchinson)
- 1989:The Scarlet Thread(Hutchinson)
- 1991:The Relic
- 1992:The Doll's House(Bantam)
- 1994:Exposure
- 1994:The Heiress
- 1994:Bloodstones(Bantam)
- 1997:The Legacy(Bantam)
- 2002:A Dubious Legacy
- 2002:Codeword Janus
- 2003:Sleeping with the Enemy
- 2004:Betrayal
- 2004:No Resistance
- 2005:Mind Games
- 2015:The Defector
- 2015:The Avenue of the Dead
- 2015:The Company of the Saints
- 2015:Rebel Prince
References
[edit]- ^abcdefghijklmKean, Danuta (10 October 2018)."Evelyn Anthony obituary".The Guardian.Retrieved24 October2018.
- ^abcdefghijklmnoBaker, Anne Pimlott (2022)."Anthony, Evelyn (1926–2018), novelist".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380400.ISBN978-0-19-861412-8.Retrieved16 December2022.
- ^abSandomir, Richard (19 October 2018)."Evelyn Anthony, Writer of Spy Thrillers, Dies at 92".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved17 December2022.
- ^Hayes, Lizzies."Evelyn Anthony".mysterypeople.co.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 20 October 2014.Retrieved29 February2020.
- ^abcd"Evelyn Anthony obituary: Essex's first female High Sheriff in 700 years".The Irish Times.Retrieved17 December2022.
- ^Canby, Vincent (12 July 1974)."Screen: 'The Tamarind Seed' Arrives:The Cast".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved16 December2022.
- 1926 births
- 2018 deaths
- English women novelists
- English thriller writers
- English historical novelists
- People educated at Woldingham School
- 20th-century English novelists
- High sheriffs of Essex
- 20th-century English women writers
- Women thriller writers
- British women historical novelists
- Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period
- Writers of historical fiction set in the modern age
- People from Lambeth
- Writers from the London Borough of Lambeth