Occupation Novelist Period 1924-1969 Name Margaret Irwin Died December 11, 1969 | Nationality United Kingdom Notable works Young Bess Role Author Education University of Oxford | |
Genre Historical, Biography, horror Books Still she wished for company, Elizabeth - Captive Princess, Young Bess, Elizabeth and the Prince of, The proud servant | ||
Margaret Emma Faith Irwin (1889 – 11 December 1969) was an English author of several important historical novels, as well as a factual biography of Sir Walter Raleigh.
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Biography
Irwin was born in London, England, and educated at Clifton High School in Bristol, and at Oxford University. She began writing books and short stories in the early 1920s. She married children's author and illustrator John Robert Monsell in 1929.
Her novels were esteemed for the accuracy of their historical research, and she became a noted authority on the Elizabethan and early Stewart era. One of her novels, Young Bess about the early years of Queen Elizabeth I, was made into a movie starring Jean Simmons.
Irwin wrote several ghost stories (including "The Book" and "The Earlier Service"). Irwin also wrote two fantasy novels: Still She Wished For Company is about a magical timeslip, while These Mortals is an adult fairy-tale about a wizard's daughter.