Bowen was born in 1885 on Hayling Island in Hampshire. She had a difficult childhood; her alcoholic father left the family at an early age and was eventually found dead on a London street. She and her sister grew up in poverty with a less than affectionate mother. Bowen studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and later in Paris. Her first novel, the violent historical The Viper of Milan (written when she was 16) was rejected by several publishers, who considered it inappropriate for a young woman to have written such a novel. It went on to become a best-seller when eventually published. After this, Bowen's prolific writings were the chief financial support for her family.
She was married twice: first, from 1912 to 1916, to a Sicilian, Zefferino Emilio Constanza, who died of tuberculosis, and then to Arthur L. Long. Bowen had four children; a son and a daughter (who died in infancy) with Costanza, and two sons with Long.
In 1938, Bowen was one of the signatories to a petition organised by the National Peace Council, calling for an international peace conference in an effort to avert war in Europe.
In an interview for Twentieth Century Authors, she listed her hobbies as "painting, needlework and reading".
Bowen died on 22 December 1952, after suffering serious concussion as a result of a fall in her bedroom.
Her total output numbers over 150 volumes with the bulk of her work under the 'Bowen' pseudonym. She also wrote under the names Joseph Shearing, George R. Preedy, John Winch, Robert Paye and Margaret Campbell. After The Viper of Milan (1906), she produced a steady stream of writings until the day of her death.Bowen's work under her own name was primarily historical novels. The 1909 novel Black Magic is a gothic horror novel about a medieval witch. Bowen also wrote history books aimed at a popular readership.
Under the pseudonym "Joseph Shearing", Bowen wrote several mystery novels inspired by true-life crimes. For instance, For Her to See (1947, AKA So Evil My Love) is a fictionalized version of the Charles Bravo murder. The Shearing novels were especially popular in the United States, Moss Rose, The Golden Violet and Forget-Me-Not achieving both critical and commercial success, being championed by reviewers such as Phil Stong. Until the late 1940s, the true identity of Shearing was not known to the general public, and some speculated it was the pseudonym of F. Tennyson Jesse. Under the "George R. Preedy" pseudonym, she wrote two non-supernatural horror novels, Dr. Chaos and The Devil Snar'd. Her last, posthumous, novel was The Man with the Scales (1954); it is about a man obsessed with revenge, and contains supernatural elements reminiscent of E. T. A. Hoffmann. Many of these stories were published as Berkley Medallion Books. Several of her books were adapted as films. Bowen's supernatural short fiction was gathered in three collections: The Last Bouquet (1933), The Bishop of Hell, (1949) (featuring an introduction by Michael Sadleir) and the posthumous Kecksies, edited for Arkham House in the late 1940s, but not actually published until 1976.
Her books are much sought after by aficionados of gothic horror and received praise from critics. Graham Greene stated in his Paris Review interview (Autumn 1953), "I chose Marjorie Bowen [as a major influence] because as I have told you, I don't think that the books that one reads as an adult influence one as a writer...But books such as Marjorie Bowen's, read at a young age, do influence one considerably." Horror reviewer Robert Hadji described Bowen as "one of the great supernatural writers of this century". Fritz Leiber referred to "Marjorie Bowen's brilliant Black Magic". Jessica Amanda Salmonson, discussing The Last Bouquet, described Bowen's prose as "stylish and moody, dramatic to the highest degree" and stated "what in other hands is merely tacky or gross is, from Marjorie Bowen, a superior art, chilling and seductive". Sally Benson in The New Yorker, discussing the "Joseph Shearing" books: "Mr Shearing is a painstaking researcher, a superb writer, a careful technician, and a master of horror. There is no one else quite like him". Reviewing The Crime of Laura Sarelle Will Cuppy stated "Those who want a good workout of the more perilous emotions will do well to read Mr. Shearing's impressive tale of love, death and doom... Join the Shearing cult and meet one of the most malevolent females in song or story". In an article about women writers, the Australian newspaper The Courier-Mail described Bowen as "one of the best of our modern novelists".
Writing as Marjorie Bowen, her 1926 novel Mistress Nell Gwyn was made into a film Nell Gwyn the same year directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish and Randle Ayrton.
Writing as George Preedy, her 1928 novel, General Crack, was adapted as the film General Crack (1930), starring John Barrymore
Writing as Joseph Shearing, her 1934 novel, Moss Rose, was adapted as the film Moss Rose (1947)
Writing as Joseph Shearing her 1939 novel, Blanche Fury was adapted as the film Blanche Fury (1948)
Writing as Marjorie Bowen, her 1943 novel Airing in a Closed Carriage was adapted as the film The Mark of Cain (1947)
Writing as Joseph Shearing, her 1947 novel So Evil My Love was adapted as the film So Evil My Love (1948)
The Viper of Milan (1906)
The Master of Stair (US title The Glen O'Weeping) (1907)
The Sword Decides (1908)
A Moment's Madness (1908)
The Leopard and the Lily (1909)
Black Magic: a Tale of the Rise and Fall of the Antichrist (1909)
I Will Maintain (1910, Revised 1943)
God and the King (1911)
Defender of the Faith (1911)
God's Playthings (1912)
Lover's Knots (1912)
The Rake's Progress (1912)
The Quest of Glory (1912)
The Governor of England (1913)
A Knight of Spain (1913)
The Two Carnations (1913)
Prince and Heretic (1914)
Because of These Things (1915)
Mr Washington (US title The Soldier from Virginia) (1915)
The Carnival of Florence (1915)
Shadows of Yesterday (1916) – short stories
William, by Grace of God (1916)
Curious Happenings (1917) – short stories
The Third Estate (1917); Revised edition, Eugenie, (1971)
Kings-at-Arms (1918)
The Burning Glass (1918)
Crimes of Old London (1919) – short stories
Mr Misfortunate (1919)
The Cheats, A Romantic Fantasy (1920)
The Pleasant Husband and other stories (1921)
Roccoco (1921)
The Haunted Vintage (1921)
The Jest. From "La Cena delle beffe" by Sem Benelli. Rendered into English and put into novel form by M. Bowen (1922)
Affairs of Men (selections from Bowen's novels (1922)
Stinging Nettles (1923) – a semi-autobiographical novel relating to Bowen's doomed marriage to Zefferino
Seeing Life! and Other Stories (1923)
The Presence and the Power: A Story of Three Generations (1924)
The Leopard and the Lily (1925)
Five People (1925)
"Luctor et Emergo": being an historical essay on the state of England at the Peace of Ryswyck, 1697. – history (1926)
Boundless Water (1926)
The Seven Deadly Sins: Tales (1926)
Mistress Nell Gwyn (UK title: Nell Gwyn: A Decoration) (1926)
The Netherlands Display'd – Non-fiction
"Five Winds" (1927)
The Pagoda (1927)
Dark Ann (1927) – short stories
Exits and Farewells (1928)
The Golden Roof (1928)
The Story of the Temple and its Associations (1928)
The Countess Fanny (1928)
Holland (1928) – a tourist's guide to the Netherlands
William, prince of Orange (afterwards king of England) : being an account of his early life up to his twenty-fourth year (1928)
Sundry Great Gentlemen (1928) – biographies
The Winged Trees (1928)
Sheep's Head and Babylon, and Other Stories of Yesterday and Today (1929) – short stories
The Third Mary Stuart, Mary of York, Orange and England (1929)
Dickon (1929)
The Gorgeous Lovers and other Tales (1929)
Mademoiselle Maria Gloria by Bowen, with The Saving of Castle Malcolm. By Madeleine Nightingale. (1929)
The Great Weird Stories (1929) (editor) (as Arthur Neale)
The Lady's Prisoner by Bowen, with The Story of Mr. Bell. by Geoffrey M. Boumphrey (1929)
A Family Comedy (1840) (1930)
Bagatelle and some other diversions (1930)
Captain Banner : a drama in three acts (1930)
Exits and Farewells: Being some account of the last days of certain historical characters (1930)
The English Paragon (1930)
Old Patch's Medley; or, a London miscellany (1930) – short stories
The Question (1931)
Brave Employments (1931)
Withering Fires (1931) – mystery novel
Grace Latouche and the Warringtons (1931) – short stories
The Shadow on Mockways (1932) – a Grand Guignol melodrama
Fond Fancy, and Other Stories (1932)
Passion Flower (1932), AKA Beneath the Passion Flower (USA, 1932) As George Preedy
Idler's Gate (1932) as John Winch
Dark Rosaleen (1932; abridged as Lord Edward in Command, 1937)
The Veil'd Delight (1933)
Great Tales of Horror (1933) (editor)
The Last Bouquet, Some Twilight Tales (1933) – short stories
I Dwelt in High Places (1933) – a novel based on the Elizabethan scientist John Dee's involvement with Edward Kelley
The Stolen Bride (1933, Abridged Edition 1946)
"Set with Green Herbs" (1933)
The Triumphant Beast (1934)
The Scandal of Sophie Dawes (1934) – about the low-born courtesan Sophie Dawes, Baronne de Feuchères, described by Bowen as a "vulgar wanton", "a young slut" and a "gutter rat"
William III and the Revolution of 1688 (1934)
Peter Porcupine : a study of William Cobbett, 1762–1835 (1935)
Patriotic Lady. A study of Emma, Lady Hamilton, and the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799 (1935)
More Great Tales of Horror (1935) (editor)
Mary Queen of Scots:Daughter of Debate (1936)
William Hogarth (1936)
Trumpets at Rome (1936)
Crowns and sceptres : the romance and pageantry of Coronations (1937)
Worlds' Wonder and Other Essays (1937)
This Shining Woman: Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (1937) – a biography of Mary Wollstonecraft
Some Famous Love Letters (1937) (editor)
Wrestling Jacob. A study of the life of John Wesley and some members of the family. (1937)
Royal Pagentry (1937)
God and the Wedding Dress (1938)
The Trumpet and the Swan: an adventure of the Civil War (1938)
A Giant in Chains:Prelude to Revolution-France 1775–1971 (1938)
Mr. Tyler's Saints (1939)
The Circle in the Water (1939)
The Debate Continues: being the Autobiography of Marjorie Bowen (1939) (as Margaret Campbell)
Ethics in Modern Art (1939)
Exchange Royal (1940)
Strangers to Freedom (1940) Illustrated by Gina Dawson
Today is Mine: The story of a gamble (1941)
Airing in a Closed Carriage (1943) – adapted as the film The Mark of Cain (1947)
The Church and Social Progress : An exposition of rationalism and reaction (1945)
The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories (1949) – selected supernatural stories from her earlier output;reprinted in 2006 by Wordsworth Editions
In the steps of Mary Queen of Scots (1952)
The Man with the Scales (1954) – published posthumously
Kecksies and Other Twilight Tales (1976) – short stories
Gustavus Adolphus II (1594–1632) : elected King of Sweden, of the Goths and Vandals (1988)
Twilight and Other Supernatural Romances (1998) – published by Ash-Tree Press
Collected Twilight Stories (2010) – published by Oxford City Press
Forget-me-Not (1932) aka Lucile Clery (USA 1930) and The Strange Cast of Lucile Clery (USA) (1942)
Album Leaf (1933) aka The Spider in the Cup (USA 1934)
Moss Rose (1934)
The Angel of the Assassination (1935) – Non-fiction (biography of Charlotte Corday)
The Golden Violet. The story of a lady novelist. (1936) Reprinted as Night's Dark Secret by Margaret Campbell, (1975)
The Lady and the Arsenic : The life and death of a romantic: Marie Cappelle, Madam Lafarge (1937) – Non-fiction
Orange Blossoms (1938) – short stories
Blanche Fury (1939)
Aunt Beardie. 1940
The Crime of Laura Sarelle (1941)
The Spectral Bride also known as The Fetch (1942)
Airing in a Closed Carriage (1943)
The Abode of Love (1944)
For Her to See. (1947) aka So Evil My Love (USA, 1947) – adapted as the film So Evil My Love (1948)
Mignonette (1949)
Within the Bubble (1950) aka The Heiress of Frascati (USA, 1966)
To Bed at Noon (1951)
General Crack (1928)
The Rocklitz (UK) aka The Prince's Darling (USA) (1930)
Bagatelle and some other Diversions – Short Stories (1930)
Tumult in the North 1930
The Pavilion of Honour 1932
Violante: Circe and Ermine 1932
Double Dallilay aka Queen's Caprice (USA) (1933)
Dr. Chaos and the Devil Snar'd (1933)
The Knot Garden: Some Old Fancies Re-Set (1933)
The Autobiography of Cornelius Blake, 1773–1810, of Ditton See, Cambridgeshire (1934)
Laurell'd Captains (1935)
The Poisoners (1936)
My Tattered Loving (1937, reprinted in 1971 as The King's Favourite by MB)
Painted Angel (1938)
Child of chequer'd fortune : The life, loves and battles of Maurice de Saxe, Marechal de France (1939) – Non-fiction
Dove in the Mulberry Tree (1939)
The Fair Young Widow 1939
Primula' (1940)
Black Man – White Maiden (1941)
Findernes' Flowers (1941)
Lyndley Waters (1942)
Lady in a Veil (1943)
The Fourth Chamber (1944)
Nightcap and Plume (1945)
No Way Home (1947)
The Sacked City (1949)
Julia Ballantyne (1952)
The Devil's Jig (1930)
Julia Roseingrave (1933) – supernatural fiction involving witchcraft
