Mary Wesley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mary Aline Mynors Farmar, CBE (June 24, 1912 - December 30, 2002), better known as Mary Wesley, was a British novelist. During her career, she became one of Britain's most successful novellists selling three million copies of her books.

Born in Englefield Green, Surrey, the third child of Colonel Harold and Violet Mynors Farmar, she became an author late in life after the death of her second husband, Eric Siepmann, left her near impoverishment. She wrote two books for children before publishing adult fiction. Her take on life reveals a sharp and critical eye which neatly dissects the idiosyncrasies of genteel England with humour, compassion and irony, detailing in particular sexual and emotional values.

Her best known book, The Camomile Lawn, set on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, was turned into a television series, and is an account of the intertwining lives of three families in rural England during World War II. She was honoured with a CBE in 1995.

She died of natural causes following a long battle with gout, aged 90, in Totnes, Devon.