Critical reception īowen's books are much sought after by aficionados of gothic horror and received praise from critics. 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. Several of her books were adapted as films. Many of these stories were published as Berkley Medallion Books. 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. Preedy" pseudonym, she wrote two non-supernatural horror novels, Dr. 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. 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. For instance, For Her to See (1947, AKA So Evil My Love) is a fictionalised version of the Charles Bravo murder. Under the pseudonym "Joseph Shearing", Bowen wrote several mystery novels inspired by true-life crimes. The 1909 novel Black Magic is a Gothic horror novel about a medieval witch." Bowen also wrote non-fiction history books aimed at a popular readership. The novels are I Will Maintain (1910), Defender of the Faith (1911), and God and the King (1911). Bowen crafted a trilogy of historical novels about King William III.
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. Preedy, John Winch, Robert Paye and Margaret Campbell. She also wrote under the names Joseph Shearing, George R. Her total output numbers over 150 volumes with the bulk of her work under the 'Bowen' pseudonym. Her cousin was the artist Nora Molly Campbell 1888-1971.īowen died on 23 December 1952 at the St Charles Hospital in Kensington, London after suffering serious concussion as a result of a fall in her bedroom. In an interview for Twentieth Century Authors, she listed her hobbies as "painting, needlework and reading". 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. Her son with Long, Athelstan Charles Ethelwulf Long, was a colonial administrator. Bowen had four children a son and a daughter (who died in infancy) with Constanza, and two sons with Long.
She was married twice: first, from 1912 to 1916, to a Sicilian, Zefferino Emilio Constanza, who died of tuberculosis, and then to Arthur L. After this, Bowen's prolific writings were the chief financial support for her family. It went on to become a best-seller when eventually published. The Viper of Milan was rejected by several publishers, who considered it inappropriate for a young woman to have written such a novel. Her first fiction was a violent historical novel, The Viper of Milan (written when she was 16), set in medieval Italy. Bowen studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and later in Paris. She and her sister grew up in poverty with a less than affectionate mother. She had a difficult childhood her alcoholic father Vere Douglas Campbell left the family at an early stage and was eventually found dead on a London street. Bowen was born in 1885 on Hayling Island in Hampshire.