born June 5, 1884, Pinner, Middlesex, Eng.
died Aug. 27, 1969, London
British novelist.
She graduated from the University of London and published her first novel, Dolores , in 1911. Her second, Pastors and Masters (1925), introduced the style
employing clipped, precise dialogue to reveal her characters and advance the plot
that made her name. Her novels often dealt with struggles for power: Men and Wives (1931) featured a tyrannical mother, A House and Its Head (1935) a tyrannical father. She was created Dame of the British Empire in 1967.