born June 5, 1939, Sheffield, Yorkshire, Eng.
British novelist.
She graduated from the University of Cambridge. Her novels include The Realms of Gold (1975), The Radiant Way (1987), and The Gates of Ivory (1991). She has also written literary biographies (like her husband, Michael Holroyd) and other literary studies and has edited the Oxford Companion of English Literature (1985). A.S. Byatt is her sister.