orig. Doris May Tayler
born Oct. 22, 1919, Kerm 0101; nsh 0101; h, Iran
British novelist and short-story writer.
She lived on a farm in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) 192449 before settling in England and beginning her writing career. Her works, which have often reflected her leftist political activism, are largely concerned with people caught in social and political upheavals. Children of Violence (195269), a semiautobiographical five-novel series featuring Martha Quest, reflects her African experience and is generally considered her most substantial work. The Golden Notebook (1962), her most widely read novel, is a feminist classic. Her masterful short stories are published in several collections. Other works include a science-fiction novel sequence, two novels published under an assumed name (Jane Somers), and autobiographical works, including Under My Skin (1994).