COLEGATE, ISABEL

born Sept. 10, 1931, Lincolnshire, Eng. in full Isabel Diana Colegate, married name Briggs British author of novels about life among the upper classes in England during the 20th century. At the age of 19 Colegate began working as an assistant to literary agent Anthony Blond; when Blond became a publisher, one of the first books he brought out was Colgate's first novel, The Blackmailer (1958). Her next novel, A Man of Power (1960), portrays a newly rich businessman who abandons his wife then is duped by the aristocrat he loves. Among her later novels are the partly autobiographical The Great Occasion (1962), and Statues in a Garden (1964). The Orlando Trilogy (1984), composed of Orlando King (1968), Orlando at the Brazen Threshold (1971), and Agatha (1973), is a modern retelling of the myth of Oedipus and Antigone set during the rise of fascism, World War II, and Britain's 1956 Suez Crisis. The Shooting Party (1980; film, 1985) is about a group of aristocrats who are gathered for a weekend pheasant hunt. Colegate also wrote News from the City of the Sun (1979), A Glimpse of Sion's Glory (1985), Deceits of Time (1988), and The Summer of the Royal Visit (1991).