FRANK DOBSON, R.A. (1886-1963)

The present work depicts British novelist Margaret Kennedy (1896-1967). Born in London, Kennedy attended Cheltenham Ladies College and began writing during her history degree at Somerville College, Oxford University in 1915 alongside a number of literary contemporaries including Vera Brittain. Her second novel The Constant Nymph, published in 1924 became her most successful work, having been reprinted more than 25 times and translated into several languages. In September 1926, the novel was adapted into a play featuring Noël Coward and Edna Best, premiering at the New Theatre in London’s West End and later translated into three film adaptations.

Kennedy wrote fifteen further prize-winning novels during her career, winning the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1953, for her novel Troy Chimneys.