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Kathleen Farrell was born in 1912 into a well-off London family. During the Second World War she served as assistant to the secretary-general of the Labour Party, and after the war's end, she founded a literary agency. In 1942 she wrote a ghost story with autobiographical elements, but it was in the 1950s that she embarked on a series of novels entertainingly skewering contemporary life and mores. Physically tiny, Farrell nevertheless was determined and outgoing, having a wide circle of literary friends, acquaintances and even one enemy (she belonged to 'The Lady Novelists' Anti-Elizabeth League', whose members were united in their disdain for fellow novelist Elizabeth Taylor). She died in 1999.
While writers like Barbara Pym and Jean Rhys have been rediscovered, others, like Farrell, remain lost in the shadows of literature. A distinctive voice, and she provided her readers with subtle pleasures * Guardian * An original and forceful writer * Sunday Times * Real talent. She strikes a cunning balance between lightness and brightness and sensitivity and hidden depths. Her dialogue is very good indeed, packed with character * New Statesman *
