Gloria Isabel Bevan (20 July 1911 - 1998.) was an Australian-born New Zealand writer of romantic fiction.

Early life

Bevan was born on 20 July 1911 in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

, Australia, where her father was a mining engineer. When she was three years old, the family moved to New Zealand, and lived in Auckland from 1926 to 1936. She attended Auckland Technical College.

Career

After finishing her high school studies, Bevan worked as a typist while writing stories in her spare time. Her first published works were detective novels, written under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Fiona Murray, in 1965. She later met fellow New Zealand romance writer

Essie Summers Essie Summers (born Ethel Snelson Summers, 24 July 1912 – 27 August 1998) was a New Zealand writer whose romance novels sold more than 19 million copies in 105 countries. She was known as New Zealand's "Queen of Romance." Writing Despite th ...

, who introduced her to Allan Boon of

Mills & Boon Mills & Boon is a romance imprint of British publisher Harlequin UK Ltd. It was founded in 1908 by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon as a general publisher. The company moved towards escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. In 1971, the ...

publishers. From 1969 to 1992 she wrote 25 contemporary romance novels for Mills & Boon, which were published under her own name. Her books were considered "wholesome", and focused almost exclusively on the hero-heroine relationship.

Personal life

Bevan married in 1937 and had three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bevan, Gloria 1911 births People from Kalgoorlie Australian emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand romantic fiction writers Year of death missing