June Guesdon Braybrooke (; 9 June 1920 – 30 May 1994), better known by her pen name Isobel English, was an English writer. Her best-known novel is '' Every Eye''. Fellow writer

Stevie Smith Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), was an English poet and novelist. She won the Cholmondeley Award and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. A play, '' Stevie'' by Hugh Whitemore, ba ...

called her tone "a voice of our times, ironical and involved".

Life

Born in London to the Welsh civil servant John Mayne Jolliffe (1885–1957) and his Tasmanian wife May Guesdon (1885–1966), June was sent to

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, when she was two, for a salt-water cure for tuberculosis of the spine. On her return, she was sent in 1928 to La Retraite, a convent school in

Burnham-on-Sea Burnham-on-Sea is a seaside town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett, upon Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small fishing village until the late 18th century when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort. ...

, Somerset, which she described in her 1956 novel ''Every Eye''. After secretarial college in London, she was taught literature by Kenneth Allott, while working with him. She married Ronald Dundas Orr-Ewing in 1941 and they had a daughter, Victoria, in the following year, but divorced in 1951. In 1953, she married a fellow writer, Neville Braybrooke (1923–2001). English's many literary friends included Beryl Bainbridge,

Olivia Manning Olivia Mary Manning (2 March 1908 – 23 July 1980) was a British novelist, poet, writer, and reviewer. Her fiction and non-fiction, frequently detailing journeys and personal odysseys, were principally set in the United Kingdom, Euro ...

and

, who described her tone as "very sagacious and very original – a voice of our times, ironical and involved". She died of leukaemia on 30 May 1994 and was buried in

Hampstead Cemetery Hampstead Cemetery is a historic cemetery in West Hampstead, London, located at the upper extremity of the NW6 district. Despite the name, the cemetery is three-quarters of a mile from Hampstead Village, and bears a different postcode. It is jo ...

, London.''The Independent'', 7 June 1994Peter Parker, "Braybrooke , June Guesdon (1920–1994)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004
Retrieved 6 September 2016, pay-walled.
/ref>

Writings

Isobel English published her first book, ''The Key that Rusts'', a year after she was married (having described her occupation as "writer" on her marriage certificate). ''Every Eye'' followed two years later and in 1961 her final novel ''Four Voices''. She published numerous short stories. A collection of them, ''Life after All'', appeared in 1973 and won the Katherine Mansfield Prize. A single never-staged play, ''Meeting Point'', was published in ''The New Review''. English wrote introductions for

Virago A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word ''virāgō'' ( genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous' from ''vir'' meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix ''-ā ...

reissues of several of Olivia Manning's books and collaborated with Braybrooke on Manning's biography.

Bibliography

*''The Key that Rusts'' (novel, 1954) *'' Every Eye'' (novel, 1956, reprinted by

Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...

in 2000) *''Four Voices'' (novel, 1961) *''The Gift Book'' (with Barbara Jones 1964) *''Life after All'' (stories, 1973, winner of the Katherine Mansfield Prize) *''Meeting Point'' (play, 1976, published in ''The New Review'', Vol. 3, No. 29)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:English, Isobel 1920 births 1994 deaths English women novelists English short story writers Writers from London British women short story writers 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century British short story writers Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers English people of Australian descent