James Barlow was a British novelist, born on 1 December 1921 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England. The author of thirteen novels and one work of non-fiction, he was married with 4 children when he died suddenly at the age of 51 in Ireland on 30 January 1973. He is buried near

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

Biography

James Henry Stanley Barlowhttp://catalogue.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?ct=Previous+Page&pag=prv&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1396543856158&vl%28488279562UI1%29=all_items&ct=Next%20Page&mode=Basic&vl%28488279563UI0%29=creator&indx=11&vl%28freeText0%29=James%20Henry%20Stanley%20%20BARLOW&vid=BLVU1&fn=search was born on 1 December 1921 in Birmingham, England. During his childhood Barlow lived in various locations in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, his father having to move fairly frequently for his job with a bank. The family eventually settled in Wales due to his father’s ill health, a problem dating back to his military service in WW1. After his father died, in 1936, the Barlow family returned to Birmingham. Upon leaving school, James attended a commercial college before joining the Birmingham Corporation Water Department. At the outbreak of WW2 he enlisted with the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, serving as a gunner, then gunnery instructor before being invalided out with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. He began writing during his long convalescence, initially contributing articles to aeronautical magazines. He later began to write articles and stories for other magazines, including

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

. After he had recovered his health, James returned to the Birmingham Corporation as a water rates inspector and began to write in earnest. His first novel, ''The Protagonists'', drawing on his experiences in Wales and his time recovering from TB in a sanatorium, was published in 1956. Although receiving some critical acclaim with this and his next two books, he did not achieve real success until 1960, with the publication of ''The Patriots'', a story of war veterans struggling to adjust to civilian life and drifting into a life of crime. In 1969 Barlow moved with his family to

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in Australia but returned a few years later and settled in Ireland. He died suddenly on 30 January 1973 in Cork.

Bibliography

*''The Protagonists'' (1956) *''One Half of the World'' (1957) *''The Man with Good Intentions'' (1958) *''The Patriots'' (1960) *''

Term of Trial ''Term of Trial'' is a 1962 British drama film written and directed by Peter Glenville and produced by James Woolf for his Romulus Films company, with James H. Ware as associate producer. Its screenplay was based on the 1961 novel of the same ...

'' (1961) *''The Hour of Maximum Danger'' (1962) *''This Side of the Sky'' (1964) *''One Man in the World'' (1966) *'' The Burden of Proof'' (1968) Reissued as ''Villain'' in 1971 *''Goodbye England'' (1969) *''Liner'' (1970) *''Both Your Houses'' (1971) *''In All Good Faith'' (1971)

Film adaptations

* ''

'' (1962) (based on novel) * ''

Villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

'' (1971) (based on novel '' The Burden of Proof'')

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, James Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands 1921 births 1973 deaths 20th-century English novelists English male novelists 20th-century English male writers British expatriates in Australia British expatriates in Ireland