Marie Adelaide Elizabeth Rayner Lowndes (née Belloc; 5 August 1868 – 14 November 1947), who wrote as Marie Belloc Lowndes, was a prolific English novelist, and sister of author
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...
.
Active from 1898 until her death, she had a literary reputation for combining exciting incidents with
psychological interest. Four of her works were adapted for the screen: ''
The Chink in the Armour'' (1912; adapted 1922), ''
The Lodger'' (1913; adapted several times), ''
Letty Lynton
''Letty Lynton'' is a 1932 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code drama film starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery (actor), Robert Montgomery and Nils Asther. The film was directed by Clarence Brown and based on the 1931 Letty Lynton (novel), ...
'' (1931; adapted 1932), and ''
The Story of Ivy'' (1927; adapted 1947). ''The Lodger'' was also adapted as a
1940 radio drama and
1960 opera.
Personal life
![Cover--The chink in the armour](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Cover--The_chink_in_the_armour.jpg)
Born in
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...
, London and raised in
La Celle-Saint-Cloud
La Celle-Saint-Cloud () is a commune in the Yvelines department of the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is a western suburb of Paris, from the center.
Population
Transport
La Celle-Saint-Cloud is served by two stations on th ...
, France, Belloc was the only daughter of French
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
Louis Belloc and English feminist
Bessie Parkes
Elizabeth Rayner Belloc (; 16 June 1829 – 23 March 1925) was one of the most prominent English feminism, feminists and campaigners for women's rights in Victorian era, Victorian times and also a poet, essayist and journalist.
Early life
Bes ...
. Her younger brother was
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...
, whom she wrote of in her last work, ''The Young Hilaire Belloc'' (published posthumously in 1956).
Belloc's paternal grandfather was the French painter
Jean-Hilaire Belloc
Jean-Hilaire Belloc (27 November 1786 in Nantes – 9 December 1866 in Paris) was a French painter.
Life
Belloc was a student in the studio of Antoine Gros then of Jean-Baptiste Regnault. He won a medal at the 1810 Paris Salon for his ''Death ...
, and her maternal great-great-grandfather was the theologian/philosopher
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...
. Her mother died in 1925, 53 years after her father.
In 1896, Belloc married Frederick Sawrey A. Lowndes (1868–1940).
Career