Meriol Trevor (15 April 1919 – 12 January 2000) was a British
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
writer of children's books, historical novels and biographies. Her two-volume biography of
Cardinal Newman won the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
in 1963.
Biography
Meriol Trevor was born in London and grew up in Kent and Cambridge.
She was educated at
Perse Girls' School, Cambridge and
St Hugh's College, Oxford, where she studied classics and philosophy.
After graduating from Oxford in 1942, she took several temporary jobs before going to Italy after the war to help with reconstruction.
After encountering Catholic culture in Italy, she became a Roman Catholic in 1950.
Her children's books strongly reflect her Catholic faith, presenting themes of conflict and redemption often in mythic form. A number of her historical novels are set in Romano-Britain and early Christian Europe.
Her two-volume biography of Cardinal Newman, ''Newman: The Pillar of Cloud'' and ''Newman: Light in Winter'', published in 1962, received the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
for biography.
From the 1960s, Trevor lived in
Bath, Somerset.
In 1967 she was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature.
Bibliography
Novels
*''The Last of Britain'' (1956)
*''The New People'' (1957)
*''A Narrow Place'' (1958)
*''Shadows and Images'' (1960)
*''The City and the World'' (1970)
*''The Holy Images'' (1971)
*''The Two Kingdoms'' (1973)
*''The Fugitives'' (1973) (Luxembourg series 1)
*''The Marked Man'' (1974) (Luxembourg series 2)
*''The Enemy at Home'' (1974) (Luxembourg series 3)
*''The Forgotten Country'' (1975) (Luxembourg series 4)
*''The Treacherous Paths'' (1976) (Luxembourg series 5)
*''The Fortunate Marriage'' (1976) (Warstowe Series 1)
*''The Civil Prisoners'' (1977) (Warstowe Series 2)
*''The Fortunes of Peace'' (1978) (Luxembourg series 6)
*''The Wanton Fires''(1979) (Warstowe Series 3)
*''The Sun with a Face'' (1982) (Warstowe Series 4)
*''The Golden Palaces'' (1986)
Books for children
*''The Forest and the Kingdom'' (1949) (World Dionysius Novels 1)
*''Hunt the King, Hide the Fox'' (1950) (World Dionysius Novels 2)
*''The Fires and the Stars'' (1951) (World Dionysius Novels 3)
*''Sun Slower, Sun Faster'' (1955)
*''The Treasure Hunt'' (1957)
*''Merlin's Ring'' (1957)
*''The Other Side of the Moon'' (1957)
*''The Caravan War'' (1958)
*''The Sparrow Child'' (1958)
*''Four Odd Ones'' (1958)
*''William's Wild Day Out'' (1963)
*''The Rose Round'' (1963)
*''The Midsummer Maze'' (1964)
*''Lights in a Dark Town'' (1964)
*''The King of the Castle'' (1966)
*''The Crystal Snowstorm'' (1997) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 1)
*''Following the Phoenix'' (1998) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 2)
*''Angel and Dragon'' (1999) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 3)
*''The Rose and Crown'' (1999) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 4)
Poetry
*''Midsummer, Midwinter and Other Poems'' (1957)
Nonfiction
*''Newman: The Pillar of the Cloud'' (1962)
*''Newman: Light in Winter'' (1962)
*''Newman Today'' (1963) (23-page
Catholic Truth Society
Catholic Truth Society (CTS) is a body that prints and publishes Catholic literature, including apologetics, prayerbooks, spiritual reading, and lives of saints. It is based in London, the United Kingdom.
The CTS had been founded in 1868 by ...
pamphlet)
*''Newman: A Portrait Restored. An Ecumenical Revaluation'' (with John Coulson and A.M. Allchin) (1965)
*''Apostle of Rome: A Life of St Philip Neri, 1515-1595'' (1966)
*''Pope John'' (1967); new edition ''Pope John: Blessed John XXIII'' (2000)
*''Prophets and Guardians: Renewal and Tradition in the Church'' (1969)
*''The Arnolds: Thomas Arnold and His Family'' (1973)
*''Newman's Journey'' (1974)
*''The Shadow of a Crown: The Life Story of James II of England and VII of Scotland'' (1988)
*''John Henry Newman: Apostle to the Doubtful'' (with Leonie Caldecott) (2001)
References
External links
1989 Interview with Meriol TrevorMeriol Trevor at Bethlehem BooksObituary
€”in The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, 31 Jan. 2000.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevor, Meriol
1919 births
2000 deaths
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English poets
Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism
English Catholic poets
English children's writers
English historical novelists
English Roman Catholics
English Roman Catholic writers
James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients
People educated at the Perse School for Girls