Olga Stringfellow (4 June 1923 – 1995) was a New Zealand journalist and author of romantic and historical fiction.

History

Stringfellow was born in Dunedin as Olga Elsa Brown on 4 June 1923. She was educated at the

Otago Girls' High School , motto_translation = The Right Education Makes The Heart As Strong As Oak , type = State , grades = 9 - 13 , grades_label = Years , gender = Girls-only , established = ; years ago , address = 41 Tennyson Street ...

in Dunedin, and the Elam School of Fine Arts. In 1943, she was married (later divorced) and moved to the United Kingdom in 1949. After a time in journalism, with the ''Modern Woman'' and ''

The Sketch ''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine with regular features on roy ...

'', and as a columnist for the Scottish ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'', she became an author. Her published works include the historical novels ''Mary Bravender'' (1960), set at the time of the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the M ...

, and ''A Gift for the Sultan'' (1962), based on the true account of a Scottish woman captured by pirates, sold into slavery, and eventually becoming a wife of the

Sultan of Morocco This is the list of rulers of Morocco, since the establishment of the state in 789. The common and formal titles of these rulers has varied, depending on the time period. Since 1957, the designation King has been used. The present King of Moroc ...

. Stringfellow was a recognised touch healer. She counted Middle Eastern princes and New York millionaires amongst her patients. During the 1970s, she lived returned to New Zealand, living on Auckland's North Shore. In later years Stringfellow lived at Hartley Wintney, near

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. Her brother Peter Brown was the leading New Zealand landscape artist.

Written material

Books out of print

* Olga Stringfellow, ''Mary Bravender'' (1960) * Olga Stringfellow, ''A Gift for the Sultan'' (1962)

References

answers.com The Free Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stringfellow, Olga Year of death missing New Zealand women novelists New Zealand romantic fiction writers 1923 births People educated at Otago Girls' High School 20th-century New Zealand novelists Women romantic fiction writers 20th-century New Zealand women writers