Moyra Caldecott

Moyra Caldecott (1 June 1927 – 23 May 2015)Kevan Manwaring
"Moyra Caldecott obituary"
''The Guardian'', 8 June 2005. was a British author of historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction and non-fiction. Her works include ''Guardians of the Tall Stones'' and ''The Egyptian Sequence''.

She was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and moved to London in 1951. She married Oliver Caldecott and raised three children. She had degrees in English and Philosophy and an M.A. in English Literature.

In 2000, she became one of the earliest proponents of commercial e-books when she contracted with Mushroom eBooks to re-publish most of her titles in electronic formats.

She had a reputation as a novelist who wrote as vividly about the adventures and experiences to be encountered in the inner realms of the human consciousness as she did about those in the outer physical world. To Moyra, reality was multidimensional.

In her later years she suffered from progressive aphasia. She died peacefully on 23 May 2015, aged 87.

Biography

Early life and education

Moyra was born in Pretoria, South Africa on 1 June 1927 to Jessica Florence (Harris) and Frederick Stanley Brown. Moyra studied at Natal University, obtaining degrees in English Literature and Philosophy and a Master's in English Literature. In 1950, she moved to Cape Town and became a lecturer at the university there, where she met Oliver Caldecott, an anti-apartheid campaigner. In 1951, they moved to the UK and married in London. Once settled, she took evening classes in geology, religious studies, mythology, archaeology, Egyptian hieroglyphics and pottery. She also took up watercolour painting, pottery, batik making and the creation of stained glass.

Writing

Moyra Caldecott had written since childhood, but first gained attention as a poet. Her work was published in various poetry anthologies throughout the 1950s and '60s. She became Secretary to the acclaimed Dulwich Poetry Group in the 1960s. Plays of hers were performed on radio, but it was not until she started writing novels in her late 40s, that her career took off. She went on to see more than 30 books published.

Her best known work is the ''Guardians of the Tall Stones Trilogy''. Set in Bronze Age Britain, it was inspired by a vivid experience she had in Dyce Stone circle in Scotland, and the world heritage site of Avebury in Wiltshire. For many years this trilogy was required reading for various tour groups visiting the sacred sites of Britain from America, and has been in print continuously since 1977.

Another well-received trilogy, about the rise, fall and rise again of the ancient Egyptian priests of Amun, focused on Akhenaten and Hatshepsut. As a result of these books, she was invited by the pop star Tina Turner to act as a personal guide to the ancient sites of Egypt – an experience that Moyra spoke of with great fondness.

Although fascinated by prehistory and the Celts, Moyra was also knowledgeable about other traditions and devoted the major portion of her life to collecting and examining myths and legends across the world. She followed Jung and Joseph Campbell in believing myths and legends are not "just" stories but actually deep and meaningful expressions of the universal and eternal in the human psyche.

Moyra Caldecott's non-fiction titles include: ''Crystal Legends, Myths of the Sacred Tree, Women in Celtic Myth, and Mythical Journeys, Legendary Quests.''

Family

Her husband, Oliver Z. S. Caldecott, son of South African artists Harry Stratford Caldecott and Florence Josephine Zerffi, was a fierce and outspoken opponent of apartheid. He fled South Africa during a crackdown on the movement and moved to London, where he continued his political campaigning. He became first an editor for Readers Union and later Chief Editor of Fiction at Penguin Books

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