www.literaryheritage.org.uk

Edith Pargeter

1913-1995

Novelist. Born September 1913 at Horsehay, Shropshire. Her father was a clerk at a local ironworks. Edith attended Dawley Church of England School and the Coalbrookdale High School for Girls. Through her mother, she grew to love the history and countryside of Shropshire, her home for all of her life.

Before World War II she worked as a chemist's assistant at Dawley. During this time she started writing seriously for publication while gathering useful information on medicines that she would draw upon later when tackling crime stories. Her first published novel was Hortensius, friend of Nero (1936), a rather dry tale of martyrdom that was not a great success but she persevered and The city lies foursquare (1939) was much more warmly received.

During the war she worked in an administrative role with the Women's Royal Navy Service in Liverpool, a relatively brief period away from Shropshire, and for her devotion to duty she received the British Empire Medal. Many more novels appeared at this time, including Ordinary people (1941) and She goes to war (1942), the latter based on her own wartime experiences. The eighth champion of Christendom appeared in 1945 and from now on she was able to devote all her time to writing. She was particularly proud of her Heaven tree trilogy, which appeared between 1961 and 1963, which had as a backdrop the English Welsh borderlands in the twelfth century.

It was not until 1951 that she tackled a mystery story with Fallen into the pit, the first appearance of Sergeant George Felse as the investigating police officer. Her other great character, and the one for which the author will continue to be known the world over, Brother Cadfael, was to follow many years later. The first appearance of this monk at Shrewsbury Abbey was in A morbid taste for bones (1977) and he mixed his herbs and unravelled mysteries in this atmospheric setting for a further nineteen novels. This kept the author very busy for the remaining 18 years of her life, to the virtual exclusion of all other work.

The name "Ellis Peters" was adopted by Edith Pargeter to clearly mark a division between her mystery stories and her other work. Her brother was Ellis and Petra was a friend from Czechoslovakia. A frequent visitor to the country, Edith Pargeter had begun her association and deep interest in their culture after meeting Czechoslovakian soldiers during the war. This was to lead to her learning the language translating several books into English.

She won awards for her writing from both the British Crime Writers Association and the Mystery Writers of America. She was also awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire), an honorary Masters Degree from Birmingham University and the Gold Medal of the Czechoslovak Society for Foreign Relations. There is a memorial to her in Shrewsbury Abbey.

After her death in October 1995, The Times published a full obituary that declared that here was "a deeply sensitive and perceptive woman....an intensely private and modest person " whose writing was "direct, even a little stilted, matching a self-contained personality".

Works

The following books by Edith Pargeter are all available in the West Midlands Creative Literature Collection unless noted otherwise. Where the author wrote as Ellis Peters, this is indicated.

Title	Date	Series	Notes
Afterglow and nightfall	1977	Brothers of Gwynedd 4	-
Assize of the dying	1958	-	-
Black is the colour of my true-love's heart	1966	George Felse 6	author Ellis Peters
Bloody field by Shrewsbury, A	1972	-	-
Brother Cadfael's penance	1994	Brother Cadfael 20	author Ellis Peters; Not available in collection
By firelight	1948	-	-
City lies four-square, The	1938	-	-
City of gold and shadows	1973	George Felse 12	author Ellis Peters
Coast of Bohemia	1950	-	Non-fiction (travel)
Confession of Brother Haluin, The	1988	Brother Cadfael 15	author Ellis Peters; Not available in collection
Dead man's ransom	1984	Brother Cadfael 9	author Ellis Peters
Death and the joyful woman	1962	George Felse 2	Not available in collection
Death mask	1959	-	author Ellis Peters
Death to the landlords	1972	George Felse 11	author Ellis Peters
Devil's novice, The	1983	Brother Cadfael 8	author Ellis Peters
Dragon at noonday	1975	Brothers of Gwynedd 2	-
Eighth champion of Christendom, The; Lame crusade	1945	Christendom 1	-
Excellent mystery, An	1985	Brother Cadfael 11	author Ellis Peters
Fair young phoenix, The	1948	-	-
Fallen into the pit	1951	George Felse 1	-
Flight of a witch	1964	George Felse 3	author Ellis Peters
Funeral of Figaro	1962	-	author Ellis Peters
Grass widows tale, The	1967	George Felse 7	author Ellis Peters
Green branch, The	1962	Heaven tree 2	-
Heaven tree, The	1961	Heaven tree 1	-
Heretic's apprentice, The	1989	Brother Cadfael 16	author Ellis Peters
Hermit of Eyton Forest, The	1987	Brother Cadfael 14	author Ellis Peters
Holiday with violence	1952	-	-
Holy thief, The	1992	Brother Cadfael 19	author Ellis Peters; Not available in collection
Horn of Roland, The	1974	-	author Ellis Peters
Hortensius; friend of Nero	1936	-	-
Hounds of sunset, The	1976	Brothers of Gwynedd 3	-
House of green turf, The	1969	George Felse 8	author Ellis Peters; Not available in collection
Knocker on death's door, The	1970	George Felse 10	author Ellis Peters
Leper of Saint Giles, The	1981	Brother Cadfael 5	author Ellis Peters
Lily hand and other stories, The	1965	-	-
Lost children	1951	-	-
Marriage of Meggotta, The	1979	-	-
Means of grace	1956	-	-
Monk's-hood	1980	Brother Cadfael 3	author Ellis Peters
Morbid taste for bones, A	1977	Brother Cadfael 1	author Ellis Peters
Most loving mere folly	1953	-	-
Mourning raga	1969	George Felse 9	author Ellis Peters
Never pick up hitch-hikers	1976	-	author Ellis Peters
Nice derangement of epitaphs, A	1965	George Felse 4	author Ellis Peters
One corpse too many	1979	Brother Cadfael 2	author Ellis Peters
Ordinary people	1941	-	-
Pilgrim of hate, The	1984	Brother Cadfael 10	author Ellis Peters
Piper on the mountain, The	1966	George Felse 5	author Ellis Peters
Potter's field, The	1989	Brother Cadfael 17	author Ellis Peters; Not available in collection
Rainbow's end	1978	George Felse 13	author Ellis Peters
Rare benedictine	1988	-	author Ellis Peters
Raven in the Foregate, The	1986	Brother Cadfael 12	author Ellis Peters
Reluctant odyssey	1946	Christendom 2	-
Rose rent, The	1986	Brother Cadfael 13	author Ellis Peters
Saint Peter's fair	1981	Brother Cadfael 4	author Ellis Peters
Sanctuary sparrow, The	1983	Brother Cadfael 7	author Ellis Peters
Scarlet seed	1963	Heaven tree 3	-
She goes to war	1942	-	-
Soldier at the door, The	1954	-	-
Summer of the Danes, The	1991	Brother Cadfael 18	author Ellis Peters; Not available in collection
Sunrise in the west	1974	Brothers of Gwynedd 1	-
This rough magic	1953	-	-
Virgin in the ice, the	1982	Brother Cadfael 6	author Ellis Peters
Warfare accomplished	1947	Christendom 3	-
Will and the deed, the	1960	-	author Ellis Peters

Background

The following site gives further information on the author and her work:-

http://andreys.chez.com/Cadfael/english/edith.htm

Page created 9 February 2001 and last updated 25 March 2008
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