Dorothy Eden

File:Dorothy Eden plaque in the footpath outside 315 Montreal St.jpg

Eden was born in North Canterbury but she grew up in the area of Elgin and Wakanui, near Ashburton.{{Cite news|date=9 December 1948|title=Interesting novel|page=6|work=Ashburton Guardian|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG19481209.2.71}}{{Cite web|last=Stringer|first=Kathleen|title=Mistress of the macabre: Dorothy Eden|url=https://ashburtonmuseum.wordpress.com/2018/02/04/mistress-of-the-macabre-dorothy-eden/|access-date=29 October 2020|website=Ashburton Museum}} She was educated in Wakanui and at Ashburton Technical School leaving school at 16 to work as a typist and legal secretary in Ashburton and Christchurch.{{Cite web|title=Eden, Dorothy Enid|url=https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ethesaurus.85479|access-date=29 October 2020|website=Tiaki. Alexander Turnbull Library}} In the 1954 New Zealand electoral roll (on Ancestry) she was listed as residing at 315 Montreal St, Christchurch.

Eden's first novel was published in 1940 and she became a full-time writer in 1946. In 1954 she moved to England; she made the move "to prove she could write".{{Cite news|date=28 March 1965|title=They all had to start somewhere|page=17|work=Sunday Mirror}}

In 1980 Eden was described as one of the 10 best-selling novelists in the world. She was best known for her writings in the suspense and Gothic genres, both romances and thrillers. Her works were translated into many different languages including Turkish, Icelandic and Hebrew.{{Cite news|date=23 February 1973|title=I have always been happy never envious|page=30|work=Marylebone Mercury}} In addition to writing novels, she also contributed to magazines, including New Zealand Mirror and other international magazines.{{Cite book|last=Sturm |first=Terry |title=The Oxford history of New Zealand literature in English |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-558385-X |edition=2nd |location=Auckland, N.Z. |pages=595–597, 626 |oclc=38925694}} She served on the committee of the English Crime Writers Association.{{Cite book|last=McLintock|first=A. H|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1108058994|title=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand|date=1966|publisher=Government Printer|pages=602|language=en|oclc=1108058994}}

Eden's historical novel Sleep in the Woods was set in Taranaki during the New Zealand Wars. It was a story of conflict between settlers and Māori and the elimination of social and class distinctions in the English and Scottish settlers.{{Cite news|date=20 August 1960|title=Sleep in the Woods|page=29|work=The Sphere}} Once she moved to England most of her novels were set in England or Europe in various settings: Victorian England, Ireland at the time of the affair of Parnell and Kitty O'Shea, Mafeking and Peking during the Boxer rebellion, New South Wales in the pioneer days, Denmark, Italy and Scandinavia. Her writing also focused on gender relations.

After treatment for breast cancer Eden helped to fundraise towards the operation of a scanner at Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith.{{Cite news|date=30 November 1978|title=The cost of living|page=10|work=Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette}} She died of cancer in London in 1982.

{{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf=52207741}}

• The Singing Shadows (1940)
• The Laughing Ghost (1943)
• We Are for the Dark (1944)
• The Schoolmaster's Daughter (aka The Daughters of Ardmore Hall) (1946)
• Summer Sunday (1946)
• Walk into My Parlour (1947)
• Crow Hollow (1950)
• Voice of the Dolls (1950)
• Cat's Prey (aka Let Us Prey) (1952)
• Lamb to the Slaughter (1953)
• Bride by Candlelight (1954)
• Darling Clementine (1955)
• Night of the Letter (1955)
• Death Is a Red Rose (1956)
• The Pretty Ones (1957)
• Listen to Danger (1958)
• The Deadly Travellers (1959)
• The Sleeping Bride (1959)
• An Afternoon Walk (1960)
• Samantha (aka Lady of Mallow) (1960)
• Sleep in the Woods (1960)
• Afternoon for Lizards (aka Bridge of Fear) (1961)
• Whistle for the Crows (1962)
• The Bird in the Chimney (aka Darkwater) (1963)
• Bella (aka Ravenscroft) (1964)
• The Marriage Chest (1965)
• Never Call It Loving (1966)
• Siege in the Sun (1967)
• Winterwood (1967)
• The Shadow Wife (1968)
• Yellow Is for Fear, and other stories (1968)
• The Vines of Yarrabee (1969)
• Melbury Square (1970)
• Waiting for Willa (1970)
• Speak to Me of Love (1972)
• The Millionaire's Daughter (1974)
• The Time of the Dragon (1975)
• The House on Hay Hill, and other romantic fiction (1976)
• The Salamanca Drum (1977)
• The Storrington Papers (1978)
• The American Heiress (1980)
• An Important Family (1982)

• Face of an Angel (1961)
• Shadow of a Witch (1962)

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/11/obituaries/dorothy-eden-69-the-author-of-18-gothic-historic-novels.html Dorothy Eden, 69, the Author Of 18 Gothic-Historic Novels] at The New York Times
• [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/e/dorothy-eden Dorothy Eden] at Fantastic Fiction
• {{imdb title|0044521|Crow Hollow| (1952) film}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eden, Dorothy}}

Category:1912 births

Category:1982 deaths

Category:New Zealand women novelists

Category:New Zealand crime fiction writers

Category:Members of the Detection Club

Category:20th-century New Zealand novelists

Category:People from Ashburton, New Zealand

Category:Women mystery writers

Category:Women crime fiction writers

Category:20th-century New Zealand women writers

Category:Writers of Gothic fiction

Category:New Zealand mystery writers