Celia Margaret Fremlin (20 June 1914 – 16 June 2009) was an English writer of mystery fiction.

Life

Celia was born in Ryarsh, Kent, England. She was the daughter of Heaver Fremlin and Margaret Addiscott. Her older brother, John H. Fremlin, later became a nuclear physicist. Fremlin studied Classics at

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. From 1942 to 2000 she lived in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, London. In 1942 she married Elia Goller, with whom she had three children; he died in 1968. In 1985, Fremlin married Leslie Minchin, who died in 1999. Her many crime novels and stories helped modernize the

sensation novel The sensation novel, also sensation fiction, was a literary genre of fiction that achieved peak popularity in Great Britain in between the early 1860s and mid to late 1890s,I. Ousby ed., ''The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English'' (1995) p. 8 ...

tradition by introducing criminal and (rarely) supernatural elements into domestic settings. Her 1958 novel ''The Hours Before Dawn'' won the

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

in 1960. Fremlin was involved in Mass-Observation during the war, and published ''War Factory'' with

Tom Harrisson Major Tom Harnett Harrisson, DSO, OBE (26 September 1911 – 16 January 1976) was a British polymath. In the course of his life he was an ornithologist, explorer, journalist, broadcaster, soldier, guerrilla, ethnologist, museum curator, archae ...

in 1943. With Jeffrey Barnard, she was co-presenter of a BBC2 documentary, ''Night and Day'', describing diurnal and nocturnal London, broadcast on 23 January 1987. Fremlin was an advocate of assisted suicide and

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

. In a newspaper interview she admitted to assisting four people to die. In 1983 civil proceedings were brought against her as one of the five members of the EXIT Executive committee which had published ''A Guide to Self Deliverance'', but the court refused to declare the booklet unlawful."Striking Link between Suicides and Booklet", London Times, 19 April 1983 She was also involved with the Progressive League.

Writing

Lucy Lethbridge has written of Fremlin's work that "almost all her novels centring round the home as the harbour of a particularly horrible, intimate, terror". Some of her novels have been reissued since her death. Notably, her 1959 book ''Uncle Paul'' was republished by Faber & Faber in the UK in June 2023.

Death

She died on 16 June 2009 in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Bibliography

Manners and Society

*1940 – ''The Seven Chars of Chelsea'' *1943 – ''War Factory'' (with Tom Harrisson)

Novels

*1958 – ''The Hours Before Dawn''; (

for Best Novel, 1960) *1959 – ''Uncle Paul'' (Republished in the UK by Faber & Faber, June 2023) *1961 – ''Seven Lean Years'' (US: Wait for the Wedding) *1963 – ''The Trouble Makers'' *1964 – ''The Jealous One'' *1967 – ''Prisoner's Base'' *1969 – ''Possession'' *1972 – ''Appointment with Yesterday'' *1975 – ''The Long Shadow'' *1977 – ''The Spider-Orchid'' *1980 – ''With No Crying'' *1982 – ''The Parasite Person'' *1990 – ''Listening in the Dusk'' *1991 – ''Dangerous Thoughts'' *1993 – ''The Echoing Stones'' *1994 – ''King of the World''

Collections

*1970 – ''Don't Go to Sleep in the Dark'' *1974 – ''By Horror Haunted'' *1984 – ''A Lovely Day to Die'' *2019 - ''Ghostly Stories''

Poetry

*1996 – ''Duet in Verse'' (with Leslie Minchin)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fremlin, Celia 1914 births 2009 deaths People from Kingsbury, London English crime fiction writers Edgar Award winners Members of the Detection Club English women novelists English women mystery writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford People from Hampstead People from Tonbridge and Malling (district) Writers from Kent Writers from the London Borough of Brent Writers from the London Borough of Camden