Catherine Heath (17 November 1924 – 27 October 1991) was a British

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

. An obituary in ''The Daily Telegraph'' called her work "gentle and witty, full of cool observations about human behaviour."

Biography

Heath was born Catherine Hirsch in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, the daughter of Dutch immigrants Samuel and Anna de Boer Hirsch. She was educated at Henda County School then

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College (full name = Principal and Council of St. Hilda's College, Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon saint Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a ...

, where she studied English under Helen Gardner. In 1948, she married Denis Heath; they were divorced in 1980. Also in 1948, she became an assistant lecturer in the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

. Her novels ''stone Walls'' and ''The Vulture'' received positive reviews from critics.

Works

*''Stone Walls'' (1973) *''The Vulture'' (1974) *''Joseph and the Goths'' (1975) *''Lady on the Burning Deck'' (1978) *'' Behaving Badly'' (1984)

References

1924 births 1991 deaths English women novelists Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford Academics of the University of Wales People from Hendon 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English novelists {{England-novelist-stub