Diane Pearson (5 November 1931 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

– 15 August 2017 in London) was a British book editor and

romance novel A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primarily focuses on the relationship and Romance (love), romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed ...

ist, who has been translated into several languages. In 1994, she won the

British Book Award The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Na ...

for Editor of the Year and was the President of the

Romantic Novelists' Association The Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) is the professional body representing authors of romantic fiction in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1960 by Denise Robins (first president), Barbara Cartland (first vice-president), Vivian Stua ...

from 1986 to 2011, when she retired.

Biography

Margaret Diane Pearson was born on 5 November 1931 in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, England, daughter of Miriam Harriet Youde and William Holker. During her childhood, she often visited her grandparents in a village on the

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

borders. She attended Secondary School in Croydon. At 16, she started her career in publishing with

Jonathan Cape Ltd Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

, and was senior editor at Transworld for 38 years. In 1994, she won the British Book Award for Editor of the Year. In addition, she is the writer of several short stories and novels, which have been translated into several languages. In 1975, she became the second wife of the Irish actor and physician Richard Leeper McClelland ( Richard Leech) (1922–2004). As a widow, she lived in her native London until her death in 2017.

Bibliography

Whitman Saga

#''The Marigold Field'' (1969) #''Sarah Whitman'' (1971) a.k.a. ''Sarah''

Single novels

*''The Loom of Tancred'' (1967) a.k.a. ''Bride of Tancred'' *''Csardas'' (1975) *''The Summer of the Barshinskeys'' (1984) *''Voices of Summer'' (1992) *''Chaos at High Altitude'' (2012)

Anthologies in collaboration

*''Sarah Whitman; The Runaways; Nunaga; The Winds of War'' (1972) (with

Victor Canning Victor Canning (16 June 1911 – 21 February 1986) was a prolific British writer of novels and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interviews. ...

, Duncan Pryde and

Herman Wouk Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author. He published fifteen novels, many of them historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Pulitzer Prize in fiction. ...

) *''Proof; The Old Man of the Sea; Stillwatch, The Summer of the Barshinskeys'' (1985) (with

Dick Francis Richard Stanley Francis (31 October 1920 – 14 February 2010) was a British steeplechase jockey and crime writer whose novels centre on horse racing in England. After wartime service in the RAF, Francis became a full-time jump-jockey, winn ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

and

Mary Higgins Clark Mary Higgins Clark (born Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins; December 24, 1927 – January 31, 2020) was an American author of suspense novels. Each of her 51 books was a bestseller in the United States and various European countries, and all of her ...

) *Reader's Digest Condensed Books (1995) (with Terence Strong,

and

Ewan Clarkson Ewan Clarkson (23 January 1929 – 19 April 2010) was an English author specialising in books about nature, particularly wild animals. Life and career Clarkson was born in Workington on 23 January 1929.''International Who's Who of Authors and ...

) *''The Censor'' (2009) in ''Love Me, Love Me Not'' *''Count the Days'' (2011) in ''Romance and Mystery Under the Northern Lights''

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Diane 1931 births 2017 deaths English romantic fiction writers English editors People from Croydon Writers from the London Borough of Croydon