Dorothy Edith Gilman (June 25, 1923 – February 2, 2012) was an American writer. She is best known for the Mrs. Pollifax series. Begun in a time when women in mystery meant
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
's
Miss Marple
Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterised as an elderly spinster, she is one ...
and international espionage meant young government men like
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
and the spies of
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. A "sophist ...
and
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...
, Emily Pollifax, her heroine, became a spy in her 60s and is very likely the only spy in literature to belong simultaneously to the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
and the local garden club.
Biography
Dorothy Gilman was born in
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.minister James Bruce and Essa (Starkweather) Gilman. She started writing when she was 9. At 11, she competed against 10- to 16-year-olds in a story contest and won first place. Planning to write and illustrate books for children, she attended
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States.
The academy's museum ...
from 1940 to 1945.''New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams'', 14.4 (March–April 2007): 49(1) She married teacher Edgar A. Butters, Jr. September 15, 1945; they divorced in 1965. The couple had two children, Christopher and Jonathan. Gilman attended the University of Pennsylvania and Art Students' League from 1963 to 1964. She was Unitarian.
Gilman worked as an art teacher and telephone operator before becoming an author. She wrote children's stories for more than ten years under the name Dorothy Gilman Butters and then began writing adult novels about Mrs. Pollifax, a retired grandmother who becomes a CIA agent. The Mrs. Pollifax series made Gilman famous.
Gilman's life is strongly reflected in her writing. She traveled extensively, and her travels became the settings for her Mrs. Pollifax books. In the 1970s, she moved to a property in a small town in Nova Scotia where she grew most of her own vegetables and herbs. This period was the focus of her memoir, ''A New Kind of Country''. Her knowledge of medicinal herbs informed several of her stories, including ''A Nun in the Closet'' and ''Thale's Folly''. ''Thale's Folly'' is one of her few books featuring a male protagonist; most of her books feature strong women having adventures around the world. In addition to Nova Scotia, Gilman spent much of her life in Connecticut, Maine, and New Mexico.
In 2010 Gilman was awarded the annual Grand Master Award by the
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the E ...
.
In 2012, she died at age 88 of complications of Alzheimer's disease.
Works
As Dorothy Gilman Butters
Under her married name, Dorothy Gilman Butters, she wrote books for young adults (except as noted) beginning in the late 1940s:
* ''Enchanted Caravan'' (1949) ()
* ''Carnival Gypsy'' (1950) ()
* ''Ragamuffin Alley'' (1951) ()
* ''The Calico Year'' (1953) ()
* ''Four Party Line'' (1954) ()
* ''Papa Dolphin's Table'' (1955; for children) ()
* ''Girl in Buckskin'' (1956) ()
* ''Heartbreak Street'' (1958) ()
* ''Witch's Silver'' (1959) ()
* ''Masquerade'' (1961) ()
* ''Heart's Design'' (Masquerade Republished) (1963) ()
* ''Ten Leagues to Boston Town'' (1963) ()
* ''The Bells of Freedom'' (1963) ()
She also contributed to ''
Good Housekeeping
''Good Housekeeping'' is an American lifestyle media brand that covers a wide range of topics from home decor and renovation, health, beauty and food, to entertainment, pets and gifts. The Good Housekeeping Institute which opened its "Experiment ...
Redbook
''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Communications, Hearst magazine division. It is one of the "Seven Sisters (magazines), Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publicatio ...
'', ''
Ladies' Home Journal
''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine that ran until 2016 and was last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th centur ...
'', ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Internationalism
* World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship
* Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community
* Cosmopolitan ...
'', '' The Writer'', and other magazines.
She also contributed a chapter to the book, ''On Creative Writing,'' edited by Paul Engle (1964).
The Mrs. Pollifax series
Gilman began writing under her maiden name for the first book of the Mrs. Pollifax series, ''The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax.'' The heroine, the eccentric Emily Pollifax, is a 60-ish, bored, garden-clubbing grandmother, and widow. Considering her life without real purpose, and after briefly contemplating suicide, she presents herself to the CIA, offering to serve as an agent. Initially recruited through a misunderstanding, she is excited, and a bit clueless about her role, but she quickly adapts to an unfortunate turn of events, and displays the common sense and grit that will guide her through future intrigues.
The series, which ended in 2000 with ''Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled'', consists of fast-paced escapades filled with danger and intrigue in Mexico, Turkey, Thailand, China, Morocco, Zambia, Sicily, and elsewhere.
* ''The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax'' (1966) ()
* ''The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax'' (1970) ()
* ''The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax'' (1971) ()
* ''A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax'' (1973) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax on Safari'' (1977) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station'' (1983) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha'' (1985) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle'' (1988) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish'' (1990) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief'' (1993) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax Pursued'' (1995) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer'' (1996) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist'' (1997) ()
* ''Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled'' (2000) ()
Other books
Additional books she wrote under the name Dorothy Gilman:
* ''Uncertain Voyage'' (1967) ()
* ''Clairvoyant Countess'' (1975) ()
* ''A Nun in the Closet'' (1975), Winner of the Catholic Book Award"Dorothy Gilman." ''Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors'', Gale, 2012. ''Gale In Context: Biography''. ()
* ''A New Kind of Country'' (1978) (reissued by Fawcett in 1989) (); (
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...
), memoir of her life in a Nova Scotia village
* ''The Tightrope Walker'' (1979) ()
* ''The Maze in the Heart of the Castle'' (1983; for young adults) ()
* ''Incident at Badamya'' (1989) ()
* ''Caravan'' (1992) ()
* ''Thale's Folly'' (1999) ()
* ''Kaleidoscope: A Countess Karitska Novel'' (2002) ()
United Artists
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Rosalind Russell
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.
Angela Lansbury
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American actress, producer, and singer. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles on stage and screen. Among her numerous accolades wer ...
starred in the made-for-TV movie ''The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax'' in 1999.