Edith Joan Lyttleton (18 December 187310 March 1945) was an

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecolo ...

n author, who wrote as G. B. Lancaster.

Life and career

Lyttleton was born on the family farm near

Campbell Town, Tasmania Campbell Town is a town in Tasmania, Australia, on the Midland Highway. At the 2021 census, the town had a population of 823. History Traditional owners of the Campbell Town area The traditional custodians of the Campbell Town area were ...

, and brought up from 1879 in New Zealand on a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property (station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sou ...

at Rakaia in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

. Between 1904 and 1943 she produced 13

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s, a collection of stories, two serialised novels and over 250 stories. She was

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

's most widely read writer of the first half of the twentieth century. She wrote about the formation of colonial identity and the legacy of

imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power ( economic and ...

in the lives of settlers and their descendants. Her settings were Australia,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and

. She was influenced by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much o ...

and

R. L. Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

. Her first success was with ''The Law-Bringers'' (1913), which was made into a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

in the 1920s (as was ''The Altar Stairs''). '' Pageant'' (1933) topped the American best-seller list for six months. Other successes were ''Promenade'' (1938) and ''Grand Parade'' (1943). Lyttleton left New Zealand in 1909 for America, before settling in England. She died in a nursing home in London on 10 March 1945.

Awards and recognition

Lyttleton was awarded the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal for an outstanding literary work in the previous calendar year, for ''Pageant'' in 1933. Lyttleton Crescent, a street in the Canberra suburb of Cook, is named in her honour.

Novels

* ''Sons O' Man'' (1904) * ''The Spur to Smite'' (1905) * ''The Tracks We Tread'' (1907) * ''The Altar Stairs'' (1907) * ''Jim of the Ranges'' (1910) * ''The Honorable Peggy'' (1911) * ''The Law-Bringers'' (1913) * ''Food Divine'' (1917) * ''The Savignys'' (1918) * '' Pageant'' (1933) * ''The World is Yours'' (1933) * ''Promenade'' (1938) * ''Grand Parade'' (1943)

Film adaptations

* '' Rider of the Law'' (1919) - original screenplay with H. Tipton Steck * '' The Altar Stairs'' (1922) - based on her novel of the same name * ''

The Eternal Struggle ''The Eternal Struggle'' is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Reginald Barker. Distributed by Metro Pictures, the film is based on the 1913 novel ''The Law-Bringers'', written by Edith Joan Lyttleton. Plot The film focuses on Andr� ...

'' (1923) - based on her novel ''The Law-Bringers'' * ''

The Little Irish Girl ''The Little Irish Girl'' is a 1926 American silent romantic drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros., directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Dolores Costello. Based on the story ''The Grifters'', written by Edith Joan Lyttleton, it i ...

'' (1926) - based on her story "The Grifters" * '' Bred in Old Kentucky'' (1926) - original screenplay with Louis WeadockIMDB - Bred in Old Kentucky
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References

External links