Elizabeth Buchan, née Oakleigh-Walker (born 21 May 1948) is a British writer of non-fiction and fiction books since 1985. In 1994, her novel ''Consider the Lily'' won the

Romantic Novel of the Year Award The Romantic Novel of the Year Award is an award for romance novels since 1960, presented by Romantic Novelists' Association, and since 2003, the novellas, also won the Love Story of the Year (now RoNA Rose Award). Winners Romantic Novel of th ...

by 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 ...

, and she was elected its eighteenth Chairman (1995–1997). Her novel, ''Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman'' (2001), has been made into a television film for CBS.

Biography

Personal life

Elizabeth Mary Oakleigh-Walker was born on 21 May 1948 in Guildford, Surrey, England, the daughter of Major Peter Oakleigh-Walker and Eleanor Mary Peters. In the 1970s, she obtained a double degree in English and History at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

at Canterbury. On 20 April 1974, she married Benjamin William Alastair Buchan (b. 1948), grandson of the novelist and politician

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a ...

. They have one son, Adam Peter Alastair Buchan (b. 1980), and a daughter, Eleanor Rose Buchan (b. 1983).

Writing career

She started working as a blurb writer for

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

(1974–1989), and later, since 1989 as fiction editor at

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. After the publication of her third novel, she became a full-time writer. She lives 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 ...

. Her short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in magazines. She has been a judge for Whitbread (now Costa) Awards, and has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot Awards and reviews for the Sunday Times. She is also a patron of the Guildford Book Festival and the National Academy of Writing.

Bibliography

Standalone novels

* ''Daughters of the Storm'' (1988) * ''Light of the Moon'' (1991) * ''Consider the Lily'' (1993) * ''Perfect Love'' (1995) * ''Against Her Nature'' (1997) * ''Secrets of the Heart'' (2000) * ''The Good Wife'' (2003) ''The Good Wife Strikes Back'' (US title) * ''That Certain Age'' (2004) ''Everything She Thought She Wanted'' (US title) * ''Separate Beds'' (2010) * ''Daughters'' (2012) * ''I Can't Begin to Tell You'' (2014) * ''The New Mrs Clifton'' (2016) * ''The Museum of Broken Promises'' (2019). Corvus. . * ''Two Women in Rome'' (2021). Corvus.

''The Two Mrs Lloyd'' series

# ''Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman'' (2001) # ''The Second Wife'' (2006) ''Wives Behaving Badly'' (US title)

Poetry collections

* ''A Dashing Young Tiger Named Jack'' (1987) (with Scoular Anderson)

Game book

* ''Ice Dancer'' (1985)

Non-fiction

* ''Beatrix Potter: The Story of the Creator of Peter Rabbit'' (1987) #

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchan, Elizabeth 1948 births Writers from Guildford Living people Alumni of the University of Kent English romantic fiction writers RoNA Award winners 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers British women romantic fiction writers English women novelists