Gladys Bronwyn Stern (17 June 1890 – 20 September 1973) or G. B. Stern, born Gladys Bertha Stern 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 ...

, England, wrote many novels, short stories, plays, memoirs, biographies and literary criticism.

Career

GB Stern was born on 17 June 1890 in

North Kensington North Kensington is an area of west and northwest London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green predominately in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and partly in the London Borough of Brent and City of Westminster. The ...

, London, the second, by some years, of two sisters. Her family lost their money in the Vaal River diamond crash. After that, they lived in a series of apartments, hotels and boarding houses. Gladys was schooled in England until the age of 16, when, with her parents, she travelled to

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

and studied in Germany and Switzerland. She wrote her first novel, ''Pantomime'', in 1914 at the age of 24. Her first critical success came with ''Twos and Threes'' in 1916. Her most popular books were the series known by the name of the first, ''The Matriarch''. This was first published as ''Tents of Israel'' in 1924. The others in the series are ''A Deputy Was King'' (1926), ''Mosaic'' (1930), ''Shining and Free'' (1935) and ''The Young Matriarch'' (1942).Penguin edition biography ''The Matriarch'' series revolved around the Rakonitz and Czelovar families and were based on her own family. They are well-to-do and cosmopolitan Jews who settled in England from Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Austria. Like her family, they suffer through an economic crash. The first book in the series, ''The Matriarch'', centres around two characters, the matriarch Anastasia and her granddaughter, Toni. Anastasia was based on Stern's great-aunt, who was incensed with the portrayal until the book became successful. The book describes in detail the complicated, florid and noisy life of this Jewish-English family through both triumphs and failures, weddings and funerals.Neuberger Stern's plays include '' The Man Who Pays The Piper'' (1931), which was revived by the

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. Th ...

Richmond, London Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

in 2013. With

Sheila Kaye-Smith Sheila Kaye-Smith (4 February 1887 – 14 January 1956) was an English writer, known for her many novels set in the borderlands of Sussex and Kent in the English regional tradition. Her 1923 book ''The End of the House of Alard'' became a best- ...

she wrote the dialogues ''Talking of

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

'' and ''More Talk of Jane Austen''. She also wrote a biography of

Robert Louis 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 ...

and edited volumes of his works. Her final novel, ''Promise Not to Tell'', was published in 1964. In 1934, ''

Long Lost Father ''Long Lost Father'' is a 1934 American pre-Code drama film starring John Barrymore, Helen Chandler, Donald Cook, Alan Mowbray, and Doris Lloyd. It was directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack. It was based on a 1933 novel of the same title by the Br ...

'' was adapted into a film of the same title by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the major film studios, "Big Five" film studios of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood's Clas ...

. In 1947, ''

The Woman in the Hall ''The Woman in the Hall'' is a 1947 British drama film directed by Jack Lee and starring Ursula Jeans, Jean Simmons, Cecil Parker. The screenplay was written by Lee, Ian Dalrymple Ian Dalrymple (26 August 190328 March 1989) was a British ...

'' was released as a film of the same title. In 1966 her 1938 novel ''The Ugly Dachshund'' was made into a film of the same title.

Personal life

She married

New Zealander New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

Geoffrey Lisle Holdsworth in 1919 and divorced him "fairly soon after". Her closest male friends were the playwright

John van Druten John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observations ...

and Jack Cohen. A long-time friend was

Rebecca West Dame Cecily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books ...

, who came to call her "Peter", as did most of Stern's friends. Stern went through a number of secretaries but Freda Bromhead managed to survive five years with her and came back to help her years later when Stern was in a nursing home. Her family was never terribly religious and Stern herself disliked the word 'Jew' and preferred '

Israelite Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

'. In 1947 she converted to Catholicism. She wrote about the conversion in 1954 in ''All in Good Time''. She died in

Wallingford, Oxfordshire Wallingford () is a historic market town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, north of Reading, south of Oxford and north west of Henley-on-Thames. Although belonging to the historic county of Berkshire, it ...

, England on 28 September 1973, at the age of 83. The

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

holds four portraits of her.

Works

References

Sources

External links

* * *
Bibliography of GB Stern’s works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Gladys Bronwyn 1890 births 1973 deaths 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English Jews 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century English memoirists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers 20th-century Roman Catholics British women short story writers Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism English biographers English literary critics British women literary critics English short story writers English women dramatists and playwrights English women journalists English women non-fiction writers English women novelists People educated at Notting Hill & Ealing High School People from Kensington Writers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea British women memoirists British women biographers