Mary Josephine Beverley (née Dunn; 22 September 1947 – 23 May 2016) was a prolific English-Canadian writer of historical and contemporary
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 ...
s from 1988 to 2016.
Her works have been translated into several languages, and she has received multiple awards.
Early life and education
Mary Josephine Dunn was born 22 September 1947 in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, England. She was of Irish descent.
At age 11, she went to an all-girls boarding school,
Layton Hill Convent, Blackpool. At 16, she wrote her first romance, with a
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
setting, completed in instalments in an exercise book. She read history and American studies at
Keele University
Keele University is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted uni ...
in Staffordshire from 1966 to 1970,
[ GoodReads website, ''Jo Beverley'']
/ref> where she earned a degree in English history. The broad-based learning of Keele's foundation year and the availability of archived Regency-period newspapers were useful resources to enable her to develop her fiction writing.
On 24 June 1971, she married Ken Beverley, whom she met at Keele.
Career
After graduation, she found employment as a youth employment officer. She stayed in this profession until 1976, working first in Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population ...
, Staffordshire, and then in West Bridgford
West Bridgford () is a town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Rushcliffe, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies south of Nottingham city centre, east of Wilford, north of Ruddington and west of Radcliffe-on-Trent ...
, Nottinghamshire.
In 1976, Beverley moved to Canada, where her scientist husband was invited to do post-doctoral research at Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...
in Halifax, Nova Scotia. When her professional qualifications proved unusable in the Canadian labour market, Beverley decided to develop her early interest in creative writing.
Many of her "Rogue" characters were created in an initial manuscript entitled ''A Regency Rape''. At this point, Beverley did not have a fixed idea of the narrower literary boundaries drawn by the traditional Regency romantic novel and thus created a literary hybrid. A precursor of the Regency historical novel, the work had a more varied cast of characters which, while respectful of the world of Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer (; 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story conceived for her ail ...
, broadened the scope and intensity of the genre. At this time Beverley was still unpublished, but devoted her time to caring for her two young sons and participating in the woman-centred childbirth movement, which made her especially careful to portray births in her novels realistically but positively.
The turning point in Beverley's writing career came when her move to Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
led to her attendance at a talk on "The state of romance in fiction" by Janet Adams, at Beaconsfield Library on 23 May 1984. The executive advisor of the Writers' Association for Romance and Mainstream demystified the creative process for the budding author and was sufficiently impressed by Beverley's writing to act as her agent.
That same year, the family moved to Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
, Ontario, Canada, where Beverley became a founding member of the Ottawa Romance Writers' Association (ORWA). Formed in 1985, ORWA became her "nurturing community" for the next 12 years.
In 1988, Beverley, who was actively writing science fiction as well as romance, was a finalist in the L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author and the founder of Scientology. A prolific writer of pulp science fiction and fantasy novels in his early career, in 1950 he authored the pseudoscie ...
Writers of the Future Contest. That same year, she sold her first romance novel. With her ensuing success in the latter genre, she allowed speculative writing to slide, though elements of it appear periodically in some of her romances and novellas.
Beverly wrote at multiple blogs:
* ''Jo Talk'', a solo blog where "she post danything that interest dher"
* ''Minepast'', a solo blog where "she share interesting tid-bits of history she discover das she researche her novels"
* the ''UK Historical Romance blog''
* ''Word Wenches'', a group blog comprising posts by eight women "historical authors who blog about history, writing, and anything vaguely related"
Personal life
Soon after university, Beverley and her husband Ken moved to Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
, Ontario, Canada. Beverley became a Canadian with dual citizenship, and she and Ken raised their two sons there, then moved to Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...
.
She and Ken moved back to England in 2009,[ Keele University website, ''Jo Beverley'']
/ref> and they lived in Dawlish
Dawlish is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Teignbridge district in Devon, England. It is located on the south coast of England at a distance of from the city of Exeter and a similar distance from the to ...
, Devon, though they were considering returning to Victoria permanently.
Later life and death
In 2012, Beverley survived a bout with cancer and was in remission for four years. However, the cancer returned and moved very quickly; she succumbed to it on 23 May 2016. She died in a care home in Yorkshire, England.
Recognition
Her works have been translated into many languages and won her many awards, including five RITAs and two Career Achievement Awards from ''Romantic Times
''Romantic Times'' was an American magazine, genre magazine specializing in romance novels. It was founded as a newsletter in 1981 by Kathryn Falk. The initial publication took nine months to create and was distributed to 3,000 subscribers. In ...
''. She also won The Golden Leaf Award, and the Readers' Choice Award. A member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) Honor Roll, Beverley was also inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame. Romance Writers of American website, ''Hall of Fame''
/ref> She is the only Canadian to be inducted.
Bibliography
Traditional Regencies
* ''Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed'' (1990) ()
* ''The Stanfourth Secrets'' (1989) ()
* ''The Stolen Bride'' (1990) ()
* ''Emily and the Dark Angel'' (1992) ()
* ''If Fancy Be the Food of Love'' (1991) () (see Novellas below)
* ''The Fortune Hunter'' (1992) ()
* ''Deirdre and Don Juan'' (1993) ()
Company of Rogues Series
* ''An Arranged Marriage'' (1991) () Nicholas and Eleanor
* ''An Unwilling Bride'' (1992) () Lucien and Beth
* ''Christmas Angel'' (1992) () Leander and Judith
* ''Forbidden'' (1994) () Francis and Serena
* ''Dangerous Joy'' (1995) () Miles and Felicity
* ''Dragon's Bride'' (2001) () Con and Susan (A Three Georges Story)
* ''The Devil's Heiress'' (2001) () Hawk and Clarissa (A Three Georges Story)
* ''The Demon's Mistress'' (2001) () Van and Maria (A Three Georges Story)
* ''Hazard'' (2002) () Race and Anne
* ''St. Raven'' (2003) () Tris and Cressida
* ''Skylark'' (2004) () Stephen and Laura
* ''The Rogue's Return'' (2006) () Simon and Jancy
* ''To Rescue a Rogue'' (2006) () Dare and Mara
* ''Lady Beware'' (2007) () Darien and Thea
* ''A Shocking Delight'' (2014) () David and Lucy
* ''Too Dangerous for a Lady'' (2015) () Thayne and Hermione
* ''The Viscount Needs a Wife'' (2016) () Dauntry and Kitty
* ''Merely a Marriage'' (2017) () Norris and Ariana
Medieval Romances
* ''Lord of My Heart'' (1992) ()
* ''Dark Champion'' (1993) ()
* ''The Shattered Rose'' (1996) ()
* ''Lord of Midnight'' (1998) ()
* ''Day of Wrath'' (see Novellas below)
* ''The Wise Virgin'' () (see Novellas below)
The Malloren Series
* ''My Lady Notorious'' (1993) () Chastity and Cyn
* ''Tempting Fortune'' (1995) () Portia and Bryght
* ''Something Wicked'' (1997) () Elf and Fort
* ''Secrets of the Night'' (1999) () Rosamunde and Brand
* ''Devilish'' (2000) () Diana and Rothgar
* ''Winter Fire'' (2003) () Genova and Ashart
* ''A Most Unsuitable Man'' (2005) ()
* ''A Lady's Secret'' (2008) () Petra and Robin
* ''The Secret Wedding'' (2009) ()
* ''The Secret Duke'' (2010) () Bella and Thorn
* ''An Unlikely Countess'' (2011) ()
* ''A Scandalous Countess'' (2012) ()
The Georges Series
(related to the Company of Rogues)
* ''Demon's Mistress'' (2001) ()
* ''Dragon's Bride'' (2001) ()
* ''Devil's Heiress'' (2001) ()
Novellas and short stories
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* Reissue 2006.
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* MM 2006
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Single novels
* ''Forbidden Magic'' (1995) ()
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beverley, Jo
1947 births
2016 deaths
People from Blackpool
Alumni of Keele University
RITA Award winners
British emigrants to Canada
English women novelists
Canadian women novelists
English romantic fiction writers
Canadian romantic fiction writers
20th-century Canadian novelists
British women romantic fiction writers
20th-century Canadian women writers
20th-century English women
20th-century English writers
Writers of historical romances
21st-century Canadian novelists
21st-century Canadian women writers