Meriol Trevor (15 April 1919 – 12 January 2000) was a British

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

writer of children's books, historical novels and biographies. Her two-volume biography of

Cardinal Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

won the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Un ...

in 1963.

Biography

Meriol Trevor was born in London and grew up in Kent and Cambridge. She was educated at Perse Girls' School, Cambridge and

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

, where she studied classics and philosophy. After graduating from Oxford in 1942, she took several temporary jobs before going to Italy after the war to help with reconstruction. After encountering Catholic culture in Italy, she became a Roman Catholic in 1950. Her children's books strongly reflect her Catholic faith, presenting themes of conflict and redemption often in mythic form. A number of her historical novels are set in Romano-Britain and early Christian Europe. Her two-volume biography of Cardinal Newman, ''Newman: The Pillar of Cloud'' and ''Newman: Light in Winter'', published in 1962, received the

for biography. From the 1960s, Trevor lived in

Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...

. In 1967 she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

Bibliography

Novels

*''The Last of Britain'' (1956) *''The New People'' (1957) *''A Narrow Place'' (1958) *''Shadows and Images'' (1960) *''The City and the World'' (1970) *''The Holy Images'' (1971) *''The Two Kingdoms'' (1973) *''The Fugitives'' (1973) (Luxembourg series 1) *''The Marked Man'' (1974) (Luxembourg series 2) *''The Enemy at Home'' (1974) (Luxembourg series 3) *''The Forgotten Country'' (1975) (Luxembourg series 4) *''The Treacherous Paths'' (1976) (Luxembourg series 5) *''The Fortunate Marriage'' (1976) (Warstowe Series 1) *''The Civil Prisoners'' (1977) (Warstowe Series 2) *''The Fortunes of Peace'' (1978) (Luxembourg series 6) *''The Wanton Fires''(1979) (Warstowe Series 3) *''The Sun with a Face'' (1982) (Warstowe Series 4) *''The Golden Palaces'' (1986)

Books for children

*''The Forest and the Kingdom'' (1949) (World Dionysius Novels 1) *''Hunt the King, Hide the Fox'' (1950) (World Dionysius Novels 2) *''The Fires and the Stars'' (1951) (World Dionysius Novels 3) *''Sun Slower, Sun Faster'' (1955) *''The Treasure Hunt'' (1957) *''Merlin's Ring'' (1957) *''The Other Side of the Moon'' (1957) *''The Caravan War'' (1958) *''The Sparrow Child'' (1958) *''Four Odd Ones'' (1958) *''William's Wild Day Out'' (1963) *''The Rose Round'' (1963) *''The Midsummer Maze'' (1964) *''Lights in a Dark Town'' (1964) *''The King of the Castle'' (1966) *''The Crystal Snowstorm'' (1997) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 1) *''Following the Phoenix'' (1998) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 2) *''Angel and Dragon'' (1999) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 3) *''The Rose and Crown'' (1999) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 4)

Poetry

*''Midsummer, Midwinter and Other Poems'' (1957)

Nonfiction

*''Newman: The Pillar of the Cloud'' (1962) *''Newman: Light in Winter'' (1962) *''Newman Today'' (1963) (23-page Catholic Truth Society

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...

) *''Newman: A Portrait Restored. An Ecumenical Revaluation'' (with John Coulson and A.M. Allchin) (1965) *''Apostle of Rome: A Life of St Philip Neri, 1515-1595'' (1966) *''Pope John'' (1967); new edition ''Pope John: Blessed John XXIII'' (2000) *''Prophets and Guardians: Renewal and Tradition in the Church'' (1969) *''The Arnolds: Thomas Arnold and His Family'' (1973) *''Newman's Journey'' (1974) *''The Shadow of a Crown: The Life Story of James II of England and VII of Scotland'' (1988) *''John Henry Newman: Apostle to the Doubtful'' (with Leonie Caldecott) (2001)

References

External links

1989 Interview with Meriol TrevorMeriol Trevor at Bethlehem BooksObituary
��in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, 31 Jan. 2000. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trevor, Meriol 1919 births 2000 deaths 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English poets Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism English Catholic poets English children's writers English historical novelists English Roman Catholics English Roman Catholic writers James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients People educated at the Perse School for Girls English women poets