Sue Gee (born 1947) is a British novelist. She is published by Headline Review and by Salt. ''The Hours of the Night'' was the controversial winner of 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). In 2018, awards were given t ...

in 1997. '' The Mysteries of Glass'' was long listed for the

Orange Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

in 2005.

Biography

Personal life

Sue Gee's parents met and married in India in 1946 and returned to Britain in 1947, with the coming of independence to India. She and her brother David grew up on a Devon farm and in a Leicestershire village, before the family moved to Surrey in 1957. She lived for 27 years with the environmental journalist

Marek Mayer Marek Mayer (1952–2005) was a prominent environmental journalist who influenced the development of UK environmental policy for over 25 years. Biography Born in London of Polish parents, Marek obtained a master's degree in environmental studie ...

: they married in 2003, two years before his death. Their son is Jamie Mayer. Sue Gee lives in London and Herefordshire.

Background and career

She was educated at the University of London,

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

and at

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries o ...

, where between 2000 and 2008 she was programme leader on the MA Creative Writing course and established

The North London Literary Festival The North London Literary Festival is an annual event held at Middlesex University and the surrounding areas of North London. The event is student-led in order for them to gain key experience, and the festival is free to access for students and t ...

. She currently teaches at the Faber Academy, and is a mentor on the Write to Life programme at

Freedom from Torture Freedom from Torture (previously known as The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture) is a British registered charity which provides therapeutic care for survivors of torture who seek protection in the UK. Since it was established ...

. Her first novel, ''Spring Will Be Ours'', was inspired by Marek Mayer's Polish background. It delineates the period 1939–1981 – from the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

(1939) at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

to the period of

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti ...

and

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

(1981–1983). Its title comes from graffiti scrawled on the walls of Warsaw in 1981: Winter is yours, but spring will be ours. Later novels are both historical and contemporary. The success of her novel ''The Hours of the Night'' in 1995 attracted criticism from

Barbara Cartland Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland, (9 July 1901 – 21 May 2000) published as Barbara Cartland was an English writer, known as the Queen of Romance, who published both contemporary romance, contemporary and historical romance novels, the lat ...

and others because it included a love affair between a gay couple. She is also the author of many short stories, and of a Radio 4 drama, ''Ancient & Modern'', broadcast in 2004 with

Juliet Stevenson Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, (born 30 October 1956) is an English actor of stage and screen. She is known for her role in the film '' Truly, Madly, Deeply'' (1991), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leadi ...

in the lead role.

Bibliography

* ''Spring Will Be Ours'' (1988) * ''Keeping Secrets'' (1991) * ''The Last Guests of the Season'' (1993) * ''Letters from Prague'' (1994) * ''The Hours of the Night'' (1996) * ''Earth & Heaven'' (2000) * '' The Mysteries of Glass'' (2004) * ''Reading in Bed'' (2007) * ''Last Fling'' – short stories (2011) * ''Coming Home'' (2014) * ''Trio'' (2016) Dramatic works * ''Ancient & Modern'' (2004)

References and sources

External links

Sue Gee's Hodder Headline Review Page

The Widow's Might
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gee, Sue Living people 1947 births People from Hay-on-Wye Women romantic fiction writers RoNA Award winners British women novelists 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British women writers Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of Middlesex University Academics of Middlesex University