Susan Ertz (13 February 1887 – 11 April 1985) was an Anglo-American writer, known for her "sentimental tales of

genteel Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...

life in the country."''Contemporary Authors'',

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, August 2003. She was born in

Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, known locally as Walton, is a market town on the bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, Thames in northwest Surrey, England. It is in the Borough of Elmbridge, about southwest of central London. Walton forms part ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England to American parents Charles and Mary Ertz. She moved back and forth between both countries during her childhood but chose to live in England when she was 18. She married British Army soldier, Major John Ronald McCrindle in London in 1932. A common theme running through her work involves a female character "who is thrust out on her own from a sheltered environment into a vaguely hostile external world with which she is initially unprepared to cope. Her coming to terms with this hostile world provides the fictional interest of ernovels." ''The Proselyte'', the story of a London woman who marries a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

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and moves with him to

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, was one of her most highly praised books (even Mormons felt that in "her story the hardships and sorrows of the people are clearly portrayed"). Ertz's ''Woman Alive'' is a science fiction novel set after all women other than the titular heroine have perished in a plague. One of her later works, ''In the Cool of the Day'', was the source of an eponymous movie in 1963, starring

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon, Jane Fonda filmography, Fonda's work spans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient of List of a ...

Peter Finch Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia at the age of ten and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudevi ...

, and

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American actress, producer, and singer. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles on stage and screen. Among her numerous accolades wer ...

Works

*''Madame Claire'' 1923 (selected as one of the first ten

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paperbacks in 1935) *''Nina'' 1924 *''After Noon'' 1926 *''The Wind of Complication'' (short stories) 1927 (published in the U.K. as ''And Then Face to Face'') *''Now East, Now West'' 1927 *''The Milky Way'' 1929 (under the name, ''The Galaxy'', this book was on the U.S. best seller fiction list for 1929.) *''The Story of Julian'' 1931 (later editions entitled ''Julian Probert'') *''The Proselyte'' 1933 *''Now We Set Out'' 1935 *''Woman Alive, But Now Dead'' 1935Bibliographic information from: also published as ''Woman Alive'' *''No Hearts to Break'' 1937 *''Black, White and Caroline'' 1938 *''Big Frogs and Little Frogs'' (short stories) 1939 *''One Fight More'' 1939 *''Anger in the Sky'' 1943 *''Mary Hellam'' 1947 (published in the U.K. as ''Two Names Upon the Shore'') *''The Prodigal Heart'' 1950 *''The Undefended Gate'' 1953 (published in the U.S. as ''Invitation to Folly'') *''Charmed Circle'' 1956 *''In the Cool of the Day'' 1960 *''Summer's Lease'' 1972 (published in the U.K. as ''Devices and Desires'') *''The Philosopher's Daughter'' 1976

References

External links

* ;Book reviews
Another look book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ertz, Susan 1887 births 1985 deaths 20th-century British novelists English science fiction writers People from Walton-on-Thames