Toby Eady (28 February 1941 – 24 December 2017) was an English literary agent, whose clients included

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his long-running series of novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also writ ...

, Patrick Marnham,

Rachel Seiffert Rachel Seiffert (born 1971) is a British novelist and short story writer. Biography She was born in 1971 in Oxford to German and Australian parents, and was brought up bilingually. She lives in London. Publications and awards Seiffert has p ...

and

Jung Chang Jung Chang (, ; born 25 March 1952) is a Chinese-born British author. She is best known for her family autobiography ''Wild Swans'', selling over 10 million copies worldwide but Censorship in China, banned in the China, People's Republic of Ch ...

. When he set up his own agency, Toby Eady Associates, in 1968, his first book was ''

Jack's Return Home ''Jack's Return Home'' is a 1970 novel by British writer Ted Lewis. It was adapted into the 1971 film ''Get Carter'', starring Michael Caine as Jack Carter. The novel portrays a subsection of society living on the borderline between crime and re ...

'' by Ted Lewis, which was eventually made into the

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...

film, ''

Get Carter ''Get Carter'' is a 1971 British gangster film, gangster thriller film, written and directed by Mike Hodges in his directorial debut and starring Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, John Osborne, Britt Ekland and Bryan Mosley. Based on Ted Lewis (write ...

''. In 2015, Eady sold his agency to David Higham Associates. Eady's mother was the author

Mary Wesley Mary Aline Siepmann CBE (24 June 191230 December 2002), known by the pen name Mary Wesley, was an English novelist. During her career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including ten ...

. His father was Heinz Otto Ziegler, a Czech political scientist and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

pilot. Eady was educated at

Summer Fields School Summer Fields is a fee-paying boys' independent day and boarding preparatory school in Summertown, Oxford. It was originally called Summerfield and used to have a subsidiary school, Summerfields, St Leonards-on-Sea (known as "Summers mi"). ...

in Oxford,

Bryanston School Bryanston School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the ...

in Dorset, and read modern history at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

. He was survived by his widow, the writer Xinran Xue, whom he married in 2002. He had previously been married to Isobel Macleod.

References

1941 births 2017 deaths Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom English people of Czech-Jewish descent British literary agents People educated at Summer Fields School {{England-bio-stub