Mollie Panter-Downes (1906–1997)

Mary Patricia "Mollie" Panter-Downes published her first novel, The Shoreless Sea, at age 16. It became a bestseller. Her second novel The Chase was published in 1925.  She married Clare Robinson and the couple had two daughters.  In 1938, she began a 50-year career of writing for the New Yorker.  At first she contributed some poems and short stories, then she became the regular British correspondent through her Letter from London column that ran from September 1939 until 1984. Through her, Americans learned the effects of World War II -- the blackouts, the food shortages -- on Britain and its people.  Two collections were later published as Letters from England (1940) and London War Notes (1972).