Margaret Irwin (1) (1889–1967)
Author of Young Bess
For other authors named Margaret Irwin, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Image credit: Peters, Fraser & Dunlop
Series
Works by Margaret Irwin
The Earlier Service [short story] 3 copies
More modern short stories 1 copy
Associated Works
Women's Weird: Strange Stories by Women, 1890-1940 (Handheld Classics) (2019) — Contributor — 87 copies, 2 reviews
Sisters of Sorcery: Two Centuries of Witchcraft Stories by the Gentle Sex (1976) — Contributor — 38 copies, 1 review
The Haunted Library: Tales of Cursed Books and Forbidden Shelves (British Library Tales of the Weird) (2025) — Contributor — 34 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Irwin, Margaret Emma Faith
- Birthdate
- 1889-03-27
- Date of death
- 1967-12-11
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Oxford
Clifton High School, Bristol - Occupations
- historical novelist
- Relationships
- Monsell, J. R. (husband|1927-1952|his death)
Monsell, Elinor (sister-in-law)
Wedgwood, Cicely Veronica (friend) - Short biography
- Margaret Emma Faith Irwin was born at Highgate in London. Following the deaths of her parents in childhood, she was raised by a paternal uncle, a classical scholar. She attended the Clifton School in Bristol and then Oxford University. In 1929, she married John Robert Monsell, an artist and illustrator of children's books. Margaret Irwin began publishing stories in 1924, and was awarded first prize in the Historical Novel Competition organized by the London publishers Chatto and Windus for her story None So Pretty in 1930. She went on to establish herself as a successful historical novelist, recognized by readers and critics for her considerable talent. The dustjackets of her books were designed by her husband. Margaret Irwin was a friend of the history scholar and writer Dame Cicely Veronica (C.V.) Wedgwood.
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Highgate, London, Middlesex, England, UK
- Places of residence
- London, Middlesex, England, UK
- Place of death
- London, Middlesex, England, UK
- Map Location
- England, UK
Members
Discussions
THE DEEP ONES: "The Book" by Margaret Irwin in The Weird Tradition (December 2021)
Reviews
Elizabeth Tudor is well-known as one of the strongest monarchs in English history - but young Bess had a difficult childhood. Elizabeth was by turns a favorite of her father's for her cleverness and disinherited, ignored and despised for any perceived likeness to her infamous mother. But always, men saw Elizabeth as a pawn to get closer to the throne. Foremost among these men was Elizabeth's (step)stepfather Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour.
Margaret Irwin doesn't shrink back from the difficulties show more of the relationship between Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour - as well as the strains this put on her relationship with his wife and her favorite stepmother Katherine Parr. I found Elizabeth's portrayal very realistic - she is a teenager trying out her burgeoning sexual awareness and enjoying the attention she gets from the much-older but still attractive Thomas Seymour. But Elizabeth is shrewd enough to realize that she is being used as a means to greater power - though the realization is hard on her emotionally. Their relationship is without a doubt uncomfortable to the modern reader - the age difference and his role as a father figure make it even more so. But I believe Elizabeth's disappointment with Seymour and the grief he caused her was channeled into her ambitions and that made theirs a very formative relationship indeed.
Elizabeth is certainly an interesting characters - she seemed older than her early teens, but given the political subterfuge surrounding her (as well as her intelligence), I had no trouble believing that. I found Elizabeth's quicksilver changes in mood and temper very teenaged - as was her revelling in what little power she could seize over those who hurt her. To my mind, Irwin did a remarkable job of piecing together the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth's childhood and putting together a credible explanation of how they influenced the queen she would become.
Personally, I would have liked to see more interaction between Elizabeth and her father and siblings - I thought the portrayal of Mary showed a distinct lack of the same understanding and finesse Irwin showed Elizabeth, and young Edward was nothing but a prissy royal pain. I would also have liked to see Bess meet Robin Dudley - though that may be in one of the next books in this intriguing trilogy.
Margaret Irwin's Young Bess showed an extraordinarily relatable portrait of Elizabeth, and one that was sympathetic but not fawning. I was definitely impressed.
Also posted at A Hoyden's Look at Literature. show less
Margaret Irwin doesn't shrink back from the difficulties show more of the relationship between Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour - as well as the strains this put on her relationship with his wife and her favorite stepmother Katherine Parr. I found Elizabeth's portrayal very realistic - she is a teenager trying out her burgeoning sexual awareness and enjoying the attention she gets from the much-older but still attractive Thomas Seymour. But Elizabeth is shrewd enough to realize that she is being used as a means to greater power - though the realization is hard on her emotionally. Their relationship is without a doubt uncomfortable to the modern reader - the age difference and his role as a father figure make it even more so. But I believe Elizabeth's disappointment with Seymour and the grief he caused her was channeled into her ambitions and that made theirs a very formative relationship indeed.
Elizabeth is certainly an interesting characters - she seemed older than her early teens, but given the political subterfuge surrounding her (as well as her intelligence), I had no trouble believing that. I found Elizabeth's quicksilver changes in mood and temper very teenaged - as was her revelling in what little power she could seize over those who hurt her. To my mind, Irwin did a remarkable job of piecing together the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth's childhood and putting together a credible explanation of how they influenced the queen she would become.
Personally, I would have liked to see more interaction between Elizabeth and her father and siblings - I thought the portrayal of Mary showed a distinct lack of the same understanding and finesse Irwin showed Elizabeth, and young Edward was nothing but a prissy royal pain. I would also have liked to see Bess meet Robin Dudley - though that may be in one of the next books in this intriguing trilogy.
Margaret Irwin's Young Bess showed an extraordinarily relatable portrait of Elizabeth, and one that was sympathetic but not fawning. I was definitely impressed.
Also posted at A Hoyden's Look at Literature. show less
Although this isn't the best novelisation of Queen Elizabeth I that I have read, I still enjoyed this book which focused on her life between the reign of her younger brother, Edward VI, and her sister, Mary Tutor. Even though it was obvious that "Elizabeth, Captive Princess" was well researched, at times I found the plot dragged a bit.
However, Ms Irwin brought Elizabeth alive and provided an interesting perspective of her in her younger life. She was highly intelligent, charming, headstrong show more and courageous. Mary, on the other hand, was short-sighted (both literally and figuratively), jealous and convinced her decisions were absolutely right. It is no wonder Elizabeth Tutor's reign is often referred to as the Golden Age. show less
However, Ms Irwin brought Elizabeth alive and provided an interesting perspective of her in her younger life. She was highly intelligent, charming, headstrong show more and courageous. Mary, on the other hand, was short-sighted (both literally and figuratively), jealous and convinced her decisions were absolutely right. It is no wonder Elizabeth Tutor's reign is often referred to as the Golden Age. show less
This is the story of young Elizabeth Tudor, staring shorly after her father's death, and ending shortly after her brother's. I love it, for the style - ornately erudite, seamlessly weaving together primary sources and history and fiction; for the deft touch with characterization that empathizes with the passions and frustrations of every character; for the moral foundation where good people do evil things for good reasons and bad people do go things for sheer joy; and I love it because in show more the end it is the story of the great love-affair between Elizabeth and England.
Elizabeth's portrayal in Irwin's YA novels about her made me fall in love when I was in middle school, and still captivates me now: a young woman who is learning, as she is growing into herself, that in the womanly arts she is a natural, that she can twist any man around her finger, and love them as they will ove her - but that if she chooses those methods, she is limiting herself to a woman's sphere forever. And she wants more than that - she wants *England*.
I read "Elizabeth, Captive Princess", the second in the trilogy, many years ago, and fell in love with it; and with Mary, and Roger, and Robin, and Bess, and most of all, with that England; I only recently found Young Bess, and found the Lord High Admiral as wonderful as the few glimpses I'd gotten promised. Now I need to find a copy of Elizabeth and the King of Spain, for I can't imagine it would be any less captivating than the first two. show less
Elizabeth's portrayal in Irwin's YA novels about her made me fall in love when I was in middle school, and still captivates me now: a young woman who is learning, as she is growing into herself, that in the womanly arts she is a natural, that she can twist any man around her finger, and love them as they will ove her - but that if she chooses those methods, she is limiting herself to a woman's sphere forever. And she wants more than that - she wants *England*.
I read "Elizabeth, Captive Princess", the second in the trilogy, many years ago, and fell in love with it; and with Mary, and Roger, and Robin, and Bess, and most of all, with that England; I only recently found Young Bess, and found the Lord High Admiral as wonderful as the few glimpses I'd gotten promised. Now I need to find a copy of Elizabeth and the King of Spain, for I can't imagine it would be any less captivating than the first two. show less
Still She Wished for Company is a strange, wonderful gem of a novel--written in 1924, it still reads remarkably fresh today. Jan is a working girl in modern (1920s) London, who frequently drifts into dreamland and acts as if her mind is in another world. She is obsessed with a man she saw in a portrait, and he becomes literaly "the man of her dreams". She goes off to Berkshire for a cottage vacation and some rest, only to find herself obsessed by the nearby manor house. Thus the prologue.
The show more bulk of the book is set in the 1770s, where Juliana lives in the manor amid her large extended family. Everything is shaken up when her scandalous rake of a brother arrives home. After she admits that she's seen the ghost of Edward VI on the estate, he makes her the object of special attention, treating her to study sessions in the library that resemble a combination of Pythia and Svengali. Soon she is seeing more and more of an oddly dressed girl and dreaming of a time when the estate is shut up and the nurse's cottage disappeared. This, and the fact that she rarely remembers what happens when she's closeted up with her brother begin to bother her, but surely her brother can only have the best of intentions, right? Because it soon turns out that he holds her fate in his hands.
The dreamy time travelling and wandering spirits, make Still She Wished for Company stand out from its contemporaries. The characterizations are strong, even among the supporting staff, and the world building, such as it is, is impressive. Recommended for anyone who likes a good story, especially one that sends a few chills of foreboding down your spine.
Note on my edition: For those who are easily annoyed by typos, "Duc", the French title of one of the supporting characters, is constantly misspelt throughout the book: first it is "dug" and for the rest of the book it is "due". I'm pretty sure that this happened when the book was digitized, and it's unfortunate that it wasn't caught in the publishing process, because it got old really fast. Oh, for an editor! show less
The show more bulk of the book is set in the 1770s, where Juliana lives in the manor amid her large extended family. Everything is shaken up when her scandalous rake of a brother arrives home. After she admits that she's seen the ghost of Edward VI on the estate, he makes her the object of special attention, treating her to study sessions in the library that resemble a combination of Pythia and Svengali. Soon she is seeing more and more of an oddly dressed girl and dreaming of a time when the estate is shut up and the nurse's cottage disappeared. This, and the fact that she rarely remembers what happens when she's closeted up with her brother begin to bother her, but surely her brother can only have the best of intentions, right? Because it soon turns out that he holds her fate in his hands.
The dreamy time travelling and wandering spirits, make Still She Wished for Company stand out from its contemporaries. The characterizations are strong, even among the supporting staff, and the world building, such as it is, is impressive. Recommended for anyone who likes a good story, especially one that sends a few chills of foreboding down your spine.
Note on my edition: For those who are easily annoyed by typos, "Duc", the French title of one of the supporting characters, is constantly misspelt throughout the book: first it is "dug" and for the rest of the book it is "due". I'm pretty sure that this happened when the book was digitized, and it's unfortunate that it wasn't caught in the publishing process, because it got old really fast. Oh, for an editor! show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 24
- Also by
- 28
- Members
- 1,393
- Popularity
- #18,450
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 29
- ISBNs
- 101
- Languages
- 1