HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Stella Gibbons (1902–1989)

Author of Cold Comfort Farm

Includes the names: Stella Gibons, Stella Gibbons, Stella Dorothea Gibbons

MembersReviewsPopularityRatingFavorited   Events   
7,636 (89,261)1,5713,161 (4.05)27
Stella Gibbons was born on January 5, 1902 in London. She married Allan Bourne Webb in 1933 and had one child. Raised in a poor and unhappy home, she used her vivid imagination as a means of escape, often telling stories to entertain her younger brothers and other children in the neighborhood. She held numerous jobs including drama critic, reporter, and fashion writer and was a frequent contributor to magazines such as Punch and Tattler, writing short stories and poetry. Gibbons is best known for her novel Cold Comfort Farm. A satirical portrait of rural British life in the 1930's, it won the Femina Vie Heureuse prize in 1933. In the book, Flora, a socialite, is orphaned and forced to live with relatives in the country. Flora tries to bring order and sense to the gloomy Starkadders on Cold Comfort Farm. To the delight of readers, this novel has been adapted several times as successful British films. Stella Gibbons died on December 19, 1989 in London. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from Cold Comfort Farm… (more)
Cold Comfort Farm 5,629 copies, 218 reviews
Nightingale Wood 419 copies, 13 reviews
Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm 291 copies, 12 reviews
Westwood 228 copies, 2 reviews
Conference at Cold Comfort Farm 146 copies, 5 reviews
Starlight 121 copies, 3 reviews
The Matchmaker 110 copies, 3 reviews
The Bachelor 81 copies, 3 reviews
Here Be Dragons 59 copies, 1 review
My American 50 copies, 1 review
A Pink Front Door 36 copies, 1 review
Bassett 32 copies, 1 review
Sense and Sensibility (Introduction, some editions) 36,812 copies, 506 reviews
Emma (Introduction, some editions) 36,572 copies, 495 reviews
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) (Introduction, some editions) 7,466 copies, 285 reviews
The Virago Book of Ghost Stories (Contributor) 137 copies, 2 reviews
Cold Comfort Farm [1995 film] (Novel) 123 copies, 1 review
The Penguin Book of Women's Humour (Contributor) 114 copies
Light on C. S. Lewis (Contributor) 88 copies, 1 review
The Virago Book of Christmas (Contributor) 52 copies, 1 review
Modern English Short Stories (Contributor) 34 copies, 1 review
A Vintage Christmas (Vintage Minis) (Contributor) 8 copies, 1 review
1001 (282) 1001 books (313) 19th century (1,846) 19th century literature (232) Austen (910) British (1,206) British fiction (199) British literature (1,185) classic (3,438) classic fiction (312) classic literature (427) classics (3,553) comedy (228) ebook (415) England (1,525) English (564) English literature (1,126) family (215) fiction (9,065) Folio Society (256) historical (255) historical fiction (356) humor (1,629) Jane Austen (1,221) Kindle (386) literature (1,640) love (340) marriage (265) novel (1,530) own (457) read (1,020) Regency (644) Roman (199) romance (2,234) satire (268) sisters (288) to-read (2,547) UK (227) unread (351) women (320)
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical name
Legal name
Other names
Date of birth
Date of death
Burial location
Gender
Nationality
Country (for map)
Birthplace
Place of death
Cause of death
Places of residence
Education
Occupations
Relationships
Agents
Organizations
Awards and honors
Short biography
Stella Gibbons was born in the Hampstead area of north London, the daughter of a melodramatic family. Her father was a respected physician, but violent and tyrannical. She attended North London Collegiate School for Girls and University College London. In 1924, she began working as a journalist for the British United Press news agency and later wrote for publications such as The Evening Standard and The Lady magazine. In 1933, she married Allan Bourne Webb, an actor and vocalist, with whom she had a daughter.
Her first published poetic work was the collection Mountain Beast (1930), but she attracted enduring fame with her amusing, satirical novel Cold Comfort Farm in 1932. It won her the prestigious Prix Femina Vie Heureuse in 1933. Stella Gibbons was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1950. She published her last novel in 1970 but continued to write for her own pleasure.
Disambiguation notice

Member ratings

Average: (4.05)
0.5 16
1 229
1.5 29
2 732
2.5 168
3 3155
3.5 812
4 6883
4.5 802
5 6595

Author pictures (3)

  

(see all 3 author pictures)

Improve this author

Combine/separate works

Author division

Stella Gibbons is currently considered a "single author." If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author.

Includes

Stella Gibbons is composed of 4 names. You can examine and separate out names.

Combine with…

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 195,060,982 books! | Top bar: Always visible