Penelope Mortimer

Penelope Ruth Mortimer, born Penelope Fletcher (19 September 1918 - 19 October 1999), was a British journalist, biographer and novelist. She was born in Rhyl, Flintshire, Wales, the daughter of a Anglican clergyman who had lost his faith and used the parish magazine to celebrate the Soviet's persecution of the Russian church. He also sexually abused her. Attending numerous schools, her father frequently changed his parish, she left University Col... more

Penelope Ruth Mortimer, born Penelope Fletcher (19 September 1918 - 19 October 1999), was a British journalist, biographer and novelist. She was born in Rhyl, Flintshire, Wales, the daughter of a Anglican clergyman who had lost his faith and used the parish magazine to celebrate the Soviet's persecution of the Russian church. He also sexually abused her. Attending numerous schools, her father frequently changed his parish, she left University College, London. after only one year. She married Charles Dimont, a journalist, in 1937, and had two daughters with him. She also had two daughters through her extra-marital relationships with Kenneth Harrison and Randall Swingler. She met barrister and writer John Mortimer while pregnant with the last child, and married him in 1949, having a daughter and a son with him. She published one novel "Johanna" as Penelope Dimont. In 1954 her first novel as Penelope Mortimer "A Villa in Summer" (1954 Michael Joseph) was published to critical acclaim and... less