Ida Julia Pollock (née Crowe;[1] 12 April 1908 – 3 December 2013) was a British writer of several short-stories and over 125 romance novels that were published under her married name, Ida Pollock, and under a number of different pseudonyms: Joan M. Allen; Susan Barrie, Pamela Kent, Averil Ives, Anita Charles, Barbara Rowan, Jane Beaufort, Rose Burghley, Mary Whistler and Marguerite Bell.
Ida's autobiography, Starlight, published in 2009 at 100 years, tells the story of the start of her career, her marriage, and the relation of her husband with his ex-wife Enid Blyton.
[citation needed] At age 20, she was living with her mother in Hastings and already had several stories in major magazines and short novels in print.
[8] She visited George Newnes's office in London, to sell her first full-length manuscript;[7] Palanquins and Coloured Lanterns, a novel set in 1920s Shanghai.
[9] After they found it, she returned to London to meet one of its editors, the 39-year-old Hugh Alexander Pollock (1888–1971), a distinguished veteran of World War I. Hugh had been married since 1924 to his second wife, the popular children's writer Enid Blyton, and was divorced from his first wife, Marion Atkinson, with whom he had two sons, William Cecil Alexander (1914–16) and Edward Alistair (1915–69).
[7] During World War II, Ida worked at a hostel for girls in London during the Blitz; at this time Hugh, who had left publishing to join the Army, was Commandant of a school for Home Guard officers.
During a bungled firearms training session on a firing range, Hugh was hit by shrapnel and Ida contacted Enid, who declined to visit her husband because she was busy and hated hospitals.
On 26 October 1943 Ida and Hugh were married at London's Guildhall Register Office, six days after Enid's marriage to Darrell Waters.
In the 1950s she wrote as Susan Barrie, Pamela Kent, Rose Burghley, and Mary Whistler to Mills & Boon; as Averil Ives and Barbara Rowan to Ward Lock; as Anita Charles to Wright & Brown; and as Jane Beaufort to Collins.
They also lived in Ireland, France, Italy, Malta and Switzerland, where they successfully obtained a lasting cure for Rosemary's debilitating condition.
[11] After her death, her medieval story: Sir Faintheart was published in 2015, and there are still at least two unpublished Regency romances pending publication, including The Runaway.
After her 100th birthday, her autobiography, Starlight, was published on 15 November 2009, and she tells the story of the start of her career, her marriage, and the relation of her husband with his ex-wife Enid Blyton.