Her mother was Mary Robina, born Mathews, and her father, George, manufactured brass and copper items.
Rathbone's brother died of pneumonia while part of the forces occupying Germany in 1919 and in the following year her fiancée was killed in Iraq.
[3] She lives a semi-bohemian life, joining 750,000 surplus women, and she treats her existence "with indifference".
Rathbone dedicated her 1936 novel They Call it Peace to him, and she wrote a long poem, Was There a Summer?
It was said to be more politically aware than her previous work and to show more developed writing skills.