Rosamond Lehmann

Her first novel, Dusty Answer (1927), was a succès de scandale; she subsequently became established in the literary world, and intimate with members of the Bloomsbury set.

[4] Rosamond's father was a Liberal MP from 1906 to 1910, and founder of Granta magazine and editor of the Daily News.

[11][2] It was an unhappy marriage: "He [Runciman] panicked when [Lehmann] became pregnant and insisted on an abortion, after which he praised her for being once again "all clean and clear inside".

The novel's heroine, Judith, is attracted to both men and women, and interacts with fairly openly gay and lesbian characters during her years at Cambridge.

[2] Lehmann went on to publish six more novels, as well as a play (No More Music, 1939), a collection of short stories (The Gypsy's Baby & Other Stories, 1946), a spiritual autobiography (The Swan in the Evening, 1967), and a photographic memoir of her friends (Rosamond Lehmann's Album, 1985), many of whom were famous (Bloomsbury Group).

Lehmann's novel The Weather in the Streets (1936) was made into a film in 1983, which starred Michael York and Joanna Lumley.

Her 1953 novel The Echoing Grove was made into the 2002 film Heart of Me, starring Helena Bonham Carter as the main character, Dinah.

[12] Afterward, Lehmann entered a "very public affair" for nine years (1941–1950) with the married poet Cecil Day-Lewis.

[16][17] Nearly blind from cataracts, Lehmann died at home in Clareville Grove, London, on 12 March 1990, aged 89.