Beryl Bainbridge

Writer

Beryl Bainbridge is an English author famous for stories of working-class families and, more recently, compact historical novels. First published in 1972 (Harriet Said), Bainbridge consistently receives critical praise and has been shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize five times (she has never won). Her early novels drew on her experiences growing up in Liverpool, where she was expelled from school at the age of 14 and began acting on stage at the age of 16. Her experiences in the theater formed the basis of An Awfully Big Adventure (1989), a novel that was made into a movie starring Hugh Grant. Since the 1990s Bainbridge has written several historical novels, including: The Birthday Boys (1991), about the ill-fated expedition of Robert Falcon Scott; Every Man for Himself (1996), about the wreck of the Titanic; Master Georgie (1998) about the Crimean War; and According to Queeney (2001), about the lexicographer Samuel Johnson. Bainbridge is a famous personality in England's literary world, a petite prankster and chain-smoker who is frequently described (to her chagrin) as "eccentric." Her other novels include Another Part of the Wood (1968), Young Adolf (1978) and Winter Garden (1980).

Extra credit: In addition to An Awfully Big Adventure, her novels Sweet William (1973) and The Dressmaker (1973) have been adapted for the screen.

Other English authors on Who2 include Graham Greene, Patricia Highsmith and Jane Austen.