Gloria Bevan

Gloria Isabel Bevan

aka Fiona Murray, Gloria Bevan

Gloria Isabel was born on 20 July 1911 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia, the daughter of a mining engineer. At three, her family moved to New Zealand, and considers herself a New Zealander. She lived in Auckland, from 1926 to 1936. On 1937, she married Thomas Henry Bevan, a building inspector, and they had three daughters.

After leaving school she worked as a typist, but she had been writing stories for as long as she could remember and feel "there's a certain magic about writing even when the characters refuse to act the way I want them to." She not begin to publishing until she was well into her fifties, first detective novels as Fiona Murray in 1965, She started corresponding with fellow New Zealand writer, Essie Summers who introduced her to publisher Alan Boon and under her married name, Gloria Bevan, she wrote 25 contemporary romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1969 to 1992, many of which are set in her beloved New Zealand. When not writing, she explored the many and varied exotic locations within reach of her suburban Auckland home. Her obvious love of her country and her particular talent for weaving interesting background information into her novels made her a popular romance writer of her era.

Gloria Bevan was interviewed by New Zealand author Rachel McAlpine in 1992 for The Passionate Pen. This was published in 1998. In The Passionate Pen's Introduction, McAlpine mentions that Gloria Bevan had moved into a rest home. According to New Zealand's National Library website, Mrs Bevan died in 1998