Ursula Torday

Ursula Torday was born on 19 Febraury 1912 (some sources say his birth in 1888 or 1914) in London, England, UK, daughter of mixed parents, her mother was Scottish and her father was Hungarian. She studied at Kensington High School in London, before went to the Oxford University, where she obteined a BA in English at Lady Margaret Hall College, and later a Social Science Certificate at London School of Economics.

In 1930s, she published her first three novels with her real name, Ursula Torday. During the World War II she worked as a probation officer for the Citizen's Advice Bureau, and during the next seven years afterwars, she also running a refugee scheme for Jewish children, inspiration for several of her future novels like, The Briar Patch (aka Young Lucifer) and The Children (aka Wednesday's Children) as Charity Blackstock. She worked as a typist at the National Central Library in London, inspiration for her future novel Dewey Death as Charity Blackstock. She also teaching English to adult students.

She returned to publishing in early 1950s, using the pseudonyms of Paula Allardyce, Charity Blackstock (in some cases reedited as Lee Blackstock in USA), to sign her gothic romance and mistery novels, later she also used the pseudonym of Charlotte Keppel. Her novel Miss Fenny (aka The Woman in the Woods) as Charity or Lee Blackstock was nominated for Edgar Award. In 1961, her novel Witches' Sabbath won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Bibliography:

As URSULA TORDAY:

The Ballad-Maker of Paris (1935)

No Peace for the Wicked (1937)

The Mirror of the Sun (1938)

As PAULA ALLARDYCE:

After the Lady (1954)

A Game of Hazard (1955)

The Doctor's Daughter (1955)

Adam and Evelina (1956)

The Man of Wrath (1958)

Southarn Folly(1957)

The Lady and the Pirate (1957) a.k.a. The Vixen's Revenge (US title)

Beloved Enemy (1958)

My Dear Miss Emma (1958)

A Marriage Has Been Arranged (1959)

Death My Lover (1959)

Johnny Danger (1960) a.k.a. The Rebel Lover (US title)

Witches' Sabbath (1961)

The Gentle Highwayman (1961) a.k.a. The Rogue's Lady (US title)

Adam's Rib (1963) a.k.a. Legacy of Pride (US title)

The Respectable Miss Parkington-Smith (1964) a.k.a. Paradise Row (US title)

Octavia: Or the Trials of a Romantic Novelist (1965)

The Moonlighters (1966) Gentleman Rogue (US title)

Six Passengers for the Sweet Bird (1967)

Waiting at the Church (1968) a.k.a. Emily (US title)

The Ghost of Archie Gilroy (1970) a.k.a. Shadowed Love (US title)

Miss Jonas's Boy (1972) a.k.a. Eliza (US title)

The Gentle Sex (1974)

The Carradine Affair (1976)

Miss Philadelphia Smith (1977)

Haunting Me (1978)

As CHARITY BLACKSTOCK:

Dewey Death (1956)

Miss Fenny (1957) a.k.a. The Woman in the Woods (US title)

The Foggy, Foggy Dew (1958)

The Shadow of Murder (1958) a.k.a. All Men Are Murderers as Lee Blackstock (US title)

The Bitter Conquest (1959)

The Briar Patch (1960) a.k.a. Young Lucifer as Ursula Torday (US title)

The Exorcism (1961) a.k.a. A House Possessed (US title)

The Gallant (1962)

Mr. Christopoulos (1963)

The Factor's Wife (1964) a.k.a. The English Wife (US title)

When the Sun Goes Down (1965) a.k.a. Monkey on a Chain (US title)

The Knock at Midnight (1966)

The Children (1966) a.k.a. Wednesday's Children (US title)--memoir

Party in Dolly Creek (1967) a.k.a. The Widow (US title)

The Melon in the Cornfield (1969) a.k.a. The Lemmings (US title)

The Daughter (1970)

The Encounter (1971)

The Jungle (1972)

The Lonely Strangers (1972)

People in Glass Houses (1975)

Ghost Town (1976)

I Met Murder on the Way (1977) a.k.a. The Shirt Front (US title)

Miss Charley (1979)

Dream Towers (1980)

With Fondest Thoughts (1980)

As CHARLOTTE KEPPEL:

Madam, You Must Die (1974) a.k.a. Loving Sands, Deadly Sands (US title)

When I Say Goodbye, I'm Clary Brown (1976) My name is Clary Brown (US title)

I Could Be Good to You (1980)

The Villa