Marian Fowler


Marian Fowler was a Canadian literary scholar and biographer who was best known for writing women's biographies.

Early life

Fowler was born in Newmarket, Ontario, to Dorothy and Robert Little on October 15, 1929. After attending the University of Toronto, Fowler worked as a copywriter before marrying in 1953.

Career

Fowler returned to the University of Toronto, where she earned an MA and a PhD which dealt with Jane Austen's novels. She worked as a professor of English literature at York University from 1971 to 1982.
Fowler won the 1983 Canadian Biography Award from the Association for Canadian Studies for her second published biography, Redney: A Life of Sara Jeannette Duncan.
In a Gilded Cage: From Heiress to Duchess, a group biography, was nominated for the 1993 Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction. In a Gilded Cage explores the lives of five American heiresses who married British aristocrats, specifically Consuelo Vanderbilt, Lily Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester, Helena Keith-Falconer, Countess of Kintore, and May Goelet.

Personal life

In 1953, she married Rodney Fowler, a cardiologist. They had two children before divorcing in 1978.
Fowler died in Toronto, Ontario, on June 12, 2020.

Works

  • The Embroidered Tent: Five Gentlewomen in Early Canada
  • Redney: A Life of Sara Jeannette Duncan
  • Below the Peacock Fan: First Ladies of the Raj
  • Blenheim: Biography of a Palace
  • In a Gilded Cage: From Heiress to Duchess
  • The Way She Looks Tonight: Five Women of Style
  • ''Hope: Adventures of a Diamond''