Phyllis Paul
Phyllis Paul was an English novelist.
Career
She published eleven novels between 1933 and 1967. She herself considered that the first two, We Are Spoiled and The Children Triumphant, the second of which was published in 1934, were juvenilia and her later novels did not list them. Her first two novels were published by Martin Secker, but her subsequent books by Heinemann. Her mature works have been described as "literary supernatural thrillers", "masterly in their handling of their plots". She has been described as a "subtle novelist, her work invok an atmosphere of the supernatural and often allow for a supernatural interpretation", and as "writ out of a coherent and consistent imagination".
Death and legacy
Paul died on August 30, 1973 when she was struck by a motorcycle while crossing the road in Hastings, her identity only ascertained thanks to a tag on her handkerchief. Her heir was her friend Lydia M. Lee, whose estate was left to her niece. Her novels fell out of print after her death, and copies became later prized by collectors, selling for hundreds of dollars. In 2012 A Cage for the Nightingale was republished by Sundial Press, who also reprinted Pulled Down in 2021. Twice Lost was republished by McNally Editions in 2023.
Works
We Are Spoiled, 1933The Children Triumphant, 1934Camilla, 1949Constancy, 1951The Lion of Cooling Bay, 1953Rox Hall Illuminated, 1956A Cage for the Nightingale, 1957Twice Lost, 1960 A Little Treachery, 1962 Pulled Down, 1964 An Invisible Darkness, 1967