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{{Short description|English critic, novelist and biographer, born 1948}}{{Use British English|date=February 2021}}{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}

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| notable_works = In My Father’s House, I Used to Live Here Once, Chaplin’s Girl, The Bugatti Queen}}Miranda Jane Seymour (born 8 August 1948) is an English literary critic, novelist and biographer of Robert Graves, Mary Shelley and Jean Rhys among others. Seymour is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.Faber author biography Retrieved 26 April 2012. She elected to resign from the Royal Society of Literature in December 2023.NEWS, Thorpe, Vanessa, Arts, Vanessa Thorpe, Correspondent, Media, 2024-01-27, ‘Radical moves’ at Royal Society of Literature prompt rebellion,www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/27/radical-moves-at-royal-society-of-literature-prompt-rebellion, 2024-03-31, The Observer, en-GB, 0029-7712, She was formerly married to Andrew Sinclair, and Anthony Gottleib and is now married to Ted LynchWEB, Administrator, 2020-11-01, Literary Locations #80: Thrumpton Hall,nottinghamcityofliterature.com/blog/literary-locations-80-thrumpton-hall/, 2024-05-18, Nottingham City of Literature, en-GB, .

Early life and education

Miranda Seymour was two years old when her parents moved into Thrumpton Hall,NEWS, Quinn, Anthony, 2007-02-11, Daddy, you tyrant,www.theguardian.com/books/2007/feb/11/biography.features, 2024-03-29, The Observer, en-GB, 0029-7712, the family ancestral home. She detailed her unconventional upbringing in her 2008 memoir In My Father’s House: Elegy for an Obsessive Love (Simon & Schuster, UKBOOK, Seymour, Miranda, In My Father’s House, 2008, Simon and Schuster, 9781471149696, ),NEWS, Fergusson, James, In My Father’s House: Elegy for an obsessive love, by Miranda Seymour,www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/in-my-father-s-house-elegy-for-an-obsessive-love-by-miranda-seymour-435566.html, The Independent, which appeared in the US as Thrumpton Hall (HarperCollins)NEWS, Mcgrath, Charles, 27 July 2008, House Proud,www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/review/McGrath-t.html, 11 August 2011, The New York Times, 1, and won the 2008 Pen Ackerley Prize for Memoir of the Year.WEB, 12 June 2008, Miranda Seymour Wins Ackerley Prze,www.englishpen.org/posts/news/miranda-seymour-wins-ackerley-prize/, English Pen. Org, She studied at Bedford College, London, now part of Royal Holloway, University of London, earning a BA in English in 1981.{{Citation |url=http://www.rhul.ac.uk/alumni/notablealumni/english/mirandaseymour(1948-).aspx |title=Royal Holloway, London website |work=Notable alumni |publisher=Royal Holloway, University of London |accessdate=31 May 2013}}

Career

Seymour began her literary career in 1975 with an historical novel, The Stones of Maggiare.BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=E6W4_XtrSPUC, The Bride of Sforza, 1975, Houghton Mifflin, 978-0-395-20290-6, en, This was followed by six others concerned with Italy and Greece, including Daughter of Darkness, about Lucrezia Borgia,BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=ug6y3vmYm4UC, Daughter of Shadows, 1977, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 978-0-698-10784-7, en, and Medea (1982).BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=Wd0BHQAACAAJ, Medea, 1982, St. Martin’s Press, 978-0-312-52530-9, en, In 1982, Seymour turned to biography, beginning with a group portrait of Henry James in his later years, entitled A Ring of Conspirators.BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=XYgrAAAAYAAJ, A Ring of Conspirators: Henry James and His Literary Circle, 1895-1915, 1989, Houghton Mifflin, 978-0-395-51173-2, en, This was followed by biographies of Lady Ottoline Morrell,BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,  Ottoline Morrell: Life on the Grand Scale, 2024, HarperCollins Publishers., 9780008650353, Mary ShelleyBOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=YX1ADwAAQBAJ&q=Miranda+Seymour, Mary Shelley, 2018-02-22, Simon & Schuster UK, 978-1-4711-7416-2, en, and Robert Graves,BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=pbtSPgAACAAJ, Robert Graves: Life on the Edge, 2003, Scribner, 978-0-7432-3219-7, en, about whom she also wrote a novel, The TellingBOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=1y1l5AAACAAJ, The Telling, 2011-08-18, Faber & Faber, Limited, 978-0-571-28152-7, en, and a radio play, Sea Music. In 2001, she came across material on Hellé Nice, a forgotten French Grand Prix racing driver of the 1930s. After extensive research, Seymour published an acclaimedWEB, 2004-02-24, The Bugatti Queen: In Search of a Motor Racing Legend by Miranda,www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-bugatti-queen-in-search-of-a-motor-racing-legend-by-miranda-seymour-simon-schuster-ps15-99-70667.html, 2024-04-18, The Independent, en, book, The Bugatti Queen,BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=aow1BgAAQBAJ&q=miranda+seymour+the+Bugatti+Queen, The Bugatti Queen, 2015-04-09, Simon & Schuster UK, 978-1-4711-4970-2, en, in 2004 about Nice’s ultimately tragic life. This was followed by another life of an unconventional woman, that of 1930s film star, Virginia Cherrill. This was also based on a substantial archive in private ownership, and published as Chaplin’s Girl: The Lives and Loves of Virginia Cherrill in 2009.BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=gUZMA5w1uZUC&q=Miranda+Seymour, Chaplin’s Girl: The Life and Loves of Virginia Cherrill, 2009-05-05, Simon and Schuster, 978-1-84737-737-1, en, In 2002, Seymour published a book about herbs: A Brief History of Thyme.BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=wdJkHAAACAAJ, A Brief History of Thyme and Other Herbs, 2002, John Murray, 978-0-7195-6327-0, en, Noble Endeavours: Stories from England; Stories from Germany appeared in September 2013 from Simon & Schuster and was described as being a work of ‘unphased optimism’.BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=rV0tAAAAQBAJ, Noble Endeavours: The life of two countries, England and Germany, in many stories, 2013-08-29, Simon and Schuster, 978-1-84737-826-2, en, Seymour returned to biography with In Byron’s WakeBOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=y3ntCgAAQBAJ&q=miranda+seymour+in+byron’s’+wake, In Byron’s Wake, 2018-03-22, Simon & Schuster UK, 978-1-4711-3859-1, en, (2018) which covered the lives of Lord Byron’s wife and daughter, Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace.NEWS, Hughes, Kathryn, 2018-04-28, In Byron’s Wake and Ada Lovelace reviews – computing reputations,www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/28/in-byrons-wake-ada-lovelace-review-computing-reputation, 2024-04-18, The Guardian, en-GB, 0261-3077, WEB,www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/18/in-byrons-wake-miranda-seymour-review-byron-wife-daughter-ada-lovelace, In Byron’s Wake by Miranda Seymour – the Lord’s ladies, Cooke, Rachel, 2018-03-18, The Guardian, en, 2018-06-15, I Used to Live Here Once: The Haunted Life of Jean Rhys was published by Harper Collins in 2022.BOOK, Seymour, Miranda,books.google.com/books?id=F_pKEAAAQBAJ, I Used to Live Here Once: The Haunted Life of Jean Rhys, 2022-05-12, HarperCollins Publishers, 978-0-00-835560-9, en, NEWS, Cooke, Rachel, 2022-05-16, I Used to Live Here Once by Miranda Seymour review – the troubled life of Jean Rhys,www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/16/i-used-to-live-here-once-by-miranda-seymour-review-the-troubled-life-of-jean-rhys, 2024-04-18, The Guardian, en-GB, 0261-3077, Seymour reviews and writes articles for newspapers and literary journals, including The Economist, The Times, the Times Literary Supplement, Spectator, and the New York Review of Books.Formerly a Visiting Professor of English Studies at the University of Nottingham Trent,WEB, Miranda Seymour,davidhigham.co.uk/authors-dh/miranda-seymour/, 2024-04-19, David Higham Associates, en-US, Seymour is currently the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Kings College London.WEB, Introducing our new Royal Literary Fund Fellows for 2023-24 – Centre for Doctoral Studies,blogs.kcl.ac.uk/doctoralstudies/2023/09/05/introducing-our-new-royal-literary-fund-fellows-for-2023-24/, 2024-04-19, blogs.kcl.ac.uk,

Bibliography

Fiction

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• The Stones of Maggiare: a story of the Sforzas (1975)
• Count Manfred: a Gothic tale (1976)
• Daughter of Darkness: Lucrezia Borgia (1977)
• The Goddess: Helen of Troy (1979)
• Madonna of the Island: stories from a village in Corfu (1980)
• Medea (1981)
• Carrying On (1984)
• The Reluctant Devil (1990)
• The Summer of ‘39 (1998), published in the UK (1997) as The Telling

Juvenile fiction

• Mumtaz the Magical Cat (1984)
• Caspar and the Secret Kingdom (1986)
• The Vampire of Verdonia (1986)
• Pierre and the Pamplemousse (1989)

Non-fiction

• A Ring of Conspirators: Henry James and his literary circle, 1895–1915 (1988)
• Ottoline Morrell: Life on the Grand Scale (1993)
• Robert Graves: Life on the Edge (1995)
• Mary Shelley (2001)
• A Brief History of Thyme (2002)
• (The Bugatti Queen: In Search of a Motor-Racing Legend) (2004)
• In My Father’s House (2007); Thrumpton Hall in the US (2008)
• Chaplin’s Girl: The Life and Loves of Virginia Cherrill (2009)
• Noble Endeavours – The Life of Two Countries, England and Germany, in Many Stories (2013)
• In Byron’s Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Lord Byron’s Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace (2018)
• I Used to Live Here Once: The Haunted Life of Jean Rhys (2022)

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References

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External links

• Official website
• Transcript of interview with Ramona Koval, The Book Show, ABC Radio National 1 April 2007
• House Proud Book review of Thrumpton Hall: A Memoir of Life in My Father’s House by Charles McGrath New York Times 27 July 2008
• ‘The Knife by the Handle at Last’ Tim Parks review of Thrumpton Hall: A Memoir of Life in My Father’s House from The New York Review of Books – subscription-based

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