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Last edited by ditchqueen
July 24, 2024 | History

Charity Blackstock

Ursula Torday was born on 19 February 1912 (some sources say her 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 obtained 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.

Ursula Torday passed away in 1997.

British writer (1912-1997)

Born 19 February 1912
Died 6 March 1997

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  • Cover of: The exorcism
    First published in 1959 7 editions

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  • Cover of: Young Lucifer.
    First published in 1960 6 editions

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  • Cover of: Monkey on a chain
    Cover of edition monkeyonchain0000blac First published in 1965 6 editions

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  • Cover of: The widow
    First published in 1967 6 editions

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  • Cover of: The foggy, foggy dew
    First published in 1958 5 editions

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  • Cover of: The encounter
    Cover of edition encounter00blac First published in 1971 5 editions

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  • Cover of: With Woman in Mind: The Gallant; Mixed Marriage; Afternoon for Lizards

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  • Cover of: Southern Folly
    First published in 1957 5 editions

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  • Cover of: Witches' Sabbath
    First published in 1961 5 editions

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  • Cover of: The ghost of Archie Gilroy

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  • Cover of: Miss Philadelphia Smith
    First published in 1977 5 editions

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  • Cover of: The bitter conquest
    First published in 1959 4 editions

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  • Cover of: All men are murderers
    First published in 1958 4 editions

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  • Cover of: The knock at midnight
    First published in 1966 4 editions

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  • Cover of: The Children
    First published in 1966 4 editions

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  • Cover of: Loving sands, deadly sands: a novel.

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  • Cover of: My name is Clary Brown
    Cover of edition whenisaygoodbyei0000kepp First published in 1976 4 editions

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  • Cover of: The English wife
    First published in 1964 4 editions

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  • Cover of: People in glass houses
    First published in 1975 4 editions

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  • Cover of: The woman in the woods
    Cover of edition womaninwoods0000char First published in 1957 4 editions

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British writer (1912-1997)

Born 19 February 1912
Died 6 March 1997

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July 24, 2024 Edited by ditchqueen Edited without comment.
April 11, 2024 Edited by kathrinpassig added date of death (from Wikipedia)
April 3, 2024 Edited by kathrinpassig merge authors
September 27, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot add ISNI
April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user initial import