Norah Hoult

Eleanor Lucy Hoult, known by her pen name Norah Hoult, (20 September 1898 – 6 April 1984) was an Irish writer of novels and short stories. Hoult wrote twenty-three novels and four short story collections. Her work deals primarily with themes of alcohol abuse, prostitution, class dynamics and ill-fated marriages. Between the 1940s and 50s, Hoult's work was frequently banned by the Irish Censorship Board.

Early life and education Hoult was born at 1 Ardilaun Villas, Dollymount, Dublin on 20 September 1898. Her mother, Margaret O'Shaughnessy, was a Catholic who eloped at the age of 21 with a protestant English architect named Powis Hoult. Hoult's mother died when she was nine years old and her father died months later. After her parents' deaths, Hoult and her brother were sent to live with their father's relations in England and were educated in various boarding schools in the north of England.

Career Hoult began her career in journalism, working for British newspapers. She worked first for the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, followed by the Telegraph and Pearson's Magazine. Her first book, Poor Women!, appeared in 1928. It was followed by a novel, Time Gentlemen! Time! (1930), which deals with a woman's unhappy marriage to an alcoholic. This novel exemplifies Hoult's interest in depicting the strain of social constrains and maintaining respectability in Ireland during the 1930s and 1950s.

Fellow Irish writer, Seán Ó Faoláin, wrote to Hoult in 1936 to congratulate her on Holy Ireland.

Legacy Despite a 44 year publishing career, critics have described Hoult's work as "overlooked" and "neglected".

Works Poor Women! (short stories, 1928) Time Gentlemen! Time! (1930) [published in the U.S. as Closing Time] Violet Ryder (from Poor Women!, 1930) Apartments to Let (1931) Youth Can't Be Served (1933) Holy Ireland (1935) Coming from the Fair (1937) Nine Years is a Long Time (short stories, 1938) Smilin' on the Vine (1939) Four Women Grow Up (1940) Augusta Steps Out (1942) Scene for Death (1943) There Were No Windows (1944) (Republished in 2005 by Persephone Books) House Under Mars (1946) Farewell Happy Fields (1948) (republished 2019 by New Island Books) Cocktail Bar (short stories, 1950) (republished 2018 by New Island Books) Frozen Ground (autobiography, 1952) Sister Mavis (1953) A Death Occurred (1954) Journey Into Print (1954) Father Hone and the Television Set (1956) Father and Daughter (1957) Husband and Wife (1959) The Last Days of Miss Jenkinson (1962) A Poet's Pilgrimage (1966) Only Fools and Horses Work (1969) Not For Our Sins Alone (1972) Two Girls in the Big Smoke (1977)