Ruth Tomalin

Ruth Tomalin (1919 – 22 November 2012) was an Irish-born British journalist, novelist, biographer, and children's author.

Biography Ruth Tomalin was born in Piltown, County Kilkenny, Ireland. She grew up in West Sussex on the Stansted Park estate, where her father was head gardener. She was educated at Chichester High School for Girls, Sussex, and then at King's College London, where she received her diploma of journalism in 1939.

Career During World War II, Tomalin served from 1941 to 1942 at Bosham in the Women's Land Army. From 1942 to 1961 she was a reporter for newspapers in Hampshire, Sussex, Dorset, and Hertfordshire. From 1961 she was a part-time court reporter in London.

Tomalin wrote children's short illustrated novels, including A Stranger Thing (1975), and more complex novels about childhood, such as Away to the West (1972), that are meant for teen and adult readers. She also wrote poetry, essays, and a biography of writer and naturalist William Henry Hudson.

Reception Vita Sackville-West described Tomalin in 1947 as "a coming writer to watch; slight, but charming in her scope; with a good ear and a quick woodland eye, she should take her place among the nature poets who are England's peculiar boast." A reviewer in The Daily Telegraph wrote of Tomalin's 1982 Hudson biography, "she has pillaged his books for every scrap of autobiographical material, and has woven it skillfully and with ease of style into a vivid and constructive narrative."

Personal life In 1942, Tomalin married Vernon Leaver. They had one son, Nick; the marriage ended in divorce. In 1971, she married William N. Ross,

Selected publications

(verse) (novel) (for children) (for children) (for children) (Francie book series, 1 of 2)

(Francie book series, 2 of 2)