Helen de Guerry Simpson

Helen de Guerry Simpson (1 December 1897 - 14 October 1940) was an Australian novelist.

Helen was born in Sydney into a family that had been settled in New South Wales for over a 100 years. Her great-grandfather, Piers Simpson, R.N., was associated with Sir Thomas Mitchell and her maternal grandfather, the Marquis de Lauret, settled at Goulburn some 50 years before her birth. Her father, Edward Percy Simpson, was a well-known solicitor at Sydney who married Anne de Lauret. Helen Simpson was educated at the Rose Bay convent (now called Kincoppal-Rose Bay, School of the Sacred Heart) and at Abbotsleigh, Wahroonga and, in 1914, she went to France for further study. When war broke out she crossed to England and was employed by the admiralty in decoding messages in foreign languages. She then went to Oxford, studied music and, failing in her examination for the music bachelors degree, took up writing.

Her first appearance in print was a slight volume of verse, "Philosophies in Little", published at Sydney in a limited edition in 1921. It attracted little notice but was included by Serle in his list of the more important volumes in his Bibliography of Australasian Poetry and Verse, published in 1925. Her play, "A Man of His Time", based on the life of Benvenuto Cellini and written partly in blank verse, was a remarkable piece of work for a girl of less than 25. It was performed by McMahon's repertory company at Sydney and published there by Angus and Robertson in 1923. Her first novel, "Acquittal", appeared in London in 1925 and was followed by "The Baseless Fabric" (short stories) in 1925 and "Cups, Wands and Swords" (1927). "The Women's Comedy" (a play) was privately printed in 1926.

Simpson visited Australia in 1927 and, in the same year, married Denis John Browne, F.R.C.S., a fellow Australian practising in London who was a nephew of Thomas Alexander Browne, "Rolf Boldrewood". "Mumbudget", a collection of fairy stories, appeared in 1928 followed by "The Desolate House" (1929) and "Vantage Striker" (1931). These books were all capably written, but had comparatively little success. It was not until "Boomerang" was published in 1932 that Helen Simpson came into her own. Here was a long rambling novel beginning in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century, wandering all over the world, including Australia, and ending in the trenches in France during the 1914-18 war. Always interesting and vivid and often exciting, it was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. This was followed by "The Woman on the Beast" in 1933, which consisted of a prologue, three books and an epilogue. The three books have no connexion with each other; in reality they form three separate short novels with the common basis that the most hateful things may be done for apparently the best of reasons. An admirable historical novel, "Saraband for Dead Lovers", came out in 1935, as did "The Female Felon", a long short story.

In 1937 Simpson came out to Australia under engagement to the Australian Broadcasting Commission. She gave an excellent series of talks and, while in Australia, collected material for the novel, "Under Capricorn", which appeared in 1937 and was set in Sydney about 100 years before. She was then apparently in perfect health but became ill in 1938. She was operated on in 1940, but died after months of suffering on 14 October 1940. Her husband survived her with a daughter. Her last novel, "Maid No More", was published in 1940.

In addition to the books already mentioned, Simpson was the author of two pieces of historical biography, "The Spanish Marriage" (1933) and "Henry VIII" (1934). "The Happy Housewife", a book of household management, was published in 1934 and "A Woman Among Wild Men", an account of the life of Mary Kingsley, came out in 1938. The "Waiting City", which appeared in 1933, is her translation of an interesting selection from Louis-Sebastien Mercier's Le Tableau de Paris. Three novels, "Enter Sir John" (1929), "Printer's Devil" (1930) and "Re-enter Sir John" (1932), were written in conjunction with Clemence Dane. "Enter Sir John" was filmed as "Murder!" (1930) directed by Alfred Hitchcock, who later directed the film version of "Under Capricorn" (1949).

References

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External links

* Works by [http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-n-z.html#simpsonh Helen Simpson] at [http://gutenberg.net.au Project Gutenberg Australia]