- Anya Seton
author of historical romances, Ann Seton.
Ann Seton was born in
New York, New York , and died in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. She was the daughter of English-born naturalist and pioneer of theBoy Scouts of America ,Ernest Thompson Seton and Grace Gallatin Seton. She is interred atPutnam Cemetery in Greenwich.Her
historical novel s were noted for how extensively she researched the historical facts, and some of them were best-sellers.Fact|date=December 2007 "Dragonwyck" (1941) and "Foxfire" (1950) were both made into Hollywood films. Two of her books are classics in their genre and continue in their popularity to the present; "Katherine", the story ofKatherine Swynford , the mistress and eventual wife ofJohn of Gaunt , and their children, who eventually became the basis for the Tudor and Stuart families of England, and "Green Darkness", the story of a modern couple plagued by their past life incarnations. Most of her novels have been recently republished, several with forewords byPhilippa Gregory .Her novel "Devil Water" concerns James, the luckless
Earl of Derwentwater and his involvement with theJacobite rising of 1715. She also narrates the story of his brother Charles, beheaded after the 1745 rebellion, the last man to die for the cause. The action of the novel moves back and forth betweenNorthumberland ,Tyneside , London and America.Anya Seton stated that the book developed out of her love for Northumberland. Anya certainly visited her Snowdon cousins at
Felton . Billy Pigg, the celebrated Northumbrian piper played 'Derwentwater's Farewell' especially for her. The novel shows her typical thorough research of events and places, though the accents are a little wayward. Anya Seton said that her greatest debt of all was to Miss Amy Flagg of Westoe Village inSouth Shields , her father's birthplace.Notable works
*"
My Theodosia " (1941)
*"Dragonwyck" (1944)
*"The Turquoise" (1946)
*"The Hearth and the Eagle " (1948)
*"Foxfire" (1950)
*"Katherine" (1954)
*"The Mistletoe and the Sword " (1956)
*"The Winthrop Woman" (1958)
*"Devil Water" (1962)
*"Avalon" (1965)
*"Green Darkness " (1972)
*"Smouldering Fires " (1975)
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