Rosalind Wade (1909–1989)

Rosalind Herschel Wade was the daughter of an army officer. She attended secondary school in London and finished her education at Bedford College. She married writer William Kean Seymour and the couple had two sons. She published her first work at the age of 22 and completed more than 20 novels altogether. Wade was one of a number of writers who congregated at David Archer's bookshop on Parton Street, London, in the mid-1930s, a so-called radical bookshop devoted to poetry and left-wing politics (Archer was one of Dylan Thomas' first publishers). She was also editor of the Contemporary Review, chair and later president (1965-1989) of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists, twice chair of the Alresford Historical and Literary Society, a founding member and vice-president of the West Country Writers Association, and a patron of young writers. Her own novels were celebrated for tackling difficult emotional issues, such as alcoholism, and for their character insight and plotting. She was also interested in ghost stories, and contributed to a number of anthologies, including After Midnight Stories (1985). Together with her husband, Rosalind Wade taught courses in writing and literature at Moor Park College at Farnham.