Historical Fiction Simpson, Helen de Guerry: Saraband for Dead Lovers. V1. 8 Jan 2009

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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.
Wikipedia

Everyone knows, who has tried it, that history will not fit into fiction without some little adjustment here and there, a tampering with the letter in order that the spirit may have a better chance. Such adjustments have been made throughout this book, and may easily be discovered by the historian; but I hope he will not find that violence has been done to any essential truth.
H. S.
Queen Anne Street, W.I
November, 1934

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