Ursula Torday was born on 19 February 1912 (some sources say his birth in 1888 or 1914) in London, England, UK, daughter of mixed parents, her mother was Scottish and her father was Hungarian. She studied at Kensington High School in London, before went to the Oxford University, where she obtained a BA in English at Lady Margaret Hall College, and later a Social Science Certificate at London School of Economics.
In 1930s, she published her first three novels with her real name, Ursula Torday. During the World War II she worked as a probation officer for the Citizen's Advice Bureau, and during the next seven years afterwars, she also running a refugee scheme for Jewish children, inspiration for several of her future novels like, The Briar Patch (aka Young Lucifer) and The Children (aka Wednesday's Children) as Charity Blackstock. She worked as a typist at the National Central Library in London, inspiration for her future novel Dewey Death as Charity Blackstock. She also teaching English to adult students.
She returned to publishing in early 1950s, using the pseudonyms of Paula Allardyce, Charity Blackstock (in some cases reedited as Lee Blackstock in USA), to sign her gothic romance and mistery novels, later she also used the pseudonym of Charlotte Keppel. Her novel Miss Fenny (aka The Woman in the Woods) as Charity or Lee Blackstock was nominated for Edgar Award. In 1961, her novel Witches' Sabbath won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Ursula Torday passed away in 1997.
44 works Add another?
Most Editions | First Published | Most Recent
-
A House Possessed
5 editions - first published in 1961 -
The Foggy, Foggy Dew
4 editions - first published in 1958 -
The Bitter Conquest
4 editions - first published in 1959 -
The briar patch
3 editions - first published in 1960 -
Monkey on a chain
3 editions - first published in 1965 -
The lonely strangers
3 editions - first published in 1972 Borrow -
The knock at midnight
2 editions - first published in 1966 -
The daughter
2 editions - first published in 1970 -
Dewey death
2 editions - first published in 1956 -
The shirt front =
2 editions - first published in 1977 -
The gallant
2 editions - first published in 1962 -
Mr. Christopoulos
2 editions - first published in 1963 -
The exorcism
2 editions - first published in 1959 -
When the sun goes down
2 editions - first published in 1965 -
Miss Philadelphia Smith
2 editions - first published in 1977 -
The encounter
2 editions - first published in 1971 Borrow -
Ghost town
2 editions - first published in 1976 Borrow -
People in glass houses
2 editions - first published in 1975 Borrow -
The Factor's Wife
1 edition - first published in 1964 -
Haunting me
1 edition - first published in 1979 -
Witches' Sabbath
1 edition - first published in 1961 -
Miss Fenny
1 edition - first published in 1957 -
The shadow of murder
1 edition - first published in 1959 -
The English wife
1 edition - first published in 1964 -
Woman in the Woods
1 edition - first published in 1978 -
All men are murderers
1 edition - first published in 1958 -
Waiting at the church
1 edition - first published in 1968 -
The Children
1 edition - first published in 1966 -
The jungle
1 edition - first published in 1972 -
The children
1 edition - first published in 1966 -
Miss Jonas's boy
1 edition - first published in 1972 -
Dream towers
1 edition - first published in 1981 -
People in Glass Houses (Firecrest Books)
1 edition - first published in 1989 -
The foggy, foggy dew
1 edition - first published in 1978 -
I met murder on the way
1 edition - first published in 1977 -
Miss Charley
1 edition - first published in 1979 -
Wednesday's children
1 edition - first published in 1967 -
Young Lucifer
1 edition - first published in 1960 -
Octavia
1 edition - first published in 1965 -
The melon in the cornfield
1 edition - first published in 1969 -
Six passengers for the Sweet Bird
1 edition - first published in 1967 -
Eliza
1 edition - first published in 1975 Borrow -
The lemmings
1 edition - first published in 1969 Borrow -
Witches' sabbath
1 edition - first published in 1962 Borrow
Subjects
People
Links (outside Open Library)
No links yet. Add one?
Alternative names
- Ursula Torday
- Paula Allardyce
- Charity Blackstock
- Lee Blackstock
- Charlotte Keppel
History Created April 1, 2008 · 6 revisions
| July 27, 2012 | Edited by E-Romance | Edited without comment. |
| July 27, 2012 | Edited by E-Romance | Added new photo |
| July 8, 2012 | Edited by E-Romance | Edited without comment. |
| July 8, 2012 | Edited by E-Romance | merge authors |
| April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | initial import |