Isabel Colegate was born in 1931 in London and was educated at Runton Hill School in Norfolk. In 1952 she went into partnership with Anthony Blond, who was then starting a literary agency and would go on to found a publishing house, and in 1953 she married Michael Briggs, with whom she has a daughter and two sons. Colegate’s first novel, The Blackmailer, was published in 1958 and was followed by twelve more novels and one work of non-fiction. Her bestselling novel The Shooting Party won the W.H. Smith Literary Award and was adapted for a now-classic 1985 film. She has written reviews for the Spectator, Daily Telegraph and Times Literary Supplement. Isabel Colegate was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1981. She lives in Somerset.

Ought to be a household name

Isabel Colegate was born in 1931 in London and was educated at Runton Hill School in Norfolk. In 1952 she went into partnership with Anthony Blond, who was then starting a literary agency and would go on to found a publishing house, and in 1953 she married Michael Briggs, with whom she has a daughter and two sons. Colegate’s first novel, The Blackmailer, was published in 1958 and was followed by twelve more novels and one work of non-fiction. Her bestselling novel The Shooting Party won the W.H. Smith Literary Award and was adapted for a now-classic 1985 film. She has written reviews for the Spectator, Daily Telegraph and Times Literary Supplement. Isabel Colegate was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1981. She lives in Somerset.

Ought to be a household name

Isabel Colegate was born in 1931 in London and was educated at Runton Hill School in Norfolk. In 1952 she went into partnership with Anthony Blond, who was then starting a literary agency and would go on to found a publishing house, and in 1953 she married Michael Briggs, with whom she has a daughter and two sons. Colegate’s first novel, The Blackmailer, was published in 1958 and was followed by twelve more novels and one work of non-fiction. Her bestselling novel The Shooting Party won the W.H. Smith Literary Award and was adapted for a now-classic 1985 film. She has written reviews for the Spectator, Daily Telegraph and Times Literary Supplement. Isabel Colegate was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1981. She lives in Somerset.

Ought to be a household name