By Horror Haunted

CELIA FREMLIN (1914-2009) was born in Kent and spent her childhood in Hertfordshire. She then studied at the University of Oxford whilst working as a charwoman. During the Second World War, she served as an air-raid warden before becoming involved with the Mass Observation Project, collaborating on a study of women workers, War Factory. In 1942 she married Elia Goller, moved to Hampstead and had three children. In 1968, their youngest daughter, aged nineteen, took her own life; a month later, her husband did the same. In the wake of these tragedies, Fremlin briefly relocated to Geneva. In 1985, she married Leslie Minchin, with whom she lived until his death in 1999. Over four decades, Fremlin wrote sixteen celebrated novels - including the classic seaside mystery Uncle Paul and Christmas noir The Long Shadow - as well as one book of poetry and three story collections. Her debut, The Hours Before Dawn, won the Edgar Award in 1960.