Phyllis Bentley Biography

British novelist, born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College and the University of London. She wrote nearly thirty books, including nineteen novels, many of them set in the West Riding of Yorkshire, including Environment (1922), her first novel, and Carr (1929). Success first came with Inheritance (1932), which began a saga about the Oldroyd family of mill owners covering several decades beginning with the Industrial Revolution; the last in the series was A Man of His Time (1966). A Modern Tragedy (1934) reflects the Depression of the 1930s; and Manhold (1941) moves back to the eighteenth century. Later works include the novel Sheep May Safely Graze (1972), and a collection of Tales of West Riding (1974). She also wrote extensively about the Brontë family, in such works as The Brontës (1947), The Young Brontës (1960), and The Brontës and Their World (1969), and edited the Heather edition of their works. Her autobiography, O Dreams, O Destinations, appeared in 1962.