Naomi Mitchison (Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison) Biography

British novelist, born in Edinburgh, educated at St Anne's College, Oxford. Her brother was J. B. S. Haldane. She married G. R. Mitchison, barrister and later Labour MP and a life peer, and became active in many progressive causes. Mitchison is best known for her early historical novels, including The Conquered (1923), Cloud Cuckoo Land (1925), The Corn King and the Spring Queen (1931), The Blood of the Martyrs (1939) and To the Chapel Perilous (1955). Her historical novels are notable for bold use of modern language and their considerable psychological insights. Memoirs of a Spacewoman (1962) is one of her best science fiction novels. She has also published biographies; short story collections; memoirs such as Small Talk: Memories of an Edwardian Childhood (1973), You May Well Ask: A Memoir 1920–1940 (1979), and Mucking Around: Five Continents Over Fifty Years (1981); and The Wartime Diaries of Naomi Mitchison 1933–45 (1985), which was originally written for Mass-Observation.