Ten Things You Should Know About Elizabeth Jane Howard
Her mother danced with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes
Elizabeth Jane Howard was born in 1923. Her father was a timber merchant and her mother had been a dancer with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. She was always known as Jane.
She wrote her first book when she was eight
Elizabeth Jane Howard wrote her first story when she was eight and ran out of books to read. It was about the birth of Christ from the innkeeper’s point of view – what a terrible nuisance it had all been.
She worked as an actress, editor and model
Elizabeth Jane Howard thought she was unattractive and that she’d need a career because no one would want to marry her. Jane Howard worked as an actress, an editor, a book reviewer and she modeled for Vogue.
She left her first husband with just a suitcase and £10
Elizabeth Jane Howard married the naturalist Peter Scott, the son of the famous explorer, when she was 19 and she left him and their daughter with just a suitcase and £10 when Jane Howard was 23.
She won a prize with her first novel
Elizabeth Jane Howard’s first novel The Beautiful Visit was published by Jonathan Cape in 1950 and won the John Llewllyn Rhys memorial prize.
She met Kingsley Amis in 1962
Elizabeth Jane Howard was the director of Cheltenham Literature Festival in 1962 and met Kingsley Amis. Their divorce in 1983 was acrimonious but they were happy for many years.
She turned Martin Amis on to reading
Elizabeth Jane Howard’s stepson Martin Amis credits her with getting him educated and turning him on to reading by giving him Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
She wrote a five-novel sequence of chronicles
Elizabeth Jane Howard’s five novel sequence The Cazalet Chronicles is a masterpiece about the fortunes of a large family from just before the Second World War to the 1950s.
She wrote her memoir when she was 79
Elizabeth Jane Howard wrote her memoir, Slipstream, when she was 79 and it shows the extent to which she mined her own experiences to create the Cazalet girls.
She was still working at 90
Elizabeth Jane Howard remained busy, active, attractive, well dressed and inspirational all her life and, at the age of 90, she was still at her desk writing every day from 10.00am – 1.30pm.
Feature compiled by Cathy Rentzenbrink
Feature compiled by Cathy Rentzenbrink
