Dorothy Eden (1912 – 1982)

She attended Ashburton Technical School, which she left at age 16 to begin work as a legal secretary. Before she published her first novel, The Singing Shadows, in 1940, Dorothy wrote children’s stories, magazine articles, and other short stories for publications such as Redbook, the Farmer’s Journal, and the New Zealand Mirror.

Following a round-world trip, she moved to England in 1954. She continued to write until she died of cancer on March 4th, 1982. In 1980, two years before her death, she was declared to be one of ten best-selling authors in the world. Over her prolific career as an author, Dorothy Eden published over 40 novels. The majority of her works, full of apprehension and mystery, fall into the Gothic and historical genres. Her novels have been translated into many different languages, and as of 2018, 29 of her novels were a part of the Ashburton Museum’s collection. A master of the art of suspense, Dorothy blends romance and tension into novels filled with captivating plots and highly intricate characters.