Penelope Mortimer

(1918-1999) was born in Wales. In 1947 her first novel, Johanna, was published and she began writing for The New Yorker. Mortimer wrote nine novels, including Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting (1958), the short story collection, Saturday Lunch with the Brownings (1960), and two volumes of memoir. Her best-known work, the semi-autobiographical novel The Pumpkin Eater (1962), was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter and made into a film starring Anne Bancroft.