Hilda Lewis

Hilda Winifred Lewis (1896–1974) was a British author of historical and children's fiction.

Biography

She was born Hilda Winifred Maizels in Whitechapel, London in 1896.[1] Her father, Joseph Maizels, was a Jewish jeweler and silversmith who had immigrated to England from Kalisz, Poland;[2] he married her mother, Deborah Lipman, in London in 1893.[3]

Lewis originally worked as a teacher, but started writing when she moved to Nottingham in the 1920s.[4]

Most of her works were historical novels, some of which, such as I Am Mary Tudor (1972), received critical attention. Her young adult historical novel The Gentle Falcon, was adapted for television.[5]

She also wrote a noted children's book, The Ship that Flew (1939) which concerns Norse mythology and time travel.

The 1946 novel The Day is Ours about a young deaf girl was the basis of the film Mandy. The novel in turn was inspired by the work of her husband Professor M. Michael Lewis who was a specialist in the education of the deaf at the University of Nottingham.[6]

Most of Lewis' works are out of print; however, a number are available either in print or as e-books. The Ship that Flew was republished in the Oxford Children's Modern Classics series in 1998. Four of her young adult novels, Harold Was My King, Here Comes Harry, The Ship That Flew and The Gentle Falcon are available as interactive ebooks in iTunes and Amazon from Beebliome Books.[7][8] Wife to Charles II and I, Jacqueline are available in The Book People's historical fiction paperback collection. The Witch and the Priest (1956), a horror novel about the seventeenth century Lincolnshire witch trials is freely available in Dennis Wheatley's paperback Library of the Occult.[9] A number of works are being made available by The History Press.[4][10] In 2013, Valancourt Books reissued The Witch and the Priest with an introduction by Alison Weir. Bromley House Library published a reprint of Penny Lace in 2011.[4]

Selected works
  • The Ship that Flew (1939)
  • The Day Is Ours (1946) – Formed the basis of the screenplay of the 1952 film Mandy.
  • The Gentle Falcon (1952)
  • The Witch and the Priest (1956)
  • I, Jacqueline (1957)
  • Penny Lace (1957), reprint 2011
  • Wife to Great Buckingham (1959)
  • Here Comes Harry (1960)
  • Wife to Charles II (1965)
  • Wife to the Bastard (1966)
  • Harold Was My King (1968)
  • Harlot Queen (1970), about Isabella of France[11]
  • I Am Mary Tudor (1972)
  • Rose of England (1977 – published posthumously)
  • Heart of a Rose (1978 – published posthumously)

References
  1. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915.
  2. UK Naturalisation Certificates and Declarations, 1870-1916.
  3. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915.
  4. "Hilda's long-forgotten novel about city's lace trade is back in print". Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  5. The Gentle Falcon at IMDb
  6. "Literary and Personal Papers of Hilda Lewis, (1896-1974), novelist". Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  7. Mercy Pilkington. "Beebliome Develops Interactive History Novelizations for YA Readers". Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  8. "Beebliome Library". Beebliome Books. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  9. Marion Gibson, Rediscovering Renaissance Witchcraft. Routledge, 2017 ISBN 1351375393 (pp. 85-88)
  10. "Search results for 'hilda lewis'". Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  11. "Novels of the Late 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries in Europe". HistoricalNovels.info. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
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