Meriol Trevor (15 April 1919 – 12 January 2000) was a British Roman Catholic writer of children's books, historical novels and biographies. Her two-volume biography of Cardinal Newman won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1963.
Biography
[edit]Meriol Trevor was born in London and grew up in Kent and Cambridge.[1] She was educated at Perse Girls' School, Cambridge and St Hugh's College, Oxford, where she studied classics and philosophy.[2] After graduating from Oxford in 1942, she took several temporary jobs before going to Italy after the war to help with reconstruction.[1] After encountering Catholic culture in Italy, she became a Roman Catholic in 1950.[2]
Her children's books strongly reflect her Catholic faith, presenting themes of conflict and redemption often in mythic form. A number of her historical novels are set in Romano-Britain and early Christian Europe.[2] Her two-volume biography of Cardinal Newman, Newman: The Pillar of Cloud and Newman: Light in Winter, published in 1962, received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography.[3]
From the 1960s, Trevor lived in Bath, Somerset.[2] In 1967 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[1]
Bibliography
[edit]Novels
[edit]- The Last of Britain (1956)
- The New People (1957)
- A Narrow Place (1958)
- Shadows and Images (1960)
- The City and the World (1970)
- The Holy Images (1971)
- The Two Kingdoms (1973)
- The Fugitives (1973) (Luxembourg series 1)
- The Marked Man (1974) (Luxembourg series 2)
- The Enemy at Home (1974) (Luxembourg series 3)
- The Forgotten Country (1975) (Luxembourg series 4)
- The Treacherous Paths (1976) (Luxembourg series 5)
- The Fortunate Marriage (1976) (Warstowe Series 1)
- The Civil Prisoners (1977) (Warstowe Series 2)
- The Fortunes of Peace (1978) (Luxembourg series 6)
- The Wanton Fires(1979) (Warstowe Series 3)
- The Sun with a Face (1982) (Warstowe Series 4)
- The Golden Palaces (1986)
Books for children
[edit]- The Forest and the Kingdom (1949) (World Dionysius Novels 1)
- Hunt the King, Hide the Fox (1950) (World Dionysius Novels 2)
- The Fires and the Stars (1951) (World Dionysius Novels 3)
- Sun Slower, Sun Faster (1955)
- The Treasure Hunt (1957)
- Merlin's Ring (1957)
- The Other Side of the Moon (1957)
- The Caravan War (1958)
- The Sparrow Child (1958)
- Four Odd Ones (1958)
- William's Wild Day Out (1963)
- The Rose Round (1963)
- The Midsummer Maze (1964)
- Lights in a Dark Town (1964)
- The King of the Castle (1966)
- The Crystal Snowstorm (1997) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 1)
- Following the Phoenix (1998) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 2)
- Angel and Dragon (1999) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 3)
- The Rose and Crown (1999) (Letzenstein Chronicles Book 4)
Poetry
[edit]- Midsummer, Midwinter and Other Poems (1957)
Nonfiction
[edit]- Newman: The Pillar of the Cloud (1962)
- Newman: Light in Winter (1962)
- Newman Today (1963) (23-page Catholic Truth Society pamphlet)
- Newman: A Portrait Restored. An Ecumenical Revaluation (with John Coulson and A.M. Allchin) (1965)
- Apostle of Rome: A Life of St Philip Neri, 1515-1595 (1966)
- Pope John (1967); new edition Pope John: Blessed John XXIII (2000)
- Prophets and Guardians: Renewal and Tradition in the Church (1969)
- The Arnolds: Thomas Arnold and His Family (1973)
- Newman's Journey (1974)
- The Shadow of a Crown: The Life Story of James II of England and VII of Scotland (1988)
- John Henry Newman: Apostle to the Doubtful (with Leonie Caldecott) (2001)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Meriol Trevor". Bethlehem Books. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
- ^ a b c d Matthews, Caitlin (31 January 2000). "Meriol Trevor". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
- ^ "Biography winners". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
External links
[edit]- 1989 Interview with Meriol Trevor
- Meriol Trevor at Bethlehem Books
- 5th Meriol Trevor Lecture
- Obituary—in The Guardian, 31 Jan. 2000.
- Works by Meriol Trevor at Open Library
- Meriol Trevor at Library of Congress, with 39 library catalogue records