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Mary Aline Mynors Farmar, CBE (June 24, 1912 - December 30, 2002), better known as Mary Wesley, was a British novelist. During her career, she became one of Britain's most successful novellists selling three million copies of her books. [1]

Born in Englefield Green, Surrey, the third child of Colonel Harold and Violet Mynors Farmar. She became an author late in life after the death of her second husband, Eric Siepmann, left her near impoverishment. She wrote two books for children before moving on to writing adult fiction. Her take on life reveals a sharp and critical eye which neatly dissects the idiosyncrasies of genteel England with humour, compassion and irony, detailing in particular sexual and emotional values.

Her best known book, The Camomile Lawn, set on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, was turned into a television series, and is an account of the intertwining lives of three families in rural England during World War II. She was honoured with a CBE in 1995.

She died of natural causes following a long battle with gout, aged 90, in Totnes, Devon.

Contents 1 Works 2 Reference 3 External links 4 See also

Novels for Children
1969 - Speaking Terms
1969 - The Sixth Seal
1983 - Haphazard House

Novels for Adults
1983 - Jumping the Queue
1984 - The Camomile Lawn
1985 - Harnessing Peacocks
1986 - The Vacillations of Poppy Carew
1987 - Not That Sort of Girl
1988 - Second Fiddle
1990 - A Sensible Life
1992 - A Dubious Legacy
1994 - An Imaginative Experience
1997 - Part of the Furniture

Autobiographical
2001 - Part of the Scenery

[1] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Oxford University Press, Jan 2006 accessed 25 June 2006

• Mary Wesley's West Country Inspiration - lady.co.uk
• Author Mary Wesley dies - BBC News
• Mary Wesley - Buzzle

Marnham, Patrick, Wild Mary: The Life of Mary Wesley, Chatto and Windus, 2006, ISBN 0-7011-79910.