Background
She is the daughter of James Fawcett, and his wife Frances Beatrice Lowe.
She is the daughter of James Fawcett, and his wife Frances Beatrice Lowe.
Her maternal grandparents, who were American, were palaeographer Elias Avery Lowe and translator Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter. Elias was an Eastern European Jewish immigrant to the United States, while Helen was from Pennsylvania. She read English at Oxford University, and was the first married female undergraduate at Lady Margaret Hall.
She was awarded a second class honours degree.