Beatrice Seymour

September 1, 1886 (age 69)

London, Greater London, United Kingdom

Her obituary in The Times described her as skilled at portraying English domestic life. She began her professional life as a writer of short stories for magazines. However, at the suggestion of an editor, she reworked one of her unpublished short stories into her first novel, Invisible Tides, subsequently writing over 30 books during a career that spanned more than three decades. Her novels were published almost annually until shortly before her death from heart problems in 1955. Seymour believed that the role of the novelist is to help readers think through their emotions. She saw the novel as far superior to the short story as a vehicle for conveying social ideas. Some British reviewers reportedly considered Invisible Tides to be the best novel of 1920. A reviewer from The Bookman wrote that it was: "a good and moving story, brilliantly set down, having affinities, it seems to us, with Jude the Obscure on the one hand and with Mr. McKenna"s Sonia on the other. Mistress Seymour is strong in characterisation, subtle and revealing in dialogue, and exquisite in her descriptions of nature, touched as they are with a fine imaginativeness". Her 1925 novel Unveiled received a glowing review in the 30 May 1925 issue of The New Yorker. But some critical responses were not so favourable. A Times Literary Supplement critic wrote of her 1927 novel Three Wives: "Had Mission Seymour compressed her novel into three-quarters its present length, it might have been a really distinguished piece of work". When she died in 1955, The Times said of her: “She had already established herself as a literary figure of importance 30 years ago and the skill and variety with which she portrayed English domestic scenes and projected them against a larger social and political background are of a high order”. More recently, her novels have been appraised as reflecting an alertness to the role of women in society.

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Photos
Works

book

Invisible Tides FACSIMILE

(High Quality FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION: Seymour, Beatrice Ke...)

Interlude for Sally (New Portway Reprints)

The Chronicles of Sally: Comprising Maids and Mistresses, Interlude for Sally and Summer of Life

False spring,

Youth rides out (Borzoi books)

False Spring

Joy As It Flies, A Novel.

(London published Fiction)

Tumbled house

Youth rides out

(1st Penguin 102 1937 edition paperback vg condition. In s...)

The Wine is Poured by Beatrice Kean Seymour

(Light wear to boards. Content is clean and bright. Good D...)

Buds Of May

Daughter to Philip

Interlude for Sally : being some further chapters in the life of Sally Dunn

Beatrice Seymour Edit Profile

novelist

Background

Beatrice Kean Seymour (née Beatrice Mary Stapleton) was born in Clapham, south London into a working-class family. Her father David was a farrier.

Education

She attended a secretarial school and was the first wife of William Kean Seymour.

Career

Her obituary in The Times described her as skilled at portraying English domestic life. She began her professional life as a writer of short stories for magazines. However, at the suggestion of an editor, she reworked one of her unpublished short stories into her first novel, Invisible Tides, subsequently writing over 30 books during a career that spanned more than three decades.

Her novels were published almost annually until shortly before her death from heart problems in 1955.

Seymour believed that the role of the novelist is to help readers think through their emotions. She saw the novel as far superior to the short story as a vehicle for conveying social ideas.

Some British reviewers reportedly considered Invisible Tides to be the best novel of 1920. A reviewer from The Bookman wrote that it was: "a good and moving story, brilliantly set down, having affinities, it seems to us, with Jude the Obscure on the one hand and with Mr.

McKenna"s Sonia on the other.

Mistress Seymour is strong in characterisation, subtle and revealing in dialogue, and exquisite in her descriptions of nature, touched as they are with a fine imaginativeness". Her 1925 novel Unveiled received a glowing review in the 30 May 1925 issue of The New Yorker.

But some critical responses were not so favourable.

A Times Literary Supplement critic wrote of her 1927 novel Three Wives: "Had Mission Seymour compressed her novel into three-quarters its present length, it might have been a really distinguished piece of work". When she died in 1955, The Times said of her: “She had already established herself as a literary figure of importance 30 years ago and the skill and variety with which she portrayed English domestic scenes and projected them against a larger social and political background are of a high order”. More recently, her novels have been appraised as reflecting an alertness to the role of women in society.