Background
The elder daughter of Francis, 16th Earl of Huntingdon, by his second marriage, Hastings was educated at Saint Hugh"s College, Oxford, where she took an Master of Arts degree.
journalist literary historian writer
The elder daughter of Francis, 16th Earl of Huntingdon, by his second marriage, Hastings was educated at Saint Hugh"s College, Oxford, where she took an Master of Arts degree.
Hastings has written books including Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady (1985), Nancy Mitford (1986), The Singing Ringing Tree (1988), The Manitoba Who Wanted to Live Forever (1988), The Firebird (1995), Evelyn Waugh (1995), Beibl Lliw Y Plant (1998), Rosamond Lehmann (2002) and The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham (2010). Several of Hastings" works have received critical attention. Reviewing Nancy Mitford for The New York Times, William McBrien questioned Hastings" sparse documentation of some of the facts in the book
He praised the book for its depiction of that historical period.
Evelyn Waugh was reviewed by The New York Times, The Guardian and The Spectator. Rosamond Lehmann was reviewed in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph.
The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham was reviewed in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Hastings was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature) in 1994.