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When she first published The Viper of Milan in 1906, Margaret Campbell was just 16 years old.
No one, least of all Campbell, her family or their friends could have imagined that it would go on to be as successful as it was.
She went on to write over 150 works in her career, including historical romances and supernatural horror stories, as well as popular history books and biographies.
The Debate Continues is her autobiography, acknowledging her most well-known pseudonym: Marjorie Bowen.
It spans elements of her personal life such as her childhood spent in poverty, her complex relationships with her family as well as her two marriages, before reaching the present, 1938 at the time of writing.
It also serves as an excellent reflection of the difficulties faced by women writers in the early twentieth century and explains how she came to publish so many works in genres where she believed she was unable to truly fulfil her potential.
Born to affluent parents who had squandered their wealth, Campbell and her sister grew up in poverty, moving addresses every few months to various different parts of London and occasionally the countryside.
Campbell's alcoholic father left when she was still very young and she spent much of her early life being held at a distance by her playwright mother.
She spent much time among her mother's bohemian theatre set who she despised, withdrawing instead into her own isolated world of writing.
She describes herself as neither pretty nor charming and as such was continuously discouraged by her mother and her theatre friends.
Being from a family who could not afford to fund studies, Campbell was primarily self-educated and even when her first novel was published to measurable success; many doubted she had written it herself.
This autobiography explores in depth the relationship between poverty and familial dependence. Her mother who had all but ignored her throughout childhood went on to resent her success, while still expecting her to be the family's sole financial provider. Even after marrying and having children of her own, Campbell was still providing for her mother, sister and various members of the theatre set.
These memoirs capture the desperation of a family living in poverty and the great lengths Campbell went to in order to prevent them ever returning to that state.
Praise for Marjorie Bowen:
"A book remarkable alike for its vividness and for its historical perspective" DAILY EXPRESS
"... one of the most novel features of Miss Bowen's book is the care she takes to see the point of view of Mary's lovers. She makes a plausible case for Bothwell and even joins the very select band of those who have something good to say for Darnley" TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
"Fresh, vivid, exciting and enthralling... This is a fine book" THE SPHERE
"A book in every way worthwhile... as an individual contribution to the subject, Miss Bowen's work is of the exceptional class" THE SCOTSMAN
Born in 1885, Marjorie Bowen (pseudonym of Margaret Gabrielle Vere Campbell Long) was one of Britain's most prolific authors of the twentieth century. Writing was more than just a hobby: her works were the primary source of financial support for her family. Between 1906 and her death in 1952, Bowen wrote over 150 books, garnering much acclaim for her popular histories and historical and gothic romances. Alongside masterful descriptions and concise, efficient prose, she deftly rendered larger-than-life subjects in the minds of her readers. To this day, aficionados of the genres covet Bowen's work.
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