G. B. Lancaster

Edith Joan Lyttleton (1873 - 1945) was one of the most popular and successful New Zealand writers of the first half of the 20th century. Born in Tasmania, her family emigrated to New Zealand when was aged six. Though her family became wealthy through farming interests, Edith suffered from the puritanical restrictions that elite society often placed on young women during this period. She received no formal education and was forbidden by her family to use her real name when she began writing and publishing stories around the turn of last century. When she was identified as the author of a prize-winning short story which had been written under a pseudonym, she immediately changed it to G.B. Lancaster and all her subsequent fiction was published under that name. She became well known throughout Australasia as a prolific writer of short stories which were published in a variety of newspapers and magazines. This was followed by a number of short story collections and a dozen novels which were published throughout the English-speaking world. Several of her early novels were also successfully translated and published in France. She moved to London in 1909 and travelled extensively after the sale of the family estate made her financially independent. She returned to New Zealand in 1926 for four years and again in 1933, by which time she had allowed her identity to be publicly known. Lyttleton returned to London in 1938 but found herself trapped there due to the outbreak of World War II and deteriorating health. She died in a London nursing home on 10 March 1945 aged 72.

See the link to the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography below for further information.