Marjorie Bowen

Marjorie Bowen (pseudonym of Mrs Gabrielle Margaret V[ere] Long née Campbell) was a British author who wrote historical romances, supernatural horror stories, popular history and biography (<a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Bowen>Wikipedia</a>). She was born in Hayling Island, Hampshire, and raised in London in straitened circumstances. Her birth name was **Gabrielle Margaret Campbell**—and despite the many pen names she used, and two marriages (in 1912 and 1917—she’s sometimes listed as Mrs Long) —she always regarded herself as **Margaret Campbell**. Her mother strove to earn a living from writing with magazine stories, plays and novels, but only just scraped through. Young Margaret seemed to have a gift for it and though her first novel, *The Viper of Milan*, was rejected by many publishers, it eventually appeared in 1906 and was an immediate success. The name **Marjorie Bowen** was imposed upon her to avoid confusion with her mother’s work, even though her mother wrote as Josephine Campbell. Bowen also wrote as **George R. Preedy**, **Joseph Shearing**, **Robert Paye**, **John Winch** and, for her autobiography, Margaret Campbell.