author
Enid Bagnold
1889–1981
Best known for the much-loved story National Velvet, this British writer also built a remarkable career as a novelist, playwright, and diarist. Her life moved from Jamaica and wartime nursing to London literary fame, giving her work both sparkle and grit.
2 Audiobooks
A Diary Without Dates
by Enid Bagnold
The Happy Foreigner
by Enid Bagnold
About the author
Born in Rochester, Kent, on October 27, 1889, Enid Bagnold grew up partly in Jamaica as the daughter of an army officer, then was educated in England and France. During the First World War she worked as a nurse, and those experiences fed into some of her earliest writing.
She became known for her range: novels, plays, memoir-like works, and diaries. Her best-known book is National Velvet (1935), the lively horse story that became a bestseller and later inspired a famous film. She also won lasting attention as a playwright, especially for The Chalk Garden.
Bagnold married Sir Roderick Jones of Reuters in 1920 and moved in prominent social circles, but her writing never stayed neatly in one world or mood. She had a gift for combining elegance with sharp observation, and she remained an active literary figure until late in life. She died in London on March 31, 1981.