author
Enid Bagnold
1889–1981
Best known for the beloved horse story National Velvet, this British writer also built a notable career as a playwright. Her work moves easily between sharp observation, emotional honesty, and a lively interest in how people behave under pressure.
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 spent part of her childhood in Jamaica before being educated in England and France. During the First World War she worked as a nurse, and that experience fed directly into some of her early writing, including the memoir A Diary Without Dates.
She went on to write novels, plays, and memoirs, but remains especially famous for National Velvet (1935), the story that later became a much-loved film. Another of her best-known works is the play The Chalk Garden, which helped confirm her reputation as a writer with a strong feel for character, dialogue, and family tension.
Bagnold died in London on March 31, 1981. Across a long career, she earned lasting attention for writing that could be graceful and witty on the surface while still asking difficult questions about ambition, youth, independence, and the private lives people try to hide.