
author
1883–1941
A prolific early 20th-century British novelist who wrote as Joan Conquest, she built a long career around popular fiction and historical imagination. Behind the pen name was Mary Eliza Louise Cooke, a writer whose books still surface for readers interested in forgotten women authors.

by Joan Conquest

by Joan Conquest

by Joan Conquest

by Joan Conquest
Writing under the name Joan Conquest, Mary Eliza Louise Cooke was a British author born in 1883 and died in 1941. Reader and catalog sources identify Joan Conquest as her pseudonym, and surviving records of her work show a substantial output of novels across the early decades of the 20th century.
Her books include titles such as The Village Pompadour, and her reputation today rests largely on the rediscovery of lesser-known women writers from that period. Modern interest in her life appears in literary and women's-history research that pieces together the story behind the name and the career.
Although detailed biographical information is limited in the sources available here, Joan Conquest stands out as one of many once-popular novelists whose work offers a glimpse into the tastes and publishing world of her time.