Marjorie Bowen

Writing as Marjorie Bowen, Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long (née Campbell) was a British author born on November 1, 1885, on Hayling Island in Hampshire, and she died on December 23, 1952. She published widely in historical romance, supernatural fiction, popular history, and biography, and also used other pen names including Joseph Shearing, George R. Preedy, Robert Paye, John Winch, and Margaret Campbell.

Her career began strikingly early: The Viper of Milan, written when she was still a teenager, became a bestseller and helped launch a remarkably productive writing life. Sources also describe her as largely self-taught, with a difficult early upbringing that fed a lifelong habit of reading and learning.

Today, she is often remembered both for her vivid historical novels and for ghostly, uncanny stories that have continued to be reprinted long after her lifetime. That mix of storytelling range and sheer productivity has made her an enduring rediscovery for readers of gothic, historical, and classic popular fiction.