author
Sylvia Townsend Warner
1893–1978
Best known for the quietly radical novel Lolly Willowes, this English writer built a body of work that moves with ease between fiction, poetry, and music scholarship. Her books are sharp, imaginative, and often full of sly humor.
2 Audiobooks
Lolly Willowes : or, the loving huntsman
by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The espalier
by Sylvia Townsend Warner
About the author
Born in Harrow, England, on December 6, 1893, Sylvia Townsend Warner became an unusually versatile literary figure: novelist, poet, short-story writer, and musicologist. Before turning fully to fiction, she worked on the scholarly edition Tudor Church Music, a background that helped shape the precision and range of her writing.
Her first novel, Lolly Willowes (1926), quickly established her reputation, and she went on to write books including Mr Fortune’s Maggot, Summer Will Show, The Corner That Held Them, and the later story collection Kingdoms of Elfin. Across her work, she is often noted for her independence of mind, her wit, and her willingness to approach serious ideas through fantasy, history, and satire.
Warner spent much of her later life in Dorset and had a long partnership with the poet Valentine Ackland. She died on May 1, 1978. Though never quite a conventional literary celebrity, she has remained admired for writing that feels both elegant and daring.