Penelope Mortimer

She was a novelist and journalist, who wrote several autobiographical works, and a controversial biography of the queen Mother. She suffered from depression and mental health problems at times. She was married twice, and her second husband was John Mortimer, barrister and writer who created Rumpole of the Bailey. She had several children, but John was a very unfaithful husband and their marriage ended in divorce. In later life, she went to the USA to teach creative writing and took up gardening. One of her novels is Daddy's gone A Hunting... which is about a married, middle class woman, Ruth whose husband is selfish and unkind and unfaithful. Ruth has a breakdown, but she manages to help her 18 year old daughter, Angela, to end a pregnancy by her dull and selfish boyfriend... this was before abortion was legalised...... She thinks of leaving her husband but stays.... It is a rather bleak book.....with a very jaundiced view of men....