Norma Octavia Lorimer (1864–1948) was a Scots novelist and travel writer, who has been called "One of the most notable early female novelists of the Isle of Man."[1]
Biography
editLorimer was born in Auchterarder, Perthshire,[2] the eighth and youngest daughter in a family of eleven.[3] She was raised on the Isle of Man,[2] to which "she returned to in her fiction, showing clearly that she had 'lost her heart' to the South of the Island."[1]
In the 1890s she became secretary to Douglas Sladen, with whom she wrote book two of Queer Things about Sicily (Sicily from a Woman's Point of View).[2] She contributed to the Girl's Own Paper and wrote numerous travel books and 26 "rather sentimental novels."[2] "Perhaps her best book was On Etna," her novel A Wife out of Egypt became a best-seller.[3] "The grand sweep of emotions in her Manx novels offers a fresh colouring to the history and scenery of the South of the Island whilst demonstrating the variance and colour to Manx novels."[1]
Lorimer died on 14 February 1948, in Perth, Scotland.[3]
Adaptations
edit- The 1919 American silent film Woman, Woman! is based on Lorimer's 1915 novel On Desert Altars.
- The 1921 American film The Lure of Egypt is based on Lorimer's 1922 novel There was a King in Egypt.
- The 1924 British film Shadow of Egypt is based on Lorimer's 1923 novel The Shadow of Egypt.
Publications
editTravel books
edit- By the Waters of Sicily (1901)
- Sicily from a Woman's Point of View (1905)
- More Queer Things about Japan (1905) (with Douglas Sladen)
- By the Waters of Carthage (1906)
- By the Waters of Italy (1910)
- Queer Things about Sicily (1913) (with Douglas Sladen)
- By the Waters of Egypt (1913)
- By the Waters of Germany (1914)
- By the Waters of Africa (1917)
- The Mediterranean and Beyond (1921)
Novels
edit- A Sweet Disorder (1896)
- Josiah's Wife (1898)
- Mirry-Anne: A Manx Story (1900)
- On Etna (1904)
- The Second Woman. A Novel (1912)
- A Wife out of Egypt (1913)
- On Desert Altars (1915)
- The God's Carnival (1916)
- With Other Eyes (1919)
- Catherine Sterling (1920)
- A Mender of Images. A Novel (1921)
- The Path of Love (1921)
- There Was a King in Egypt (1922)
- The False Dawn (1923)
- White Sanctuary (1924)
- Alec's Mother: A Novel (1925)
- The Shadow of Egypt (1925)
- The Yoke of Affection (1926)
- The Pagan Woman (1927)
- The End of the Matter (1928)
- Moslem Jane (1929)
- Alone (1931)
- Millstones (1932)
- False Value (1933)
- The Story of Isobel Lennox (1935)
- Where Ignorance is Bliss (1938)
References
edit- ^ a b c "Norma Lorimer". Manx Literature. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d Kemp, Sandra; Mitchell, Charlotte; Trotter, David, eds. (2005). The Oxford Companion to Edwardian Fiction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191727382. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
- ^ a b c "The Late Miss Norma Lorimer". The Perthshire Advertiser, etc. 18 February 1948. p. 5. Retrieved 11 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.