Norah Burke

Norah Burke (2 August 1907 – 1 March 1976) was a British novelist , non- fiction[1] and travel writer famous for her descriptions of life in India during the early 20th century. She also wrote romances under the pseudonyms Andre Lamour and Paul LeStrange.

Norah Burke
Born
Norah Aileen Burke

2 August 1907
Bedford
Died1 March 1976
Suffolk
NationalityBritish
Other namesN. A. Walrond, Norah Walrond (after marriage); Andre Lamour and Paul LeStrange (pseudonyms)
OccupationWriter

Early life

Norah Aileen Burke was born in Bedford, and moved to India when she was a baby. Her mother Aileen Marion Wrench Burke was born in India, while her father was an engineer with the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Her father, Redmond St. George Burke, was a forest officer in India at her early childhood.[2] As a girl in India,[3] she wrote and edited her own little magazine,The Monthly Dorrit. She returned to England in 1919 to attend a school in Devonshire.[4]

Career

Fiction

Burke lived near Sudbury, in Suffolk, as a young woman. Her first novel, Dark Road (1933), drew on her own background for the book's settings, Suffolk and India. Merry England (1934) was set in historical Suffolk, and The Scarlet Vampire (1936) focuses on a possible future European dictator.[4] Her next few novels, romances, appeared during the war and post-war years.[5] In the New York Times, Nancie Matthews admired Burke's "engaging sense of humor" and "genuine warmth of human sympathy", and declared The Splendour Falls (1953) to be "lightly handled, witty yet thoughtful".[6]

Burke published romances under the pseudonyms "Andre Lamour" and "Paul LeStrange", with such titles as Harem Captive (1946) and Tarnished Angel (1948).[4] Her short stories were published widely from the 1930s into the 1960s, especially in The Australian Women's Weekly,[7][8][9][10] and some are still anthologized and taught in schools.[11][12] She also wrote a 1958 episode of the Canadian television series On Camera.[13]

Travel writing and translations

Burke was also a travel writer. She collaborated with her father on a book about camp life in the Indian jungles, Jungle Days (1935). She returned to the theme in her memoir Jungle Child (1956),[14] and in travel books Tiger Country (1965) and Eleven Leopards (1965).[5] She also wrote about wildlife in King Todd (1963, a "biography" of a badger),[15] Fire in the Forest and The Midnight Forest (1966).[4]

Personal life

Burke married Henry Humphrey R. Methwold Walrond (1904–1987), a lawyer, in 1931. They had two sons, Timothy (born 1936) and Humphrey (born 1938).[2] She lived for many years at Thorne Court, in Cockfield, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.[16] She died in 1976, aged 68 years, in Suffolk.

Selected bibliography
  • Dark Road (1933)[17]
  • Merry England (1934)[18]
  • Jungle Days (1935, with Redmond St. George Burke)[19]
  • The Scarlet Vampire (1936)[20]
  • Dreams Come True (1943)[21]
  • The Awakened Heart (1944)
  • Gold Temple Bells (1949)
  • Hazelwood (1953, also known as The Splendour Falls)[22]
  • Not As Others (1956)
  • Jungle Child (1956)[23]
  • Jungle Picture (1960)[24]
  • King Todd (1963)[15]
  • Eleven Leopards: A Journey Through The Jungles Of Ceylon (1965)[25]
  • Tiger Country (1965)
  • Fire in the Forest
  • The Midnight Forest: A True Story Of Wild Animals (1966)[26]

As Andre Lamour
  • Harem Captive (1946)
  • Desert Passion (1947)
  • Dusky Bridegroom (1947)
  • No Wedding Ring (1948)
  • Pin-Up for Michael (1948)
  • Take My Love! (1948)

As Paul LeStrange
  • Slave to Passion (1948)
  • Tarnished Angel (1948)

References
  1. Treasure Trove: A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories. 4738/23, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi- 110002, India: Evergreen Publications (INDIA) Ltd. 2020. p. 92. ISBN 9789350637005.CS1 maint: location (link)
  2. "Person Page: Norah Aileen Burke". The Peerage. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  3. Scarborough, Katherine (12 February 1956). "A Magic Childhood in India's Jungle". The Baltimore Sun. p. 87. Retrieved 14 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Holland, Steve. (11 April 2015), "Norah Burke" Bear Alley Books; blog post about the author.
  5. "British & Irish Women Writers of Fiction 1910-1960 (Bre - By)". FURROWED MIDDLEBROW. 1 January 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  6. Matthews, Nancie (3 June 1954). "England Carries On". The New York Times. p. BR24 – via ProQuest.
  7. Burke, Norah (4 August 1934). "Treasure of Akhava". The Australian Women's Weekly. p. 11. Retrieved 14 March 2020 – via Trove.
  8. Burke, Norah (28 November 1948). "Purple Gloves". The Australian Women's Weekly. p. 5. Retrieved 14 March 2020 – via Trove.
  9. Burke, Norah (27 August 1952). "The Pearl". The Australian Women's Weekly. p. 5. Retrieved 14 March 2020 – via Trove.
  10. Burke, Norah (24 May 1961). "Dangerous Visitor". The Australian Women's Weekly. p. 25. Retrieved 14 March 2020 – via Trove.
  11. Burke, Norah. "My Brother, My Brother", in V. Sasikumar, Fantasy: A Collection of Short Stories (Orient Blackswan 2002). ISBN 9788125022374
  12. Burke, Norah. "Gajpati and the Baby" in M L Tickoo, M P Bhaskaran, Shanta Rameshwar Rao, editors, Gul Mohar Reader-7 (Orient Longman 2005): . ISBN 9788125028819
  13. "On Camera". The Ottawa Journal. 12 April 1958. p. 10. Retrieved 14 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. North, Sterling (5 February 1956). "Norah Burke's Book Tells Vivid and Memorable Tale of Jungle". The Knoxville Journal. p. 40. Retrieved 14 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. Nye, Robert (29 November 1963). "In the Night Forest". The Guardian. p. 14. Retrieved 14 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "'Ghost' Plays Organ". The Ottawa Citizen. 14 November 1947. p. 16. Retrieved 14 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. Burke, Norah (1933). Dark road. Stanley Paul & Company.
  18. "'Merry England' by Norah Burke". V and A Collections. 14 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  19. Burke, R St. George.; Burke, Norah (1935). Jungle days; a book of big-game hunting. London: S. Paul & co. ltd.
  20. Burke, Norah (1936). The Scarlet Vampire. Stanley Paul & Company.
  21. Burke, Norah (1942). Dream Come True.
  22. Burke, Norah (1953). The splendour falls. New York: Morrow.
  23. Burke, Norah; Norah Eileen Burke (1956). Jungle Child. With 32 photos. New York: W.W. Norton.
  24. Burke, Norah. Jungle Picture. Allied Publishers.
  25. Burke, Norah (1965). Eleven leopards; a journey through the jungles of Ceylon. London: Jarrolds.
  26. Burke, Norah (1966). The Midnight Forest: A True Story of Wild Animals. Jarrolds.
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