Liverpool, a city in western Great Britain, is the capital of Merseyside. Liverpool is renowned for its large port, as well as its culture, architecture, football, and music. This is why tourists love to visit and enjoy the beauty of Liverpool. Many prominent personalities have been born in the city: actors, singers, athletes, showbiz stars, and so on. Today, we’ll be discussing the writer Alice Thomas Ellis, who penned many novels. You can read more about the life and work of this famous Liverpudlian on the liverpoolka.com website.
About Her Childhood and Youth
Our fellow Liverpudlian was born in Liverpool in 1932. She spent some of her childhood years (during the Second World War) evacuated to North Wales. Ann Margaret (the writer’s real name) received her secondary education at Bangor Grammar School and then enrolled at Liverpool School of Art, which she later left. At 19, she converted to Catholicism and even spent six months in a convent.
Move to London and Family Life
In the 1950s, our local talent moved to London, to the Chelsea area. In her new city, she met her future husband, Colin Haycraft. The couple married in 1956 and had seven children. Sadly, Ann buried two of her children: her daughter Mary died two days after birth, and her son Joshua fell from a roof and died at the age of 19 (after being in a coma for ten months).
In 1968, her husband, along with a partner, acquired the publishing house “Gerald Duckworth and Company.” Ann became the art editor for the publishing house.
Development of Her Writing Career
In 1977, our fellow Liverpudlian wrote her first novel, “The Sin Eater,” which was published under the pseudonym Alice Thomas Ellis. All her subsequent works were written under this name. Her most famous novel is considered to be “The 27th Kingdom,” written in 1985. It was adapted for British television (the “Summer House” trilogy).
Our local talent also wrote several cookbooks. Additionally, she had a column called “Home Life” in “The Spectator,” which was republished in four volumes.
It’s worth noting that a “dark sense of humour” can be felt in her works. The writer stated that there is nothing reciprocal in the world. After all, men love women, women love children, children love hamsters… but hamsters love no one.
In 1995, the writer’s husband passed away. Ellis decided to move from London to a country house in Powys. In 1999, our fellow Liverpudlian became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Four years later, Ellis was diagnosed with lung cancer. The writer died in 2005.
Everything passes, but the word remains. That is why books are incredibly valuable in our time. If civilisation hadn’t invented books, we would know nothing about the past: how our ancestors lived, how states developed, and so on. Books help us to grow, gain necessary knowledge, and answer our questions. Thanks to books, we can intellectually relax, ponder the meaning of life, and develop imagination and fantasy. Even a single word can motivate, change consciousness, or alter one’s attitude towards a situation.
Alice Thomas Ellis is a renowned British writer who left behind a substantial body of work. She began her writing career at the age of 45, yet managed to capture the hearts of readers. And even after Alice Thomas Ellis’s passing, her works, her words, continue to live on and inspire readers.
We hope our material was informative and that you learned more about this famous writer.
Do you enjoy the work of our fellow Liverpudlian? Do you like reading novels? We look forward to your comments on social media.