Anya Seton (January 23, 1904 – November 8, 1990), born Ann Seton, was an American author of historical fiction, or as she preferred they be called, "biographical novels".[1][2]
Seton was primarily educated by private tutors and graduated from Spence School, though she never attended college.[2][6] The Setons were wealthy, and Seton often traveled with her parents.[3] Despite her family's money, Seton very often moved homes. Because of this, Seton was unable to think of any place as her true home, nor any school as her true school. Ernest was often away, and even when he was around, he frequently criticized his daughter.[7]
Seton's historical novels were noted for how extensively she researched the historical facts,[8][5] and some of them were best-sellers: Dragonwyck (1944) and Foxfire (1950) were both made into Hollywood films.[2][8] Three of her books are classics in their genre and continue in their popularity to the present: Katherine (1954), the story of Katherine Swynford, the mistress and eventual wife of John of Gaunt, and their children, who were the direct ancestors of the Tudors, Stuarts, and the modern British royal family; Green Darkness (1973), the story of a modern couple plagued by their past life incarnations; and The Winthrop Woman about the notorious Elizabeth Fones, niece and daughter-in-law of John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[9] Most of her novels have been recently republished, several with forewords by Philippa Gregory. In 2003, Katherine was chosen as Britain’s 95th best-loved novel of all time in a nationwide poll conducted by the BBC.[10]
Her 1962 novel Devil Water concerns James, the luckless Earl of Derwentwater and his involvement with the Jacobite rising of 1715. She also narrates the story of his brother Charles, beheaded after the 1745 rebellion, the last man to die for the cause. The action of the novel moves back and forth between Northumberland, Tyneside, London, and the United States. Seton stated that the book developed out of her love for Northumberland. She certainly visited her Snowdon cousins at Felton. Billy Pigg, the celebrated Northumbrian piper played "Derwentwater's Farewell" especially for her. The novel shows her typical thorough research of events and places, though the accents are a little wayward. Seton said that her greatest debt of all was to Amy FlaggofWestoe Village in South Shields, her father's birthplace.[11]
Seton married twice. Her first marriage was to Hamilton Cottier, a Rhodes scholar, whom she married when she was 19 years old. They had two children,[2] a daughter named Pamela and a son named Seton. Seton died in 1979.[9] Her second marriage was to investment counselor Hamilton (Chan) M. Chase in 1930. Together they had one daughter,[2] Clemency, and they divorced in 1968.[12]
She died of heart failure at the age of 86 on November 8, 1990, in Old Greenwich, Connecticut,[8][9][3] and was survived by Pamela and Clemency, five grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.[5] She is interred at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich.[13]
^William E. Finch, Jr. "Anya Seton Papers". hstgams.org. The Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich. Archived from the original on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
