Okay, so, today I want to talk about this lady, Mary Chamberlain. I first heard about her a while ago, maybe last year, and thought, “Who is this woman?”
I did some digging. Born in South London, on September 3, 1947, the same day as my dog, which is kind of funny. She’s got a bunch of degrees from different universities, like the University of Edinburgh, and the London School of Economics and Royal Holloway. Smart lady, obviously.
I started with her Wikipedia page. It’s a good place to start, you know? Found out she’s married to some political scientist, Stein Ringen. Before that, she was married to a guy named Carey Harrison.
Then I got into her career stuff. She’s a historian, an Emeritus Professor of History at Oxford Brookes University. In 1975, she wrote a book called “Fenwomen. Portrait of Women in an English Village” and that was the very first book published by Virago Press. She was a pioneer, using oral history to study women’s lives. She really started something there, I guess. Pretty cool, right?
Diving into Her Writing
I checked out her novels next. Her first big one in the UK was “The Dressmaker of Dachau,” which came out in 2015. It’s been translated and sold in like 19 countries. She said the story idea came from two of her aunts – one who ran away from the family and another who was imprisoned during the Nazi. That’s heavy stuff, but it makes for a powerful story, I bet.
- The Lie (2023)
- The Forgotten (2021)
- The Hidden (2019)
- The Dressmaker of Dachau (2015)
Turns out, she was also an activist. Part of the “London Recruits,” which were young people recruited by the African National Congress (ANC) back in the 1960s and 1970s. They were smuggling literature into South Africa for the ANC and SACP after the ANC got messed up in those Rivonia trials. Brave, risking a lot for what she believed in. I respect that.
She even got an honorary Doctorate from the University of East Anglia in 2021. I mean, who wouldn’t want that, right? Recognition for all her hard work.
She was born in London, raised there, and has lived and worked in both England and the Caribbean. So she’s got some life experience, which probably makes her writing even better.
So, yeah, that’s Mary Chamberlain. A historian, a novelist, an activist. A pretty impressive woman, I have to say. I might just have to read one of her books now. After this, I’m definitely curious.
