Ann Stafford

Biografía

"In her fascinating introduction to Business as Usual, the publisher Kate Macdonald details the writing careers of two remarkable women authors – Helen Rees (1903–70) and Anne Pedlar (1900–66) – who, under the pseudonyms Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford, produced a staggering ninety-seven novels, both individually and together." https://web.archive.org/web/20201126131205/https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/business-as-usual-jane-oliver-ann-stafford-review-gerri-kimber/ "Little is known about Anne Pedlar’s early life. Her obituary notes that she had an MA and a PhD, though it is not known when she was awarded these degrees, or from which university. She had been married but had left her husband around the time that she and Helen met. Her son John Pedler had been born in the early 1930s, and was sent to Canada during the war, returning in 1943. He later worked for the Foreign Office and died in 2018. Anne drove ambulances during the Second World War, but she made her career as a novelist, publishing 25 books under the name of Ann Stafford, and a further 39 co-written with Helen. She was active in the British Red Cross from 1939, rising to the rank of Divisional Deputy President. After the war both Anne and Helen lived in Hampshire, variously living next door to each other and sharing a house in Gorley, Fordingbridge. In Anne’s last illness Helen cared for her until her death." https://web.archive.org/web/20210421180847/https://www.handheldpress.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Oliver-and-Stafford-biographies.pdf