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writing romance novels and stories that were published as serials to support her daughters. World War II forced her to find other work. She took a variety of jobs, such as painting ladies' powder-boxes. Along with her mother, who joined her in 1942, she worked in her own small ad agency, writing copy and working in film. She also secretly scratched away at her "magnum opus", a treatise on morality and aesthetics that according to her daughter's autobiography ran to "thousands of overwritten pages, which would get in a hopeless muddle on the kitchen table".
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In 1936 Margaret and Frank agreed to separate, later divorcing in 1940. She returned alone to London on a cargo ship, planning to send for her children as soon as possible. When her husband threatened to take his daughters to South Africa, she returned to New
Zealand to collect them. She began
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In 1928 she married a young doctor, Frank
Thornton Birkinshaw, who was a veteran of World War I. In 1929 their daughter Jane was born, followed by another daughter in 1931, whom Margaret named Franklin Birkinshaw, but who is better known as feminist writer
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In the 1960s, her daughter Jane was abandoned by her husband, Guido Morris, suffered from mental illness and later died from brain cancer in 1969 at the age of 40, leaving behind three children. Margaret took over the care of her grandchildren.
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Margaret was beautiful, bohemian, fey. She read horoscopes, painted tarot cards, saw visions of angels in the park, and wrote novels under the nom de plume Pearl
Bellairs – the name of the vapid novelist in Aldous Huxley's
221:, which was published in 1934. Although praised by both George Bernard Shaw and HG Wells, it caused an uproar at the time and was a source of embarrassment to her husband. Her second novel was
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According to her daughter Fay Weldon, Margaret's father stated that she was a better writer than either him or his son Selwyn, citing her novel
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states that she considered this to be one of the worst mistakes of her life, because it led to her daughter Jane being introduced to
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In 2000, Jepson broke her hip, after which she moved into a residential home, then a nursing home where she died.
141:. She attended London City College and Ealing Technical College Library School and the Slade School of Art.
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In 1946, when the war was over, Margaret, Frieda, and
Margaret's daughters returned to England on the MV
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105:(3 August 1907 – 11 January 2003) was an English writer and artist, also known by her married name
149:. In 1930 the Birkinshaws emigrated to New Zealand, where Frank found a position at a practice in
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Margaret Jepson was born in 1907, the daughter of mystery/detective author and critic
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and Frieda Jepson, a concert pianist who was the daughter of the musician
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Jepson authored her first novel with her father, Edgar Jepson, in 1932 (
225:. She also wrote serialised novels under the pseudonym Pearl Bellairs.
183:. Margaret and the children moved to West Cornwall. Her obituary in
162:. She was singularly unsuited to being a New Zealand doctor's wife.
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Jepson features as a character in her daughter Fay Weldon's novel
426:"World in Acton: Lynn Barber reviews Auto da Fay by Fay Weldon"
169:
World in Acton: Lynn Barber reviews Auto da Fay by Fay Weldon
304:(with Edgar Jepson), The Saturday Evening Post (March 1928)
255:(with Edgar Jepson), The 20-Story Magazine (September 1930)
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The Alfred Wallis Factor: Conflict in Post-War St Ives Art
261:(with Edgar Jepson), The Strand Magazine (October 1928)
322:(with Edgar Jepson), The Strand Magazine (August 1929)
292:(with Edgar Jepson), The Strand Magazine (April 1929)
298:(with Edgar Jepson), The Strand Magazine (June 1929)
328:(with Edgar Jepson), The Strand Magazine (May 1928)
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346:, The Hawick News (12 March to 4 June 1943)
377:, Herbert Jenkins (London, England), 1937.
371:, Herbert Jenkins (London, England), 1935.
365:, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1934.
340:, The Hawick News (7 April to 7 July 1939)
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359:, 1932, Margaret and Edgar Alfred Jepson.
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273:, The 20-Story Magazine (December 1932)
217:) before writing her first solo novel,
334:, Fact & Fiction (5 November 1934)
443:. New York: Grove Press. p. 193.
191:Guido Morris, who she later married.
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284:The Strand Magazine Overseas Edition
249:, The 20-Story Magazine (April 1931)
137:. Margaret's brother was the writer
543:20th-century English women writers
316:, Britannia and Eve (January 1932)
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290:Miss Amagee and the Sick Kitten
253:The Cruise of the Betsy Pringle
60:London, England, United Kingdom
533:20th-century English novelists
480:"Margaret Birkinshaw Obituary"
408:"Margaret Birkinshaw Obituary"
1:
454:David Wilkinson (July 2017).
428:. The Telegraph. 12 May 2002.
271:The House with the Clean Face
259:The Foolishness of Mr Amagee
77:Jane Birkinshaw (daughter),
69:Author, essayist, playwright
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280:Magazine (September 1929)
276:"The March of Progress",
538:English women novelists
338:They Say She Killed Him
302:Miss Amagee Sells a Pup
121:, were both novelists.
44:England, United Kingdom
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375:The Cups of Alexander
357:Miss Amagee in Africa
296:Miss Amagee Conspires
215:Miss Amagee in Africa
439:Weldon, Fay (2003).
320:Mr Amagee Vaccinates
109:and by her pen name
497:Fay Weldon (2002).
308:The Strand Magazine
107:Margaret Birkinshaw
486:. 24 January 2003.
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247:The Abandoned Lady
241:Serialised stories
314:The Monkey Puzzle
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369:Velvet and Steel
326:The Painted Jade
265:The Danger Trail
223:Velvet and Steel
203:Chalcot Crescent
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113:. Her daughter,
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125:Personal life
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94:Selwyn Jepson
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66:Occupation(s)
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41:3 August 1907
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310:(April 1928)
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160:Crome Yellow
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135:Henry Holmes
131:Edgar Jepson
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119:Edgar Jepson
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90:Edgar Jepson
55:(2003-01-11)
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528:2003 deaths
523:1907 births
501:Auto Da Fay
441:Auto da Fay
189:the printer
517:Categories
394:References
387:Christabel
363:Via Panama
278:The Strand
232:as proof.
230:Via Panama
219:Via Panama
147:Fay Weldon
115:Fay Weldon
92:(father),
81:(daughter)
79:Fay Weldon
37:1907-08-03
484:The Times
412:The Times
185:The Times
181:Rangatini
96:(brother)
86:Relatives
205:(2010).
165:—
74:Children
389:, 1950.
383:, 1948.
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351:Novels
209:Career
460:ISBN
50:Died
31:Born
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