Susan Ertz(1887-1985)

Writer Susan Ertz was born in England in 1887 to American parents. When she was still quite young her parents moved back to the US, settling in New York, but when Susan was seven they returned to England. They stayed there until Susan was 12, when they returned to the US, this time moving to a cabin in northern California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, where she lived until she was 18 (on a trip to San Francisco in 1906 she was caught in the earthquake that almost destroyed the city). At age 18 she traveled to New York City, staying there for a short while, then moved to England in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I.

Her first novel, "Marie Claire", was published in 1922. It wasn't particularly successful at first, but eventually became quite popular. Many of her subsequent novels were about women's domestic issues--"Nina" is about a wife's love for her cheating husband, "After Noon" focuses on the problems of a married middle-aged man and "The Story of Julian" is about the difficulties a couple has with an adolescent son. Her novel "Now East, Now West" is a comparison of the differences between Britons and Americans, and "The Proselyte" details the hardships of the infamous Mormon journey westward. In 1932 she married a British army officer, Maj. J.R. McCrinkle.

Susan Ertz died in Kent, England, in 1985 at age 98.