Diary of an Ordinary Woman (Forster) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—May 25, 1938
• Where—Carlisle, England, UK
• Education—Oxford University
• Currently—lives in London and the Lake District, England


Margaret Forster was born in Carlisle, England, in 1938 and educated at the Carlisle and County High School for Girls. From here she won an open scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford where she was awarded an honours degree in History. After her exams she married the writer Hunter Davies, whom she met and fell in love with at the age of 17.

She became a schoolteacher in Islington, North London (between 1961-63) briefly before embarking on a writing career. She first achieved fame in 1965 with her second book, Georgy Girl which was made into a film starring Lynn Redgrave and Michael Caine. Since 1963, Margaret Forster has worked as a novelist, biographer and freelance literary critic, contributing regularly to book programmes on television, to radio 4 and various newspapers and magazines. She was a member of the BBC Advisory Committee on the Social Effects of Television from 1975-77 and of the Arts Council Literary Panel from 1978-81, as well as the chief non-fiction reviewer for the London Evening Standard from 1977-80.

She is the author of the bestselling memoirs, Hidden Lives (a memoir of her own family) and Precious Lives. Her acclaimed biographies include the biography of Daphne du Maurier and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Among Forster's many successful novels are Lady's Maid, Private Papers, Diary of an Ordinary Woman, and The Memory Box.

She and her husband, the writer Hunter Davies, have three children. The couple lives half the year in London and half the year at their cottage in the Lake District. (From the publisher.)