2 Jul 2010

Author Beryl Bainbridge dies aged 75

The true life story of Beryl Bainbridge, who died this morning aged 75, is as fascinating as the novels she crafted, which earned her five Booker Prize nominations, writes Stephanie West.

Born in Liverpool in 1934, she always said what fuelled her prolific output, poignant but often dark novels with streaks of humour, was a wretched childhood.

Tensions at home were caused by warring parents and a sometimes verbally abusive father, but she always said these were perfect conditions for her to become a writer.

In fact, it turned her into a master storyteller. She wrote her first novel – Harriet Said – in the 50s, but the subject matter of murderous teenagers was so dark, it wasn’t published until 1972. But her talent brought her much acclaim.

Her first Booker Prize nomination came with The Dressmaker in 1973, and there would be four more throughout her life. She never won, but always claimed she personally did not mind.

“Beryl Bainbridge never won the Booker Prize, but always claimed she did not mind.”

One of her most famous books, Every Man for Himself, set on the Titanic, won the Whitbread Prize in 1996. This was from the stable of novels where she stopped drawing on her own history, and was inspired by historical events instead. She also wrote Master Georgie, set in the Crimean war.

Always a smoker, Dame Beryl lived a colourful life in London, where she relocated to from Liverpool in the 1950s. Visiting journalists delighted in the eclectic paraphernalia, from stuffed animals to pictures of Queen Victoria.

Her love life was challenging. She had a son and daughter by her husband Austin Davies, but after the marriage failed, had another daughter by the writer Alan Sharp, in a relationship that also failed.

Just before her death, she completed a new book The Girl In The Polka-Dot Dress, her first since the publication of According To Queeney in 2001.