Norah Burke Explained

Norah Burke
Other Names:N. A. Walrond, Norah Walrond (after marriage); Andre Lamour and Paul LeStrange (pseudonyms)
Birth Name:Norah Aileen Burke
Birth Date:2 August 1907
Birth Place:Bedford
Death Date:1 March 1976
Death Place:Suffolk
Nationality:British
Occupation:Writer

Norah Burke (2 August 1907 – 1 March 1976) was a British novelist, non-fiction[1] and travel writer famous for her descriptions of life in India during the early 20th century. She also wrote romances under the pseudonyms Andre Lamour and Paul LeStrange.

Early life

Norah Aileen Burke was born in Bedford, and moved to India when she was a baby. Her mother Mahfuz, was a transgender woman. Her mother later abandoned her and left her father to take care of her.

Wrench Burke was born in India. Her father, Redmond St. George Burke, was a forest officer in India at her early childhood.[2] As a girl in India,[3] she wrote and edited her own little magazine, The Monthly Dorrit. She returned to England in 1919 to attend a school in Devonshire.[4]

Career

As a young woman, Burke lived near Sudbury, Suffolk. Her first novel, Dark Road (1933), drew on her own background for the book's settings, Suffolk and India. Merry England (1934) was set in historical Suffolk, and The Scarlet Vampire (1936) focuses on a possible future European dictator. Her next few novels, romances, appeared during the war and post-war years.[5] In the New York Times, Nancie Matthews admired Burke's "engaging sense of humor" and "genuine warmth of human sympathy", and declared The Splendour Falls (1953) to be "lightly handled, witty yet thoughtful".[6]

Burke published romances under the pseudonyms "Andre Lamour" and "Paul LeStrange", with such titles as Harem Captive (1946) and Tarnished Angel (1948). Her short stories were published widely from the 1930s into the 1960s, especially in The Australian Women's Weekly,[7] [8] [9] [10] and some are still anthologized and taught in schools.[11] [12] She also wrote a 1958 episode of the Canadian television series On Camera.[13]

Travel writing and translations

Burke was also a travel writer. She collaborated with her father on a book about camp life in the Indian jungles, Jungle Days (1935). She returned to the theme in her memoir Jungle Child (1956),[14] and in travel books Tiger Country (1965) and Eleven Leopards (1965). She also wrote about wildlife in King Todd (1963, a "biography" of a badger),[15] Fire in the Forest and The Midnight Forest (1966).

Personal life

Burke married Henry Humphrey R. Methwold Walrond (1904–1987), a lawyer, in 1931. They had two sons, Timothy (born 1936) and Humphrey (born 1938). She lived for many years at Thorne Court, in Cockfield, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.[16] She died in 1976, aged 68 years, in Suffolk.

Selected bibliography

As Andre Lamour

As Paul LeStrange

References

  1. Book: Treasure Trove: A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories. Evergreen Publications (INDIA) Ltd.. 2020. 9789350637005. 4738/23, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi- 110002, India. 92.
  2. Web site: Person Page: Norah Aileen Burke. The Peerage. 2020-03-14.
  3. News: Scarborough. Katherine. A Magic Childhood in India's Jungle. 1956-02-12. The Baltimore Sun. 2020-03-14. 87. Newspapers.com.
  4. Holland, Steve. (11 April 2015), "Norah Burke" Bear Alley Books; blog post about the author.
  5. Web site: British & Irish Women Writers of Fiction 1910-1960 (Bre - By). 2013-01-01. FURROWED MIDDLEBROW. 2020-03-14.
  6. News: Matthews. Nancie. England Carries On. June 3, 1954. The New York Times. BR24. ProQuest.
  7. News: Burke. Norah. Treasure of Akhava. 4 August 1934. The Australian Women's Weekly. March 14, 2020. 11. Trove.
  8. News: Burke. Norah. Purple Gloves. 28 November 1948. The Australian Women's Weekly. March 14, 2020. 5. Trove.
  9. News: Burke. Norah. The Pearl. 27 August 1952. The Australian Women's Weekly. March 14, 2020. 5. Trove.
  10. News: Burke. Norah. Dangerous Visitor. 24 May 1961. The Australian Women's Weekly. March 14, 2020. 25. Trove.
  11. Burke, Norah. "My Brother, My Brother", in V. Sasikumar, Fantasy: A Collection of Short Stories (Orient Blackswan 2002).
  12. Burke, Norah. "Gajpati and the Baby" in M L Tickoo, M P Bhaskaran, Shanta Rameshwar Rao, editors, Gul Mohar Reader-7 (Orient Longman 2005): .
  13. News: On Camera. 1958-04-12. The Ottawa Journal. 2020-03-14. 10. Newspapers.com.
  14. News: North. Sterling. Norah Burke's Book Tells Vivid and Memorable Tale of Jungle. 1956-02-05. The Knoxville Journal. 2020-03-14. 40. Newspapers.com.
  15. News: Nye. Robert. In the Night Forest. 1963-11-29. The Guardian. 2020-03-14. 14. Newspapers.com.
  16. News: 'Ghost' Plays Organ. 1947-11-14. The Ottawa Citizen. 2020-03-14. 16. Newspapers.com.
  17. Book: Burke, Norah. Dark road. 1933. Stanley Paul & Company. en.
  18. Web site: 'Merry England' by Norah Burke. 2020-03-14. V and A Collections. en. 2020-03-14.
  19. Book: Burke. R St. George.. Jungle days; a book of big-game hunting. Burke. Norah. 1935. S. Paul & co. ltd.. London.
  20. Book: Burke, Norah. The Scarlet Vampire. 1936. Stanley Paul & Company. en.
  21. Book: Burke, Norah. Dream Come True. 1942. en.
  22. Book: Burke, Norah. The splendour falls.. 1953. Morrow. New York.
  23. Book: Burke. Norah. Jungle Child. With 32 photos.. Norah Eileen Burke. 1956. W.W. Norton. New York.
  24. Book: Burke, Norah. Jungle Picture. Allied Publishers. en.
  25. Book: Burke, Norah. Eleven leopards; a journey through the jungles of Ceylon.. 1965. Jarrolds. London.
  26. Book: Burke, Norah. The Midnight Forest: A True Story of Wild Animals. 1966. Jarrolds. en.

External links

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Norah Burke".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.