13 Facts About Rosamond Lehmann

Rosamond Nina Lehmann was an English novelist and translator.

Rosamond Lehmann's first novel, Dusty Answer, was a succes de scandale; she subsequently became established in the literary world, and intimate with members of the Bloomsbury set.

Rosamond Lehmann was born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, the second of four children of Rudolph Chambers Lehmann and his American wife, Alice Mary Davis, from New England.

Rosamond Lehmann's two younger siblings were born in 1903 and 1907 respectively.

Purportedly, Rosamond Lehmann's father favoured Beatrix and her mother favoured John, leaving Rosamond Lehmann feeling neglected.

In 1919 Rosamond Lehmann won a scholarship to Girton College, Cambridge.

Rosamond Lehmann graduated with second-class degrees in both English Literature and Modern and Medieval Languages.

In 1927, Rosamond Lehmann published her first novel, Dusty Answer, to great critical and popular acclaim.

Rosamond Lehmann translated two French novels into English: Jacques Lemarchand's Genevieve and Jean Cocteau's 1929 novel Les Enfants Terribles as The Holy Terrors.

Rosamond Lehmann was an active opponent of fascism, and spoke at anti-fascist meetings in Paris and London, as well as being active in PEN International.

Rosamond Lehmann's death led Lehmann to retreat from the public world and turn to spiritualism.

Rosamond Lehmann's 1967 novel The Swan in the Evening is an autobiography that Lehmann described as her "Last Testament".

The novel recounts the psychic experiences Rosamond Lehmann claims to have had in relation to Sarah's death, a theme she revisits in her 1986 anthology Moments of Truth, which is a collection of letters from 'beyond the grave' purportedly dictated by Sarah.