Over a period of forty years Joanna Cannan wrote twenty-eight novels that, with one exception, chart with remarkable accuracy aspects of the social history of England of that time: the class system, social shibboleths, the social innuendo, and the single word that reveals a person's background. She also established the "pony book" genre of children's novels, and she became one of the Gollancz publishing firm's most-celebrated crime writers. Her work was admired by many contemporary authors, including Arnold Bennett, Ralph Partridge, Phyllis Bentley, Doris Lessing, John Betjeman, and Julian Symons.

Born on 27 May 1896 in Magdalen Gate House in Oxford, Joanna Maxwell Cannan was the third daughter of Charles Cannan and Mary Wedderburn Cannan. Charles Cannan was a classicist and dean of Trinity College, Oxford, until 1898 when he became secretary to the delegates (chief executive officer) of Oxford University Press. His work brought many authors to Magdalen Gate House...