Madeleine St John

Madeleine St John, (12 November 1941-18 June 2006) was an Australian born writer. St John was shortlisted in 1997 for the Booker Prize for Fiction for her novel "The Essence of the Thing".

Biography

She was born in 1941 in Castlecrag (a suburb of Sydney) and schooled at Queenwood School for Girls, Mosman. She was born to Edward St John, the son of a Church of England clergyman. [cite web | title=Madeleine St John obitiary | last=Potter | first=Christopher | work=Independent, The (London) | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060706/ai_n16516367 | date=Jul 6, 2006 | accessdate=2008-02-19 ] Her mother, Sylvette Cargher, was a French woman who died when St. John was 12.

She went the University of Sydney to study the arts and then married Christopher Tillam, a filmmaker. Subsequently she moved to the USA. However the marriage ended after St John went to live in England during 1968 where she continued to live.She took a series of jobs in bookshops and offices. Eventually she stuck with a part time job for two days a week at an antique shop in Kensington. It is during this period she started trying to write. Spending the following eight years attempting to write a biography of Madame Blavatsky she apparently got nowhere and dissatisfied she destroyed the manuscript.

Turning then to novel writing this appeared to more suited to her abilities. In six months she had written "The Women in Black" a comedy of manners set in her native Sydney within the ladies' cocktail section of a department store during the 1950s, this was quickly published in 1993.

Not used to the success her writing brought she remained a very private person, almost reclusive in style if not in actuality. [cite web | title=Madeleine St. John Biography | last= | first= | work=Dictionary of Literary Biography | url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/madeleine-st-john-dlb/ | date= | accessdate=2008-02-19 ] She died suddenly of emphysema at the age of 64.

Writing career

During her short writing life she penned four novels. The first one, "The Women in Black" was published in 1993. The next three are a kind of trilogy based in London's Notting Hill, where she lived. "The Essence of the Thing" (1997) was short-listed for the Booker Prize.

Works

*"The Women in Black" (1993)
*"A Pure Clear Light" (1996)
*"The Essence of the Thing" (1997)
*"A Stairway to Paradise" (1999)

Footnotes

References

*cite web | title=Madeleine St John - Writer Exposed British Mores| last= | first= | work=Sydney Morning Herald | url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/writer-exposed-british-mores/2006/06/28/1151174264401.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 | date=June 29, 2006 | accessdate=2008-02-19
*cite web | title=Madeleine St John - The Independent obitiary| last= | first= | work=The Independent | url=http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/AUSTRALIA-OBITS/2006-07/1152383820 | date=8/7/2006 | accessdate=2008-02-19

Persondata
NAME=St. John, Madeline
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Australian novelist
DATE OF BIRTH=12 November 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH=Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
DATE OF DEATH=18 June 2006
PLACE OF DEATH=