PGPS: Created Post

2026-03-27T05:00:36Z

Created Post

New page

{{Short description|British novelist and writer (1907–1976)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Norah Burke
| other_names = N. A. Walrond, Norah Walrond (after marriage); Andre Lamour and Paul LeStrange (pseudonyms)
| birth_name = Norah Aileen Burke
| birth_date = {{birth date|1907|8|2|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Bedford]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|3|1|1907|8|2|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Suffolk]], England
| occupation = Writer
| spouse = {{marriage|Henry Walrond|1931}}
| children = 2
}}

'''Norah Aileen Burke''' (2 August 1907 – 1 March 1976) was a British novelist, non-fiction<ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|title=Treasure Trove: A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories|publisher=Evergreen Publications (India) Ltd.|year=2020|isbn=9789350637005|location= New Delhi, India|page=92}}</ref> 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 range officer|forest officer]] in India at her early childhood.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p33732.htm#i337317|title=Person Page: Norah Aileen Burke|website=The Peerage|access-date=2020-03-14}}</ref> As a girl in India,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Scarborough|first=Katherine|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46672425/a-magic-childhood-in-indias/|title=A Magic Childhood in India's Jungle|date=1956-02-12|work=The Baltimore Sun|access-date=2020-03-14|pages=87|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> she wrote and edited her own little magazine, ''The Monthly Dorrit''. She returned to England in 1919 to attend a school in [[Devon]]shire.<ref name=":2">Holland, Steve. (11 April 2015), [https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2015/04/norah-burke.html "Norah Burke"] ''Bear Alley Books''; blog post about the author.</ref>

== 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.<ref name=":2" /> Her next few novels, romances, appeared during the war and post-war years.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2013/01/british-women-writers-of-fiction-1910_92.html|title=British & Irish Women Writers of Fiction 1910–1960 (Bre–By)|date=2013-01-01|website=Furrowed Middlebrown |access-date=2020-03-14}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Matthews|first=Nancie|title=England Carries On|date=June 3, 1954|work=The New York Times|page=BR24|id={{ProQuest| }}}}</ref>

Burke published romances under the pseudonyms "Andre Lamour" and "Paul LeStrange", with such titles as ''Harem Captive'' (1946) and ''Tarnished Angel'' (1948).<ref name=":2" /> Her short stories were published widely from the 1930s to the 1960s, especially in ''[[The Australian Women's Weekly]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47495959?searchTerm=%22Norah%20Burke%22&searchLimits=|title=Treasure of Akhava|date=4 August 1934|work=The Australian Women's Weekly|access-date=March 14, 2020|page=11|via=[[Trove]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/228692902?searchTerm=%22Norah%20Burke%22&searchLimits=|title=Purple Gloves|date=28 November 1948|work=The Australian Women's Weekly|access-date=March 14, 2020|page=5|via=[[Trove]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45645319?searchTerm=%22Norah%20Burke%22&searchLimits=|title=The Pearl|date=27 August 1952|work=The Australian Women's Weekly|access-date=March 14, 2020|page=5|via=[[Trove]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46939894?searchTerm=%22Norah%20Burke%22&searchLimits=|title=Dangerous Visitor|date=24 May 1961|work=The Australian Women's Weekly|access-date=March 14, 2020|page=25|via=[[Trove]]}}</ref> and some are still anthologized and taught in schools.<ref>Burke, Norah. [https://books.google.com/books?id=7EMueF4bLjsC&dq=Norah+Burke&pg=PA16 "My Brother, My Brother"], in V. Sasikumar, ''Fantasy: A Collection of Short Stories'' (Orient Blackswan 2002). {{ISBN|9788125022374}}</ref><ref>Burke, Norah. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mYA0TYMeAxoC&dq=Norah+Burke&pg=PA63 "Gajpati and the Baby"] in M L Tickoo, M P Bhaskaran, Shanta Rameshwar Rao, editors, ''Gul Mohar Reader-7'' (Orient Longman 2005): . {{ISBN|9788125028819}}</ref> She also wrote a 1958 episode of the Canadian television series ''[[On Camera (Canadian TV series)|On Camera]].''<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46673216/on-camera/|title=On Camera|date=1958-04-12|work=The Ottawa Journal|access-date=2020-03-14|pages=10|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

=== 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),<ref>{{Cite news|last=North|first=Sterling|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46672043/norah-burkes-book-tells-vivid-and/|title=Norah Burke's Book Tells Vivid and Memorable Tale of Jungle|date=1956-02-05|work=The Knoxville Journal|access-date=2020-03-14|pages=40|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and in travel books ''Tiger Country'' (1965) and ''Eleven Leopards'' (1965).<ref name=":3" /> She also wrote about wildlife in ''King Todd'' (1963, a "biography" of a badger),<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Nye|first=Robert|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46672763/in-the-night-forestrobert-nye/|title=In the Night Forest|date=1963-11-29|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-14|pages=14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''Fire in the Forest'' and ''The Midnight Forest'' (1966).<ref name=":2" />

== 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).<ref name=":0" /> She lived for many years at Thorne Court, in [[Cockfield, Suffolk|Cockfield]], near [[Bury St Edmunds|Bury St. Edmunds]], Suffolk.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46673047/ghost-plays-organ/|title='Ghost' Plays Organ|date=1947-11-14|work=The Ottawa Citizen|access-date=2020-03-14|pages=16|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She died in 1976, aged 68 years, in [[Suffolk]].

== Selected bibliography ==
* ''Dark Road '' (1933)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2CmePQAACAAJ|title=Dark road|date=1933|publisher=Stanley Paul & Company|language=en}}</ref>
* ''Merry England'' (1934)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1265911|title='Merry England' by Norah Burke|date=2020-03-14|website=V and A Collections|language=en|access-date=2020-03-14}}</ref>
* ''My brother My brother'' (2002)
* ''Jungle Days'' (1935, with Redmond St. George Burke)<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Burke|first1=R St. George.|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006558804|title=Jungle days; a book of big-game hunting|last2=Burke|first2=Norah|date=1935|publisher=S. Paul & co. ltd.|location=London}}</ref>
* ''The Scarlet Vampire'' (1936)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1oBkPQAACAAJ|title=The Scarlet Vampire|date=1936|publisher=Stanley Paul & Company|language=en}}</ref>
* ''Dreams Come True'' (1943)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qywczQEACAAJ|title=Dream Come True|date=1942|language=en}}</ref>
* ''The Awakened Heart'' (1944)
* ''Gold Temple Bells'' (1949)
* ''Hazelwood'' (1953, also known as ''The Splendour Falls'')<ref>{{Cite book|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000586615|title=The splendour falls.|date=1953|publisher=Morrow|location=New York}}</ref>
* ''Not As Others'' (1956)
* ''Jungle Child'' (1956)<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Burke|first1=Norah|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000586616|title=Jungle Child. With 32 photos.|last2=Norah Eileen Burke|date=1956|publisher=W.W. Norton|location=New York}}</ref>
* ''Jungle Picture'' (1960)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Apnvq0qDaAgC|title=Jungle Picture|publisher=Allied Publishers|language=en}}</ref>
* ''King Todd'' (1963)<ref name=":1" />
* ''Eleven Leopards: A Journey Through The Jungles Of Ceylon'' (1965)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006653312|title=Eleven leopards; a journey through the jungles of Ceylon.|date=1965|publisher=Jarrolds|location=London}}</ref>
* ''Tiger Country'' (1965)
* '' The Blue Bead'' (1970)
* ''Fire in the Forest''
* ''The Midnight Forest: A True Story Of Wild Animals'' (1966)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Burke|first=Norah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gf86GQAACAAJ|title=The Midnight Forest: A True Story of Wild Animals|date=1966|publisher=Jarrolds|language=en}}</ref>

=== As Andre Lamour ===
* ''Harem Captive'' (1946)
* ''Desert Passion'' (1947)
* ''Dusky Bridegroom'' (1947)
* ''No Wedding Ring'' (1948)
* ''Pin-Up for Michael'' (1948)
* ''Take My Love!'' (1948)

=== As Paul LeStrange ===
* ''Slave to Passion'' (1948)
* ''Tarnished Angel'' (1948)

==References==
<references />

== External links ==
* {{IMDb name|id=7496346}}
* {{ISFDB name|id=222289}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p9UruDOCDU Norah Burke, "The Blue Bead" (1953)], a short story, read aloud with animation, on YouTube (for student use).
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Norah}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English women novelists]]
[[Category:People from Sudbury, Suffolk]]
[[Category:Writers from Bedford]]
[[Category:Writers from Suffolk]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:English hunters]]
[[Category:20th-century British non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous women writers]]
[[Category:British people in British India]]

Norah Burke - Revision history

PGPS: Created Post