Kathleen Winsor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kathleen Winsor
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| Born | October 16, 1919 Olivia, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | May 26, 2003 (aged 83) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Genre | novels |
| Notable works | Forever Amber Star Money |
Kathleen Winsor (born October 16, 1919 – died May 26, 2003) was an American author. She is most famous for her first book, the 1944 historical novel Forever Amber. This novel became a huge bestseller and was very popular for its time. She wrote seven other novels, but none of them became as successful as her first one.
Contents
Early Life and Dreams
Kathleen Winsor was born on October 16, 1919, in Olivia, Minnesota. She grew up in Berkeley, California. Her father worked as a real-estate dealer.
When she was 18 years old, Kathleen made a list of things she wanted to achieve in her life. One of her biggest goals was to write a best-selling novel.
Winsor finished her studies at the University of California, Berkeley in 1938. While she was in college, she married a fellow student named Robert Herwig, who was a well-known college football player. In 1937, she started writing a sports column three times a week for the Oakland Tribune newspaper. This job lasted for about a year. After that, Winsor worked as a receptionist at the same newspaper until 1938, when she lost her job because the newspaper reduced its staff.
Writing Career
The Story of Forever Amber
Kathleen Winsor became interested in the Restoration period of English history because of her husband. Robert was studying King Charles II for a school project. Kathleen, feeling a bit bored, started reading one of his history books. This sparked her interest in that time period.
When World War II began, her husband joined the military. He spent five years serving with the United States Marines in the Pacific Ocean area. During this time, Kathleen Winsor spent a lot of time studying the Restoration period. She said she read 356 books about it! She then started writing a novel based on all her research.
Her fifth version of the novel was finally accepted by a publisher. The publishers then made the book much shorter, cutting it down to about one-fifth of its original length. Even after being cut, the finished novel, Forever Amber, was still very long, with 972 pages. The book took readers on an exciting journey through England during the Restoration period. It showed detailed pictures of the fashion, politics, relationships, and big disasters of that time. These disasters included the terrible plague and the Great Fire of London.
The book was released in 1944. It caused a lot of discussion because of its grown-up themes. Some places in the United States even tried to ban it. However, within just one month, the rights to make a movie were bought by Twentieth Century Fox. The film, directed by Otto Preminger and starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde, came out in 1947.
Even with some controversy, Forever Amber became one of the most popular American novels of the 1940s. It sold over 100,000 copies in its very first week. In total, it went on to sell more than three million copies.
Life After Forever Amber
The huge success of Forever Amber made Kathleen Winsor a celebrity. Her life changed a lot. She later divorced Robert Herwig in 1946. She married several more times during her life.
Winsor's next successful novel was Star Money, which came out in 1950. This book was inspired by her own experiences of becoming a best-selling author. She wrote five more novels after that, with the last one appearing in 1986. These books included The Lovers, Calais, Robert and Arabella, Jacintha, and Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West. However, none of these later books had the same big impact as Forever Amber. In 2000, a new edition of Forever Amber was published with an introduction by the famous author Barbara Taylor Bradford.
Later Life and Death
Kathleen Winsor passed away on May 26, 2003, in New York City.
Books Written by Kathleen Winsor
- Forever Amber (1944)
- Star Money (1950)
- The Lovers (1952)
- America, With Love (1954)
- Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West (1965)
- Calais (1979)
- Jacintha (1984)
- Robert and Arabella (1986)
Author's Papers
Kathleen Winsor's original writings and research from 1940 to 1949 are kept at The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. This center is located at the University of Texas at Austin.
