Roberts, Dorothy James, 1903-1990

American novelist of Arthurian, Irish, Icelandic, and contemporary fiction.

Dorothy James Roberts was born to West Virginia oil producer James A. Roberts and his wife, Anna Rogers Roberts, on September 5, 1903. Although raised in Ohio, Roberts attended undergraduate school at Barnard College in New York, and later graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, where she studied medieval literature. Prior to publishing her first novel, Roberts worked as a personal assistant, administrative assistant, and teacher of Anglo-Saxon literature. Roberts began publishing in 1942, when she released More Than You Promise, a joint effort with author Kathleen Smallzried detailing the history of the Studebaker Corporation. Roberts then moved into fiction, publishing her first novel, A Man of Malice Landing, in 1943. By 1964, Roberts had produced fourteen published novels (with one, If a Body Kill a Body, under pseudonym Peter Mortimer). A number of these were based on Arthurian legends, although Roberts also wrote Irish and Icelandic historical fiction, as well as producing contemporary American fiction. Roberts retired to Palo Alto, California, with Elizabeth Paschal in 1964. She remained active during her retirement, engaging in hobbies such as embroidery and the study of the Japanese language. While she did not publish after 1964, she continued to produce many unpublished manuscripts until her death in February 1990; these most notably include a series of analytical essays about Shakespeare's plays, a novel based on Greek mythology, and her memoirs.