Mannin, Ethel, 1900-1984

The oldest of three children, Ethel Edith Mannin was born on October 11, 1900 in Clapham, a suburb of London, to Robert Mannin and Edith Gray Mannin. She was author of almost one hundred books (her goal was to publish one novel and one work of nonfiction each year). She published novels, travelogues, autobiographies, children's books, collections of short stories, books on child-rearing, and articles on pacifism and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Her journalistic career began at age seventeen, when she became the associate editor of The Pelican, a theatrical and sporting periodical, and held that position until 1919, when the magazine ceased publication. That same year, Mannin married John Alexander Porteous. Together, they had one child, Jean. Mannin spent very little time with her husband, preferring the company and lifestyle of her literary and left-leaning political friends, and they later divorced. In 1938, Mannin married Reginald Reynolds, a Quaker peace activist and friend of Mahatma Gandhi.

Mannin's first novel, Martha, was a runner-up in a competition for first novels, and was published by the contest's sponsors in 1923. Her first commercially and critically successful novel was Sounding Brass (1925). Mannin's satirical look at life in the twenties was based on her experience in the London advertising world. Critics often compared it to Sinclair Lewis's Main Street and Babbitt. One of her most popular novels was Late Have I Loved Thee (1948) which depicted a man's conversion to Catholicism and vocation to the priesthood. Mannin was often praised for her superior character development. She wanted to portray characters whom she described as "real people" who "eluded class distinctions." Critics often faulted her writing for being too concerned with her own personal political and social views, making her novels propagandistic. Her novels often dealt with contemporary events, such as The Road to Beersheba, which was a response to Leon Uris's popular and pro-Israeli novel Exodus. She was fervently anti-Zionist and very concerned over the plight of Palestinian refugees.

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