Irwin was born in London, England, and educated at Clifton High School in Bristol, and at Oxford University. She began writing books and short stories in the early 1920s. She married children’s author and illustrator John Robert Monsell in 1929,
Her novels were esteemed for the accuracy of their historical research, and she became a noted authority on the Elizabethan and early Stewart era. One of her novels, YOUNG BESS, about the early years of Queen Elizabeth 1, was made into a movie starring Jean Simmonds.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
General Fiction
Still She Wished for Company (1924)
These Mortals (1925)
Knock Four Times (1927)
Fire Down Below (1928)
Royal Flush (1932)
The Stranger Prince: The Story of Rupert of the Rhine (1938)
The Bride: The Story of Louise And Montrose (1939)
The Gay Galliard: The Story of Mary Queen of Scots (1941) Later published as The Galliard.
Royal Flush: The Story of Minette (1948)
The Proud Servant: A Story of Montrose (1949)
The Heart’s Memory (1951)
Hidden Splendour (1952)
None So Pretty: Or, the Story of Mr. Cork (1953)
Queen Elizabeth Trilogy
Young Bess (1944)
Elizabeth, Captive Princess (1948)
Elizabeth and the Prince of Spain (1953)
Short Stories
Bloodstock and Other Stories (1953)
Biography
That Great Lucifer: A Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh (1960)
