The Towers of Trebizond

Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay (1881-1958) was an English novelist, essayist, poet, and travel writer known for her wit, satire, and versatility, associated with the Bloomsbury group. Born in Rugby, England, she published her first novel Abbots Verney in 1906 after studying at Somerville College, Oxford, and went on to write over 20 novels including Dangerous Ages (1921) and her masterpiece The Towers of Trebizond (1956), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, as well as nonfiction like Pleasure of Ruins (1953). During the World Wars, she worked in propaganda and civil service, had a long affair with writer Gerald O'Donovan, and was made DBE in 1958 shortly before her death.