Editing Anya Seton

{{short description|American author of historical fiction (1904-1990)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{infobox writer
| name             = Anya Seton
| image            = AnyaSetonHamCottier1923.png
| imagesize        = 
| alt              = A young white bride and groom, standing arm in arm and smiling; dark-haired bride has a voluminous veil and a white gown with short sleeves; she is holding a bouquet; groom is in formal dress and wearing a corsage; his hair is side-parted and short
| caption          = Seton at her wedding to her first husband Hamilton Cottier, from a 1923 publication
| birth_name       = Ann Seton
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1904|1|23}}
| birth_place      = [[Manhattan]], New York
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1990|11|8|1904|1|23}}
| death_place      = [[Old Greenwich, Connecticut]]
| occupation       = Author
| language         = English
| period           = 
| genre            = Historical fiction
| subject          = 
| movement         = 
| notableworks     = {{plainlist|
* ''[[Katherine (Seton novel)|Katherine]]''
* ''[[Green Darkness]]''}}
| spouse           = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Hamilton Cottier|1923|1930|reason=div}}
* {{marriage|Hamilton M. Chase|1930|1968|reason=div}}}}
| children         = 3
| parents          = [[Ernest Thompson Seton]] (father)<br/>[[Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson]] (mother)
| awards           = 
| signature        = 
| signature_alt    = 
| website          = 
| portaldisp       = 
| resting_place    = [[Putnam Cemetery]]
| nationality      = American
}}
'''Anya Seton''' (January 23, 1904 – November 8, 1990), born '''Ann Seton''', was an American author of historical fiction, or as she preferred they be called, "[[biographical novel]]s".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Weir |first= Alison |year=2007 |title=Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of [[Katherine Swynford]], Duchess of Lancaster' |page=310 |location=New York |publisher=Ballantine Books }}</ref><ref name="AustinChronicle">{{Cite news |last=Moser |first=Margaret |date=29 September 2006 |title=Love in the Time of 'Green Darkness' |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/books/2006-09-29/406101/ |access-date=8 July 2013 |work=[[Austin Chronicle]]}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Anya Seton was born '''Ann Seton''' on January 23, 1904, at her parents' [[Bryant Park]] apartment in [[New York City]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Anya Seton {{!}} Historical Fiction, Novels, Biographies {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anya-Seton |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Her father, [[Ernest Thompson Seton]], was [[Boy Scouts of America]] co-founder, naturalist, and author. Ernest, a British immigrant, has notable Scottish lineage in [[Northumberland]].<ref name="AustinChronicle" /> Ernest and his family immigrated to [[Canada]] in 1866, later moving to America.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ernest Thompson Seton {{!}} Naturalist, Artist, Conservationist {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernest-Thompson-Seton |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Her mother was [[Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson]], an author, [[suffragist]], two-time president of the [[National League of American Pen Women]], and founder of the Campfire Girls.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="AustinChronicle" /> Seton grew up in the Connecticut towns of [[Cos Cob, Connecticut|Cos Cob]] and [[Greenwich, Connecticut|Greenwich.]]<ref name="AustinChronicle" /><ref name="WPostObit">{{Cite news |date=11 November 1990 |title=Best-Selling Novelist Anya Seton Dies |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1158112.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610083615/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1158112.html |archive-date=10 June 2014 |access-date=8 July 2013 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}} {{Subscription required}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Anya Seton |url=https://etsetoninstitute.org/anya-seton/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Ernest Thompson Seton Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> 

Seton was primarily educated by private tutors and graduated from [[Spence School]]. She graduated on May 17, 1921, with a [[diploma]] in English<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Okoroafo |first=Lindsey Marie |date=12 May 2017 |title=Breaking the cycle of silence: the significance of Anya Seton's historical fiction. |url=https://ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3776&context=etd |access-date=24 July 2024 |website=University of Louisville}}</ref> but she never attended college.<ref name="AustinChronicle" /><ref name="Library">{{Cite web |date=2018-02-23 |title=Greenwich Author Anya Seton |url=https://www.greenwichlibrary.org/greenwich-author-anya-seton/ |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=Greenwich Library |language=en-US}}</ref> The Setons were wealthy, and Seton often traveled with her parents.<ref name=":0" /> Despite her family's money, Seton very often moved homes. Because of this, Seton was unable to think of any place as her true home, nor any school as her true school. Ernest was often away, and even when he was around, he frequently criticized his daughter.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tod |first=M. K. |date=2020-10-22 |title=Anya Seton: A Writing Life by Lucinda MacKethan |url=https://awriterofhistory.com/2020/10/22/anya-seton-a-writing-life-by-lucinda-mackethan/ |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=A Writer of History |language=en-US}}</ref> Since her parents were often busy with their careers, Seton spent much time with her governess.<ref name=":1" />

Seton's parents did not have any other children.<ref name="AustinChronicle" /> They separated in the late 1920s and divorced in 1934.<ref name="AustinChronicle" /><ref name=":2" /> Following the divorce, her father moved to [[New Mexico]].<ref name="AustinChronicle" />

==Career==
Seton published her first novel, ''[[My Theodosia]]'', in 1941.<ref name="AustinChronicle" />

Seton's [[historical novel]]s were noted for how extensively she researched the historical facts,<ref name="ChicagoObit">{{Cite news |date=11 November 1990 |title=Anya Seton, author of historical novels |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4026237.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610083613/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4026237.html |archive-date=10 June 2014 |access-date=8 July 2013 |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]}} {{Subscription required}}</ref><ref name="WPostObit" /> and some of them were best-sellers: ''[[Dragonwyck (novel)|Dragonwyck]]'' (1944) and ''[[Foxfire (novel)|Foxfire]]'' (1950) were both made into Hollywood films.<ref name="AustinChronicle" /><ref name="ChicagoObit" /> Three of her books are classics in their genre and continue in their popularity to the present: ''[[Katherine (Seton novel)|Katherine]]'' (1954)'','' the story of [[Katherine Swynford]], the mistress and eventual wife of [[John of Gaunt]], and their children, who were the direct ancestors of the [[House of Tudor|Tudors]], [[House of Stuart|Stuarts]], and the [[House of Windsor|modern British royal family]]; ''[[Green Darkness]]'' (1973), the story of a modern couple plagued by their past life incarnations; and ''[[The Winthrop Woman]]'' about the notorious [[Elizabeth Fones]], niece and daughter-in-law of [[John Winthrop]], the first governor of the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]].<ref name="NYObit">{{cite news|last1=Fowler|first1=Glenn|title=Anya Seton, Author of 'Foxfire' and Other Novels, is Dead at 86|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/10/obituaries/anya-seton-author-of-foxfire-and-other-novels-is-dead-at-86.html|work=New York Times|date=10 November 1990 |access-date=18 March 2015}}</ref> Most of her novels have been recently republished, several with forewords by [[Philippa Gregory]]. In 2003, ''Katherine'' was chosen as Britain’s 95th best-loved novel of all time in a nationwide poll conducted by the [[BBC]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100_2.shtml |title=The Big Read Top 100 |work=[[BBC]] |date=August 2004 |access-date=8 July 2013 }}</ref>

Her 1962 novel ''[[Devil Water]]'' concerns [[James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater|James]], the luckless [[Earl of Derwentwater]] and his involvement with the [[Jacobite rising of 1715]]. She also narrates the story of his brother [[Charles Radclyffe|Charles]], beheaded after the [[Jacobite rising of 1745|1745 rebellion]], the last man to die for the cause. The action of the novel moves back and forth between [[Northumberland]], [[Tyneside]], [[London]], and Virginia. Seton stated that the book developed out of her love for Northumberland. She certainly visited her Snowdon cousins at [[Felton, Northumberland|Felton]]. [[Billy Pigg]], the celebrated [[Northumbrian smallpipe|Northumbrian piper]] played "Derwentwater's Farewell" especially for her. The novel shows her typical thorough research of events and places, though the accents are a little wayward. Seton said that her greatest debt of all was to [[Amy Flagg]] of [[Westoe]] Village in [[South Shields]], her father's birthplace.<ref name="DevilWaterBook">{{cite book |last= Seton|first= Anya|date= 2013|title= Devil Water|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XCouJtOgI94C&pg=PT557|publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|page= 557|isbn=9780547685281}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Anya Seton Grave.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The grave of Anya Seton in [[Putnam Cemetery]] in [[Greenwich, Connecticut]]]]
Seton married twice. Her first marriage was to Hamilton "Ham" Cottier, a Rhodes scholar, whom she married when she was 19 years old.<ref name="AustinChronicle" /> In 1925, Seton gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Pamela. Their second child, Seton, was born in 1928 and died of an overdose in 1979.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name="NYObit" /> Seton and Cottier divorced in 1930 following several extramarital affairs on Seton's part.<ref name=":1" />

Two weeks later, Seton married investment counselor Hamilton "Chan" M. Chase, whom she had had an affair with. Seton and Chase spent the early years of their marriage at her childhood home in Greenwich, Connecticut, Little Peequo, with Seton's mother.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=14 July 2024 |title=Concern for Seton studio |url=https://www.greenwichtime.com/printpromotion/article/Concern-for-Seton-studio-5655617.php |access-date=24 July 2024 |website=Greenwich Time}}</ref> They later built a home called Sea Rune in [[Old Greenwich, Connecticut]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1930, Seton gave birth to the couple's only daughter, Clemency.<ref name="AustinChronicle" /><ref name="HSTGpapers">{{cite web| url=http://www.hstgams.org/hstgWeb/hstgAMS/hstg.asp?ead=MS2&page=ead| title=Anya Seton Papers| author=William E. Finch, Jr.| website=hstgams.org| publisher=The Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich| access-date=27 November 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128133136/http://www.hstgams.org/hstgWeb/hstgAMS/hstg.asp?ead=MS2&page=ead| archive-date=28 November 2016| url-status=dead}}</ref> They divorced in 1968, though Seton continued to live at Sea Rune until her death.<ref name="HSTGpapers" /><ref name=":1" /> 

Seton died of heart failure at the age of 86 on November 8, 1990, at Sea Rune in Old Greenwich, Connecticut,<ref name="ChicagoObit" /><ref name="NYObit" /><ref name=":0" /> and was survived by Pamela and Clemency, five grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.<ref name="WPostObit" /> She is interred at [[Putnam Cemetery]] in Greenwich.<ref name="Library"/>

== Works ==
*''[[My Theodosia]]'' (1941)<ref name="AustinChronicle" />
*''[[Dragonwyck (novel)|Dragonwyck]]'' (1944)<ref name="AustinChronicle" />
*''[[The Turquoise (novel)|The Turquoise]]'' (1946)<ref name="AustinChronicle" />
*''[[The Hearth and Eagle]]'' (1948)<ref name="AustinChronicle" />
*''[[Foxfire (novel)|Foxfire]]'' (1951)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foxfire |url=https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/foxfire/ |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=Historical Novel Society}}</ref>
*''[[Katherine (Seton novel)|Katherine]]'' (1954)<ref name=":0" />
*''[[The Mistletoe and Sword|The Mistletoe and Sword: A Story of Roman Britain]]'' (1955)<ref name=":0" />
*''[[The Winthrop Woman]]'' (1958)<ref name=":0" />
*''Washington Irving'' (1960) illustrated by Harvé Stein<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacKethan |first=Lucinda Hardwick |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1152384889 |title=Anya Seton : a writing life |date=2020 |isbn=978-1-64160-088-0 |location=Chicago, Illinois |oclc=1152384889}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Book Review: Washington Irving |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/anya-seton/washington-irving-3/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>
*''[[Devil Water]]'' (1962)<ref name=":0" />
*''[[Avalon (novel)|Avalon]]'' (1965)<ref name=":0" />
*''[[Green Darkness]]'' (1973)<ref name=":0" />
*''[[Smouldering Fires (novel)|Smouldering Fires]]'' (1975)<ref name="AustinChronicle" />

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==

* {{Cite book|last=MacKethan|first=Lucinda H.|title=Anya Seton: A Writing Life|publisher=Chicago Review Press|year=2020|isbn=978-1641600866}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090806114350/http://www.hstg.org/ Anya Seton's papers, housed at the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seton, Anya}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American historical novelists]]
[[Category:Novelists from New York City]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period]]
[[Category:American women historical novelists]]
[[Category:People from Cos Cob, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Ernest Thompson Seton]]
[[Category:Burials at Putnam Cemetery]]