Rosemary Hawley Jarman


Rosemary Hawley Jarman was an English novelist and writer of short stories. Her first novel in 1971 shed light on King Richard III of England.

Life

Jarman was born in Worcester. She was educated first at Saint Mary's Convent and then at The Alice Ottley School, leaving at 18 to study singing in London for the next three years, having developed a fine soprano voice.
Family circumstances prevented her from continuing with this, and she worked for a time in local government. She married David Jarman in 1958, but divorced amicably from him in 1970. She lived most of her time at Callow End, Worcestershire, between Worcester and Upton on Severn.
Jarman lived for 18 years with the prize-winning naturalist author R. T. Plumb in a West Wales cottage. They married in September 2002, but Plumb died of cancer in October 2003.

Writings

Jarman began to write for pleasure, and developed an obsession with the character of King Richard III. With no thought of publication she completed a 228,000 word novel showing the king in his true colours, away from Tudor and Shakespearian propaganda. The book was taken up almost accidentally by an agent, and within six weeks a contract for publication and four other novels was signed with William Collins Publishers,.
The author had short stories published in magazines in the UK and France and was a member of the Society of Authors from 1970. She was dubbed "A Daughter of Mark Twain" by the Samuel Clemens Society in the US for her services to literature.

Published works