Monica Dickens

Monica Enid Dickens, MBE (born 10 May 1915, London — died 25 December 1992, Reading, Berkshire) was an English writer, the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens.

Biography

Known as "Monty" to her family and friends, she was born into an upper middle class London family to Henry Charles Dickens (1878–1966), a barrister, and Fanny (née Runge). She was the grand-daughter of Sir Henry Fielding Dickens KC. Disillusioned with the world she was brought up in — she was expelled from St Paul's Girls' School in London before she was presented at court as a debutante — she decided to go into service despite coming from the privileged class; her experiences as a cook and general servant would form the nucleus of her first book, One Pair Of Hands in 1939.

One Pair Of Feet (1942) recounted her work as a nurse, and subsequently she worked in an aircraft factory and on a local newspaper in Hitchin — her experiences in the latter field of work inspired her 1951 book My Turn To Make The Tea.Charles Pick. . The Independent, 31 December 1992.

Soon after this, she moved from her home in Hinxworth in Hertfordshire to the United States after marrying a United States Navy officer, Roy O. Stratton, who died in 1985. They adopted two daughters, Pamela and Prudence. The family lived in Washington, D.C. and Falmouth, Massachusetts and she continued to write, most of her books being set in Britain. She was also a regular columnist for...
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