Anya Seton

Anya Seton was an American author best known for meticulously researched historical novels centred on prominent or overlooked women from the past. Born Ann Seton in New York City in 1904, she was the daughter of naturalist and writer Ernest Thompson Seton and travel writer and suffragist Grace Gallatin Seton. Raised largely in Greenwich, Connecticut, she travelled extensively from childhood, and her encounters with historical places in Europe, Asia and the United States later influenced the settings of her fiction.

Seton’s best-known novels include Katherine, about Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt; The Winthrop Woman, based on the life of colonial settler Elizabeth Fones; Dragonwyck, Green Darkness and My Theodosia. She regarded her books as biographical novels, combining documented events with fictional treatment after intensive research and visits to relevant locations. Her work helped establish a popular form of historical fiction distinguished by strong female protagonists, romantic drama and close attention to period detail.