Susan Tweedsmuir

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Standard Name: Tweedsmuir, Susan
Birth Name: Susan Charlotte Grosvenor
Nickname: Susie
Married Name: Susan Charlotte Buchan
Titled: Susan Charlotte Buchan, Baroness Tweedsmuir
Pseudonym: Harmonia
ST , still Susan Buchan and married to a more famous author, John Buchan , began publishing in collaboration with him. From their joint novel, published just after the First World War, she continued on her own to biography, books for children, and plays, then to a novel of her own. As a widow she authored a travel book, edited unpublished work by her husband, returned to novel-writing, and found her niche (since much of her work is dominated by recovery of the past) with three volumes of slight and apparently haphazard (but charming) memoirs that took the form of retrospective essays.
Black and white, half-length photograph of Susan Tweedsmuir, seated, in formal evening dress: a pale sleeveless gown with V neck and two medals pinned to it, white elbow-length gloves, a white ostrich-feather fan, tiara, necklace, and drop pearl earrings. Her hair is short, curled at the sides.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Family and Intimate relationships John Buchan
He married Susan Charlotte Grosvenor on 15 July 1907 in London. As a member of English high society she was a surprising choice, but she was also serious-minded and interested both in the arts and...
Friends, Associates Catherine Carswell
CC 's friends included Scotswomen she grew up with—doctors Maud McVail and Isobel Hutton , sculptor Phyllis Clay , and musician Maggie Mather . Among her literary friends were Vita Sackville-West (whom she stayed with...
Friends, Associates Mary Cholmondeley
According to Percy Lubbock , MC and her sisters entertained often and were charming and successful hostesses. Mary was nevertheless said to be a shy and modest woman who, while she found writing tedious, enjoyed...
Friends, Associates Mary Webb
MW was a friend of critic Adrian Bury and was close to Welsh writer and critic Caradoc Evans , who met her in London and in whom she confided her hopes and fears.
His widow's...
Friends, Associates Alison Uttley
By the time AU 's mentor, Professor Alexander, died (deeply upset about Hitler's rule in Germany), she had met another father-figure and important friend, the poet Walter de la Mare . She also developed friendships...
Friends, Associates Angela Thirkell
Her literary friends included Lady Cynthia Asquith , Lady Cynthia's mother Lady Wemyss , Susan, Lady Tweedsmuir , and E. V. Lucas of Punch. With Lucas some kind of breach took place before the...
Friends, Associates Elizabeth Bowen
EB loved Oxford (where she and her husband spent ten years) and became a social success there. She met and became friends with John and Susan Buchan , and it was through them that she...
Literary responses Angela Thirkell
Susan Tweedsmuir much admired The Demon in the House when she first read it, and sent AT a copy of her recent children's book, Arabella, in return.
Strickland, Margot. Angela Thirkell: Portrait of a Lady Novelist. Duckworth, 1977.
83
Literary responses Martin Ross
Reviews were excellent. Susan Tweedsmuir later recorded that it took her the shortest possible time to fall under the spell of Somerville and Ross, and that she remained entranced by their edged style and explosive...
Literary responses Rhoda Broughton
Susan Tweedsmuir later recommended A Waif's Progress as having an irony and outspokenness absent fromRB 's other books, and felt it must have shocked and surprised her public.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. The Edwardian Lady. G. Duckworth, 1966.
48
Literary responses Marie Belloc Lowndes
This was one of the two books by MBL which was recommended to Ernest Hemingway by Gertrude Stein . (He too thought it was about Jack the Ripper.)
Lowndes, Marie Belloc. Diaries and Letters of Marie Belloc Lowndes, 1911-1947. Editor Marques, Susan Lowndes, Chatto and Windus, 1971.
98
Susan Tweedsmuir later wrote of the...
Literary responses Marie Belloc Lowndes
MBL feared her brother would dislike this book because of his unworldliness, his unawareness of his own fame, and his remoteness from contemporary reality. With the public, however, it was an immediate success, and sold...
Literary responses Catherine Carswell
Susan Tweedsmuir said CC was not only hard-working but also had a genius for editorial work.
Pilditch, Jan. Catherine Carswell. A Biography. John Donald, 2007.
169
Literary responses Mary Cholmondeley
Red Pottage was highly controversial when it was published, and its negative depiction of the clergy was denounced from pulpits (though Queen Victoria was rumoured to have read and enjoyed it). One church periodical went...
Literary responses Mary Webb
Susan Tweedsmuir later wrote that Gone to Earth had opened a new door to me,
Tweedsmuir, Susan. A Winter Bouquet. G. Duckworth, 1954.
110
while her husband, John Buchan , wrote of one passage: If this is not magic I do not know...

Timeline

Autumn 1904 to summer 1907: Under the management of playwright and director...

Writing climate item

Autumn 1904 to summer 1907

Under the management of playwright and director Harley Granville-Barker and business manager J. E. Vedrenne , the Court Theatre became the first permanent home of the new drama.
McDonald, Jan. The ’New Drama’ 1900-1914. Grove Press, 1986.
2, 11-16
Tweedsmuir, Susan. A Winter Bouquet. G. Duckworth, 1954.
85

1908: Crossriggs, a homely and unpretentious novel...

Women writers item

1908

Crossriggs, a homely and unpretentious novel by Mary and Jane Helen Findlater , was, said Susan Tweedsmuir years later, one of those books that make a milestone in one's life.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. The Edwardian Lady. G. Duckworth, 1966.
50-1

1911: Flemington, a historical novel by Scottish...

Women writers item

1911

Flemington, a historical novel by Scottish poet and fiction-writer Violet Jacob (1863-1946), drew a long letter of praise from John Buchan .
Tweedsmuir, Susan. The Lilac and the Rose. G. Duckworth, 1952.
54-6

Texts

Tweedsmuir, Susan. A Winter Bouquet. G. Duckworth, 1954.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. Cousin Harriet. G. Duckworth, 1957.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. Funeral March of a Marionette. Hogarth Press, 1935.
Tweedsmuir, Susan, and George Macaulay Trevelyan. John Buchan. Hodder and Stoughton, 1947.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. Lady Louisa Stuart. Hodder and Stoughton, 1932.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. The Edwardian Lady. G. Duckworth, 1966.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. The Lilac and the Rose. G. Duckworth, 1952.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. The Rainbow through the Rain. Hodder and Stoughton, 1950.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. The Scent of Water. Hodder and Stoughton, 1937.
Tweedsmuir, Susan. The Sword of State. Hodder and Stoughton, 1928.