Delafield, E M (1890-1943)

English writer. Her amusing Diary of a Provincial Lady (1931) skilfully exploits the foibles of middle-class life. This was so successful that she followed it with three sequels, the last being The Provincial Lady in War Time (1940).

A voluntary ambulance driver in Exeter during World War I, she wrote of her experiences in The War Workers (1918). In 1919 she settled in Devon, where she was a justice of the peace. Her novels include Consequences (1919) and The Way Things Are (1927). Messalina of the Suburbs (1924) and Women Are Like That (1929) are collections of short stories.