Bowen, Elizabeth (Dorothea Cole) (1899–1973)

Irish novelist and short-story writer. Born in Dublin of Anglo-Irish descent, she moved to England as a child. She published her first volume of short stories, Encounters in 1923. Her novels include The Death of the Heart (1938), The Heat of the Day (1949), and The Little Girls (1964).

Her first novels The Hotel (1927) and Last September (1929) introduced a familiar character type in Bowen's fiction, that of an older woman whose presence and influence is ultimately damaging to the protagonists.

Her collections of short stories include Ann Lee's (1928), Joining Charles (1929), The Cat Jumps (1934), The Demon Lover (1946), and Collected Stories (1980). Other novels include The House in Paris (1935), The Shelbourne Hotel (1951), and A World of Love (1955). She also wrote a family history, Bowen's Court (1942); a study of Anthony Trollope (1946); and a book of essays, Collected Impressions (1950).