Katherine Cecil Thurston

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Katherine Cecil Thurston (April 18, 1875 - September 5, 1911) was an Irish-born novelist. Born Katherine Cecil Madden in Cork, Ireland, she was the only daughter of banker Paul J. Madden (also Mayor of Cork 1885-1886) and Catherine Madden (nee Barry). Privately educated, by the end of the nineteenth century she was a contributing author of short stories for various British publications such as Pall Mall Magazine, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Harpers, Windsor Magazine, and others.

In 1901, she married writer Ernest Temple Thurston (1879-1933). They separated in 1907 and were divorced in 1910. According to The Times, 8 April, 1910, the divorce was filed on grounds of his adultery and desertion. The suit went undefended. "He complained that she was making more money by her books than he was, that her personality dominated his and had said that he wanted to leave her."

Katherine Thurston's novels achieved success not only in Great Britain but in the United States as well. Her best known work was a political thriller titled John Chilcote (as The Masquerader in the United States) published in 1904. It was on the New York Times Best Seller list for two years, ranking as the third best-selling book for 1904 and the seventh best selling in 1905. Ms. Thurston's next book, The Gambler, came out in 1905 and it too made the list of bestselling novels in the United States for that year, coming in at number 6. It marked the first time the New York Times recorded any author, female or male, as having two top ten books in a single year. In 1910, she was back on the New York Times best selling books of the year list at number 4 with her novel, "Max," the story of a young Russian princess, who, disguised as a boy, flees to the Montmartre Quarter of Paris the night before her arranged marriage.

Thurston's book John Chilcote was adapted to the stage by John Hunter Booth and opened on Broadway in 1917. It was made into a motion picture four times, the first silent film by American Pathé in 1912 under the title The Compact and starring Crane Wilbur; the second was a 1920 Russian / French co-production titled Chlen parlamenta. Two more films were made using the American book title The Masquerader in 1922 and then by the Samuel Goldwyn Company in 1933 as a "talkie" starring Ronald Colman.

An epileptic, her blossoming career was cut short at the age of thirty-six when she was found in her hotel room in Cork dead. The official inquiry held 6 September 1911, lists the cause of death from asphyxia as result of an epileptic seizure. It is speculated however that Katherine took her own life and this was covered up given that she was from a prominent Cork family. She was due to remarry later that month, and is buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Cork.

[edit] Bibliography

The Circle (1903)
John Chilcote M.P. (aka The Masquerader) (1904) - # 3 best selling book in the U.S. for the year 1904 and # 7 for 1905
The Gambler (1905) - # 6 best selling book in the U.S. for the year 1905
The Mystics (1907)
The Fly on the Wheel (1908)
*Max (1910) - #4 best selling book in the U.S. for the year 1910