Marianne Smythe

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"The sky was black, the seas were black yet the poor child's eyes cried nothing but crimson blood..."

'Night of the Black Cat' 

Marianne Smythe -1900 to 1955- was an American/Australian novelist. She was born on 6th January 1900 to Alice and Jonathan Smythe (who later had a son, Timothy, in 1905)in Canberra.

Whilst living in Australia, Marianne and her family suffered terrible hardships. They were a poor family - Jonathan had an accident at work which left his left arm paralysed so he was unable to work - and so Alice had to work as a washerwoman. The pay was too low for her to be able to support her family so they decided to emigrate to America, where they believed that jobs would be easily available.

The family travelled to America aboard the ship 'The Black Cat' in 1912. It was during this journey that Marianne's brother, Timothy, sadly died from the disease TB, but as they were already a poor family they could not afford adequate treatment. When the family arrived in America they had plans to move to New York, but were unable to do so because of the New York Federal Immigration Act which did not allow new immigrants to move into heavily populated areas until they had been American citizens for at least five years. Marianne and her family were forced to move to Long Island, close to [[[New York]] instead of directly in New York.

They expected to get jobs immediately, but unfortunately this was not the case. Her father ended up working in a lumber mill until he died aged 80 in 1950. Marianne herself wrote her first novel aged 20, entitled 'Night of the Black Cat' a murder mystery based loosely around the death of her brother, (the ship they travelled on was called The Black Cat and the victim in the book is a young boy.) She met and married Peter Stokes in 1921, a salesman for a company that sold ink pens. In 1928 she wrote her second book, A Winter's Melody, which was about the first world war and the treatment she received during it. As an immigrant, there was much suspicion surrounding Marianne as a child, her family was not trusted and even when her father went to fight in the war, people still did not like her.

The book is a fictional autobiography, the main character is called Susan Linkwater (often just referred to as Miss Linkwater) and is written as if a diary. In 1921 Marianne gave birth a baby girl which died in childbirth before she could be named. Later, in 1925 she gave birth again, this time to twins, Peter (after his father) and Emily (after Marianne's grandmother).

Her fourth book, 'Dancing Lights' is about her two children as they grow up. In 1947 she wrote her last well known book, 'Salt of the Outback' a collection of memoirs from her time in Australia.

From 1948 to 1955 she wrote little, writing only for newspapers and magazines and a few children's stories, 'Mr Muggles and the Lemon Thief' and 'Jane Joyce's Journey'. In 1955 Marianne was visiting relatives in Queensland, Australia when she was savagely bitten by a crocodile.

She was rushed to hospital but died the same day from severe wounds. Her funeral took place a week after her death, 21st February 1955. She is not a well known author now because of rapidly changing trends in literature. Her style varied from Agatha Christie to simple memoirs. Her grave can be seen in New York along with that of her husband.

Sources: An Encyclopedia of America's Forgotton Authors (1989 edition)
Memoirs of a Long Journey

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