Ronald James Marsh

Ronald Marsh, sometimes cited as Ronald James Marsh (1914-1987), was a British author who was born in Broadstairs in Kent and spent much of his life in Rochester, where he was City Librarian.

His most widely known novel, Irene (1949), was made into a 1950 film Once a Sinner starring:

Patricia Kirkwood - Irene James
Jack Watling - John Ross
Joy Shelton - Vera Lamb
Sydney Tafler - Jimmy Smart
Thora Hird - Mrs. James

The story is that of John Ross, a bank clerk, who is in love with Irene James for whom he will do anything, including stooping to crime. Irene cannot give up her criminal former boyfriend, Jimmy Smart, while John realises, too late, that he should have remained with his former fiancée. The story ultimately ends in the tragedy so often associated with obsessive love. [1]

Ronald Marsh's other novels include:

• Your Brother Still (1953), which concerns arson in a dockyard (an offence still punishable by death at that time); and
• The Quarry (1962), which was reviewed as being similar in style to Thomas Hardy in its depiction of a man's endurance in the face of the onset of despair.