| Maureen Stephenson | |
| Birth Name: | Maureen Duffy |
| Birth Date: | 14 February 1927 |
| Birth Place: | Manchester, England |
| Death Place: | Ansley, Warwickshire, England |
| Known For: | Author |
| Children: | 3 |
Maureen Stephenson (b. Manchester, England, 14 February 1927, d. Ansley, England, 5 July 2008) was an author of romantic, gothic and contemporary mysteries.[1]
Stephenson was born to father Joseph Duffy, a tailor, and mother Anne, née Byrom. She attended high school in London. She married Louis John Stephenson, an engineer and later Warwickshire County councillor,[2] in 1954. They had three children. She lived at Ansley Mill Farm, Ansley,[2] from 1978 until her death. The mill is thought to be the inspiration for George Eliot's 1860 novel The Mill on the Floss.[2]
She worked as a production secretary and in film continuity at several major studios, notably Shepperton Studios from 1944-1947, Pinewood Studios from 1948-1950, Denham Studios from 1950-1952 and Ealing Studios from 1952–1954. Of this work, she said "I found working on film scripts invaluable in learning how to build up a story and a character."[3]
Films on which she worked included:
Stephenson started writing when her father paid for her to take a correspondence course in fiction writing, about which she said, "In my opinion, such courses are the best way to start."[4] While on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales in 1977 she started writing romantic mysteries. She was influenced by the Brontë sisters, stating that "They achieve a mystical otherworldliness that I admire."[3] The majority of her books were published through Robert Hale.[5]
Unbeknownst to Stephenson – Wath Moor US publication rights were unlawfully "sold" to an American named Elliot as part of a tax evasion scheme in which expenses and purported losses associated with publication were to be used to reduce the buyer's liability for income tax. The plan did not succeed.[6]
She published a small run of A Brief History of Ansley around 2000.[9] She was a featured author as part of the second World Book Day in 1999.[10]