Helen De Guerry Simpson

Helen de Guerry Simpson was born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1897. In 1914, she travelled to France and the UK to continue her studies, and read French at the University of Oxford from 1916 to 1917. In 1918, she joined the Women's Royal Naval Service as a senior section officer specializing in decoding. In 1919, Simpson returned to Oxford to study music and eventually founded the Oxford Women's Dramatic Society, as well as publishing several plays. Her studies ended in 1921 when she broke...See more

Helen de Guerry Simpson was born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1897. In 1914, she travelled to France and the UK to continue her studies, and read French at the University of Oxford from 1916 to 1917. In 1918, she joined the Women's Royal Naval Service as a senior section officer specializing in decoding. In 1919, Simpson returned to Oxford to study music and eventually founded the Oxford Women's Dramatic Society, as well as publishing several plays. Her studies ended in 1921 when she broke university regulations which prohibited male and female students from acting together. In 1927, she married the surgeon Sir Denis John Browne. Her first novel, Acquittal , was published in 1925. One of her most successful works, Boomerang , an historical fiction novel, was published in 1932 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Another novel, Under Capricorn (1937) was adapted into a 1949 British thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. She died in 1940. See less