Rona Randall

Rona Green Shambrook
Born	Rona Green 16 June 1911 Birkenhead, Cheshire, England
Pen name	Rona Randall, Rona Shambrook, Virginia Standage
Occupation	Novelist
Language	English
Nationality	British
Period	1942–2001
Genre	Gothic, romance
Notable awards	RoNA Award
Spouse	Frederick Walter Shambrook
Children	1

Rona Shambrook, née Green (b. 16 June 1911 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England), was a British writer of over 50 gothic, romance novels, and some non-fiction books, under the pseudonym of Rona Randall from 1942 to 2001. She also used her married name Rona Shambrook and the pseudonym of Virginia Standage. In 1970, her novel Broken Tapestry won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.^[1]

Biography

Personal life

Born Rona Green on 16 June 1911 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK.^[2] Her education includes: Pitmans College in London, a Diploma in English Literature at Royal Society of Art, Birkenhead School of Art Literary.^[3]

In 1938, she married Frederick Walter Shambrook, she had a son.^[3]

Career and works

A former actress, before writing, she worked also as journalist and sub-director of publishing company Amalgamated Press, and as assistant editor of George Newnes Ltd.^[3]

Published since 1942, she started publishing mainly contemporary doctor nurse romances, before writing also gothic romances, and when the market for gothic novels softened, she wrote historical mystery romances. In 1970, Broken Tapestry, her contemporary novel about a broken family, won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.^[1]

In 1989, she wrote her The Model Wife: Nineteenth Century Style, a book about social constumbres, including clothing. In 1992, she wrote Writing Popular Fiction, a complete guide for writers.

Bibliography

As Rona Randall

Single novels

• The Moon Returns (1942)
• Doctor Havelock's Wife (1943)
• Rebel Wife (1944)
• The Late Mrs. Lane (1945)
• That Girl, Jennifer! (1946)
• The Howards of Saxondale (1946)
• The Fleeting Hour (1947)
• She Married a Doctor (1947) aka I Married a Doctor aka The Doctor Takes a Wife
• The Street of the Singing Fountain (1948)
• Shadows on the Sand (1949)
• Delayed Harvest (1950)
• Young Dr. Kenway (1950)
• The Island Doctor (1951)
• Bright Morning (1952)
• Girls in White (1953)
• Young Sir Galahad (1953)
• Journey to Love (1953) aka Journey to Arcady
• Faith, Hope and Charity (1954) aka Sisters in Nursing aka Lab Nurse
• The Merry Andrews (1954)
• Desert Flower (1955)
• A Girl Called Ann (1956)
• Leap in the Dark (1956)
• Runaway from Love (1956)
• The Cedar Tree (1957)
• Nurse Stacey Comes Aboard (1958)
• The Doctor Falls in Love (1958)
• Dancing Cinderella (1959)
• Love and Dr. Maynard (1959)
• Enchanted Eden (1960)
• Sister at Sea (1960)
• Girl in Love (1961)
• Hotel de Luxe (1961)
• House Surgeon at Luke's (19)
• Walk Into My Parlour (1962) aka Lyonhurst
• Murmuring Willow (1962) aka The Willow Herb
• Seven Days from Midnight (1965)
• The Arrogant Duke (1966)
• Knight's Keep (1967)
• Broken Tapestry (1969)
• The Witching Hour (1970)
• Silent Thunder (1971) aka Mountain of Fear
• The Midnight Walker (1973) aka Glenrannoch
• Dragonmede (1974)
• The Watchman's Stone (1975)
• The Eagle at the Gate (1978)
• The Mating Dance (1979)
• The Ladies of Hanover Square (1981)
• Curtain Call (1983)
• The Frozen Ceiling (1999)
• The Tower Room (2001)

Potters Saga

1. The Drayton Legacy (1986)
2. The Potter's Niece (1987)
3. The Rival Potters (1990)

Non-Fiction

• Jordan and the Holy Land (1968)
• The Model Wife: Nineteenth Century Style (1989)
• Writing Popular Fiction (1992)

As Rona Shambrook

Single novels

• The Silver Cord (1963)

As Virginia Standage

Single novels

• Golden Rebel (1981)

References and sources

1. Awards by the Romantic Novelists' Association, 4 August 2012
2. Geoffrey Handley-Taylor (1972), Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire Authors Today, Eddison Press Ltd, p. 70
3. Ernest Kay (1989), The International Authors and Writers Who's Who, International Biographical Centre, p. 1017