NOTED LINCOLNSHIRE WRITER

Miss Margaret Anne Curtois dies in London
A scalding tragedy

Her many friends in Lincolnshire will regret to learn of the death, which occurred under tragic circumstances on Wednesday, of Miss Margaret Anne Curtois aged 76 years, second daughter of the late Rev Atwill Curtois, of Longhills, Rector of Branston. Miss Curtois, who for the last 40 years had lived in London, and whose residence since 1915 had been at 153 Romney Street, Westminster, near to Westminster Abbey, was severely scalded in her bath on Tuesday, and toxaemia supervening, passed away the following day.

Miss M A Curtois

The death last week of Miss Margaret Anne Curtois prompts a correspondant to send us a few lines about her career as a novelist and author of books for children and girls.

Miss Curtois had been writing for over fifty years and her best and most distinguished work was produced in the last twenty years of her life. Her last book, "In Minden Town," published in 1924, is a subtle, brilliant, and delicate story; and most decidedly her best novel. Other books of hers by which her readers will remember her best are "Nightshade," "Jenny: A Village Idyll," "A Summer in Cornwall," and "The Story of a Circle." Of her books of fairy-tales her best known was "Elfland beauties." All her books were composed with care and written with a sense of the value, all the value, of words; and they present living and convincing characters, without any taint of the desire to exploit intellectual fads or foibles. Her death will be lamented by the choice, if not very large, audience who like in art the refined movement and the gentle line. Her touch upon all her world was both swift and unerring, but the great charm of her books is their brightness and unexpectedness; they light up so many little unsuspected corners in a world that is all too plentifully curtained.