Angela Lambert
Angela Lambert, born Angela Maria Helps in 1940 in Kent, England, is a notable British author and journalist. She grew up in a bilingual household, speaking both English and German, and had a challenging upbringing marked by a disdain for her boarding school experience. After studying philosophy, politics, and economics at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, Lambert ventured into various journalistic roles, including assistant editor of Modern Women and a reporter for major newspapers, while initially holding socialist views.
Her literary career spans both historical nonfiction and fiction, with her first two books focusing on social histories of the British aristocracy and pre-World War II society. Lambert is perhaps best known for her novels, which often explore themes of love, companionship, and the complexities of relationships. Her acclaimed works, such as "A Rather English Marriage," delve into the emotional struggles of individuals from different social backgrounds. Additionally, Lambert's romance novels, including "Kiss and Kin," garnered awards, showcasing her versatility as a writer. Her most recent novel, "The Property of Rain," draws on her historical knowledge to tackle serious themes, further establishing her as a significant voice in contemporary literature.
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Angela Lambert
Writer
- Born: April 14, 1940
- Birthplace: Kent, England
- Died: September 6, 2007
Biography
Angela Lambert was born Angela Maria Helps in Kent, England, in 1940. Her father, John Donald Helps, was a civil engineer working for the government; her mother, Edith Paula Alice Helps, was German, and Lambert grew up speaking both English and German. In an essay entitled “Mummy,” she describes her mother as “a noisy vain woman,” full of racial prejudice. Her parents sent her off to boarding school, an experience she said she hated “every minute for seven years.” Lambert gained a place at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, where she studied philosophy, politics, and economics and graduated in 1961. The next year, she married Martin Lambert, with whom she had three children before he left her in 1967.
Lambert was a journalist, becoming assistant editor of Modern Women in 1962, joining the Independent newspaper in 1995, and freelancing for the Daily Mail and the Sunday Telegraph. The latter two newspapers were right-wing, which was surprising, as Lambert espoused socialist views early in her life. In between these jobs, she was a television newscaster from 1972 until 1977 and a television reporter from 1977 until 1988. In 1986, she met her partner, television director Tony Price, and since then the couple has lived in London and France.
Lambert’s first two books were social histories. Unquiet Souls: The Indian Summer of the British Aristocracy, 1880-1918 deals with four aristocratic families, while 1939: The Last Season of Peace is about the debutante season just before the outbreak of World War II. Lambert later returned to historical nonfiction when she published The Lost Life of Eva Braun in 2006.
However, Lambert is best known for her fiction. Love Among the Single Classes, her debut novel, deals with the love of a middle-aged librarian for a Polish immigrant, who turns out to be a most unsuitable lover. Lambert examines the plight of the single woman, whose need for companionship leads her to wrong choices, only increasing her unhappiness. In her second novel, No Talking After Lights, Lambert returns to her childhood experiences of boarding school. The novel tells the story of a young woman who, unlike Lambert, does not wish to leave her boarding school.
Her best-known novel, A Rather English Marriage, features two widowers from different social classes and examines their emotional involvement, or lack of involvement, in relationships. This book was followed by three romance novels, one of which, Kiss and Kin, a novel about love in middle age, won the Parker Romantic Novel of the Year Award for 1998. Lambert returned to her earlier literary fiction in The Property of Rain, the tale of British soldiers in India, a gang rape, and a revenge killing. The novel drew on her strength as a social historian and knowledge of the period between 1914 and 1980.