Lucy Maria Boston was a British author, especially noted for the fact that she did not have her first book published until she was over 60. (for those unpublished authors, there is still hope) She is best known for her Green Knowe books, inspired by her home The Manor, one of the oldest permanently inhabited houses in Britain (her books were illustrated by her son Peter Boston (1918- 1999). Born Lucy Wood in Southport, Lancashire, and educated at a girls' boarding school on the Sussex coast, she married Harold Boston in 1917, and moved to The Manor in the late 1930s, shortly after separating from her husband. She also had a deep love of classical music, and she made a lot of patchwork, as well as being a keen gardener well into her nineties. Besides the Green Knowe series, she also wrote a dozen others including The House That Grew, The Guardians of the House, The Fossil Snake, and The Sea Egg. By recommendations from her publishers, Lucy published her books as L.M. Boston in order to keep her gender anonymous. Publishers assured her that a 1950's audience would not be interested in adventure books written by women. Lucy discussed this as well as her life in The Manor in her autobiography entitled Memory in a House. Lucy lived to be 98 years old and did get to enjoy her fame. 
The Manor, home of Lucy M. Boston
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