Sheila Kaye-Smith (1887-1956) was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, near Hastings, in Sussex, and lived most of her life in that county. She was an English writer, known for her many novels set in the borderlands of Sussex and Kent in the English regional tradition. Her novel Joanna Godden (1921) based in Romney Marsh was filmed in 1947. Her 1923 book The End of the House of Alard became a best-seller, and gave her prominence; it was followed by other successes and her books enjoyed world-wide sales. Amongst her works are Starbrace (1923), The Mirror of the Months (1925) and Joanna Godden Married and Other Works (1926). Her fiction was noted for being rooted in rural concerns: farming, legacies, land rents, the changing position of women, the effects of industrialisation on the countryside and provincial life, and latterly her religious preoccupations.