Dilly Court | |
---|---|
Born | 1940 (age 82–83) London, England |
Pen name | Lily Baxter |
Genre | Historical fiction |
Website | |
dillycourt |
Dilly Court (born 1940) is an English author of popular historical fiction and family saga novels also writing under the pseudonym of Lily Baxter. [1] She published her first book when she was 65 and, as of 2023 [update] , her novels have sold more than four million copies. [1]
Court grew up in north east London, leaving school when she was 16 to work as a secretary at broadcaster Associated-Rediffusion. [1] Working in the advertising department, she was able to move into a copywriting position, which allowed her to exercise her love of writing. [1]
Court did not begin writing novels until 1997, and it took until 2005 and a string of rejections before one was accepted for publication: Mermaids Singing. [1] As of 2020 she has published more than 30 novels, and had multiple titles on The Sunday Times Bestseller List including The Button Box, which reached #2 in 2017. [2] [3] [4] In 2023, her novel Dolly's Dream reached #2 on The Bookseller 's Official Top 50 UK chart and #1 on their Mass Market Fiction chart. [5]
Despite her impressive sales, her books have largely been ignored by critics. In 2020, Robbie Millen, literary editor for The Times , admitted that he hadn't previously heard of Court and that his paper had never reviewed any of her titles, nor had other major British newspapers. [6]
Court has been married twice (in 1967, to a sea captain, and in 1995, to a dentist) and has two children. [1] As of 2023 [update] she resides in Dorset. [1]
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