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Great Lives in Brief
St. Francis of Assisi
Library of Congress # 67-11143
- GenresBiography
230 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1967
About the author
E.M. Almedingen
74 books7 followersBritish novelist, biographer and children's author of Russian origin, born Marta Aleksandrovna Almedingen and also known as Martha Edith Almedingen or von Almedingen.
On her mother's side, she was descended from the aristocratic Poltoratsky family; her maternal grandfather was Serge Poltoratzky, the literary scholar and bibliophile who ended his days in exile, shuttling between France and England. His daughter Olga, the novelist's mother, grew up in Kent but was fascinated by her father's native Russia, where she moved in the early 1880s and married Alexander Almedingen, who had turned his back on his family's military traditions to become a scientist. In 1900 he abandoned his family and they lived in increasingly impoverished circumstances, well described in her memoir Tomorrow Will Come, but the author was able to attend the Xenia Institute and eke out a living in the increasingly desperate times of revolution and civil war. She attended Petrograd University and became a lecturer in English and mediaeval history there in the early 1920's.
In September 1922 she managed to get permission to leave the country and went to England, where she became a well-known children's author. In 1941 she won the $5,000 Atlantic Monthly nonfiction prize for Tomorrow Will Come.
She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951 and received the Book World Festival award in 1968.
On her mother's side, she was descended from the aristocratic Poltoratsky family; her maternal grandfather was Serge Poltoratzky, the literary scholar and bibliophile who ended his days in exile, shuttling between France and England. His daughter Olga, the novelist's mother, grew up in Kent but was fascinated by her father's native Russia, where she moved in the early 1880s and married Alexander Almedingen, who had turned his back on his family's military traditions to become a scientist. In 1900 he abandoned his family and they lived in increasingly impoverished circumstances, well described in her memoir Tomorrow Will Come, but the author was able to attend the Xenia Institute and eke out a living in the increasingly desperate times of revolution and civil war. She attended Petrograd University and became a lecturer in English and mediaeval history there in the early 1920's.
In September 1922 she managed to get permission to leave the country and went to England, where she became a well-known children's author. In 1941 she won the $5,000 Atlantic Monthly nonfiction prize for Tomorrow Will Come.
She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951 and received the Book World Festival award in 1968.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 25, 2009
Not brilliantly written, but delivered the goods on Francis, the "Little Brother", as he called himself. I love everything I hear about this man: I want to learn more about all the men we call saint, having learned more about this one. Like Chesterton exclaims: "how pitifully similar are all the Tyrants of history! How gloriously different the saints!"
May 5, 2022
The writing was fine, but why is he the patron saint of animals?? Doesn't say anything about it in the book and there was one really disturbing incident with a pig...Mostly he just seems mentally ill.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews