# Bradda Field > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bradda_Field > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bradda_Field.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradda_Field > Source revision: 1330622696 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Canadian–British novelist (1893–1957)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Use British English|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Bradda Field | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Violet Elsie Bradda Field | birth_date = February {{Birth year|1893}} | birth_place = [Nanaimo](/source/Nanaimo), British Columbia, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|2|4|1893|2||df=yes}} | death_place = [Winchmore Hill](/source/Winchmore_Hill), London, England | mother = [Agnes Herbert](/source/Agnes_Herbert) | other_names = | occupation = Novelist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Violet Elsie Bradda Field''' (February 1893 – 4 February 1957) was a Canadian–British novelist. She is best known for her novels ''The Earthen Lot'' (1928), which marked the beginning of her long publishing relationship with [Constable](/source/Constable_%26_Robinson), and ''Miledi'' (1941), a historical biography of [Emma, Lady Hamilton](/source/Emma%2C_Lady_Hamilton) that was selected as a "Book of the Month" by the [Literary Guild](/source/Literary_Guild). In 1933, she received the [Femina–Vie Heureuse Prize](/source/Prix_Femina) for her novel ''Small Town''. Field was noted for bypassing literary agents in favor of direct dealings with publishers, a practice she inherited from her mother, the travel writer [Agnes Herbert](/source/Agnes_Herbert). == Biography == Violet Elsie Bradda Field was born to British travel writer [Agnes Herbert](/source/Agnes_Herbert) and her husband William George Herbert Field in February 1893.{{rp|72}} She was born in [Nanaimo](/source/Nanaimo), British Columbia, Canada.{{cite web |title=Bradda Field |url=https://doceww.dhil.lib.sfu.ca/person/1485 |website=The Database of Canada's Early Women Writers |access-date=8 September 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250425024317/https://doceww.dhil.lib.sfu.ca/person/1485 |archive-date=25 April 2025 |url-status=live}} She was named after [Bradda Head](/source/Bradda_Head) on the [Isle of Man](/source/Isle_of_Man).{{cite journal |author=Kosc |first=Gregory |year=2019 |title=Spooring for contracts: Agnes Herbert navigates the twentieth-century publishing industry. |url=https://www.academia.edu/56586819 |journal=Publishing History |volume=80 |pages=67–96}}{{rp|72}} She was considered [Anglo–Canadian](/source/British_Canadians), having been born in Canada, but raised in [Manchester](/source/Manchester).{{rp|83}} Field's first known manuscript, ''If We Could Wait'', was submitted unsuccessfully to the [Bodley Head](/source/Bodley_Head) around 1925.{{rp|87–88}} She later submitted another manuscript, ''The Earthen Lot'', to [Chatto & Windus](/source/Chatto_%26_Windus), before receiving a publishing offer from [Constable](/source/Constable_%26_Robinson). Her debut novel, ''The Earthen Lot'', was published by Constable in 1928, beginning a publishing relationship that continued until 1942.{{rp|88–91}} Field took an active role in the publication of her works, negotiating royalties, overseeing binding and cover designs, and directing the distribution of review copies. She avoided using professional agents, preferring to deal directly with publishers, a practice influenced by her mother, Agnes Herbert.{{rp|87–90}} In 1933, Field won the [Femina–Vie Heureuse Prize](/source/Prix_Femina) for her novel ''Small Town''.{{cite book |last1=Darwood |first1=Nicola |last2=Turner |first2=Nick |title=Interwar Women's Comic Fiction |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |chapter='Entertaining Malice': The Reception of Satire in Bradda Field's ''Small Town'' (1931)|publication-place=Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England |date=2020 |isbn=978-1-5275-4274-7 |page=}}{{rp|83}} In addition to her first novel, Field wrote the historical work ''Miledi'' between 1934 and 1941. The book, which recounted the life of [Emma, Lady Hamilton](/source/Emma%2C_Lady_Hamilton), was published in 1941 and selected as a "Book of the Month" by the [Literary Guild](/source/Literary_Guild) in the United States, where it was released under the title ''Bride of Glory''.{{rp|91}} Despite a large print run, its financial success was curtailed by the collapse of [Greystone Press](/source/Greystone_Press), which managed U.S. distribution.{{rp|91}} Field later remarked that she did not rely on writing for her livelihood and that her income was sufficient for her modest needs.{{rp|92}} Following Miledi, she did not publish another novel, citing poor health, the destruction of her home during the Blitz, and disillusionment with publishing setbacks.{{rp|92}} She died at her home in [Winchmore Hill](/source/Winchmore_Hill) on 4 February 1957.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-deaths-field/182001408/ |title=Deaths: Field |newspaper=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph) |publication-place=London |page=14 |date=1957-02-06 |access-date=2025-09-29 |via=Newspapers.com}} == References == {{reflist}} == Further reading == * {{cite book |title=Who Was Who |chapter=Field, Bradda, (died 4 Feb. 1957), Author |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1 December 2007 |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u237206 |isbn=978-0-19-954089-1 |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-237206 |access-date=8 September 2025}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Bradda}} Category:1893 births Category:1957 deaths Category:People from Nanaimo Category:20th-century Canadian women novelists Category:20th-century Canadian novelists Category:20th-century British women novelists Category:British emigrants to Canada Category:Canadian emigrants to England Category:Writers from Manchester --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bradda Field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradda_Field) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradda_Field?action=history)). 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