Catherine Gavin

{{short description|Scottish historian and novelist (1907–1999)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}} {{Use British English|date=July 2014}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix =  | name = Catherine Gavin | honorific_suffix = DLitt | image =CatherineGavin1969.jpg | image_size = | alt =The face of a middle-aged white woman with short dark hair. | caption =Catherine Gavin, from a 1969 newspaper. | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|5|13}} | birth_place = Aberdeen, Scotland | death_date = 27 December 1999 (age 92) | death_place = | death_cause = | region = | citizenship = | residence = | other_names = | occupation = historian, academic, war correspondent, novelist | period = | known_for = | home_town = | title = | boards =  | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards =  | website = | education = | alma_mater = University of Aberdeen | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences =  | era = | discipline =  | sub_discipline =  | workplaces = University of Aberdeen<br />University of Glasgow<br />Kemsley Newspapers | doctoral_students =  | notable_students =  | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''Catherine Irvine Gavin''' (13 May 1907 – 27 December 1999) was a Scottish academic historian, war correspondent, and historical novelist.<ref name="Alexander">{{cite web|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/catherine-gavin-1.242162|title=Catherine Gavin|last=Alexander|first=Flora|date=1 April 2000|work=Herald Scotland|access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref>

==Early life== Gavin was born in Aberdeen in 1907,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFddDwAAQBAJ&q=Catherine+Gavin+Clyde+Valley&pg=PA289|title=Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers|year=1982|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|isbn=978-1-349-06127-3|pages=289|language=en}}</ref> and studied history and English at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with first-class honours.<ref name="Alexander" /> She completed doctoral work in 1931, with a doctoral thesis on Louis Philippe of France; her thesis was published in 1933.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine Irvine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d50aAAAAMAAJ|title=Louis Philippe, King of the French|date=1933|publisher=Methuen & Company Limited|language=en}}</ref>

== Career == Gavin held positions as a history lecturer at Aberdeen and at the University of Glasgow.<ref name="Alexander" /> She stood unsuccessfully as a Unionist candidate in two parliamentary elections in the 1930s.<ref name="Alexander" />

During World War II, she worked in France and the Netherlands for Kemsley Newspapers.<ref name="Alexander" /> She also wrote a biography of Edward VII, published in 1941. She was a correspondent in the Middle East and Ethiopia after the war, for the Daily Express. After marriage, she worked a few years on the staff of Time magazine in New York.<ref name=":0" /> She wrote about her wartime experiences in ''Liberated France'' (1955).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine Irvine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8sfAAAAMAAJ|title=Liberated France|date=1955|publisher=Cape|language=en}}</ref>

Most of Gavin's literary output was in the genre of historical romance.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Gifford|first=Thomas|date=1969-03-23|title=When Novels Aren't Novel, They're Genre|pages=99|work=Star Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51497428/when-novels-arent-novel-theyre/|access-date=2020-05-17|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> "Her characters are attractive flesh-and-blood people, her narrative adventurous and suspenseful, and her use of history skillful and unerring," reported one American reviewer in 1957.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Barkham|first=John|date=1957-11-30|title=Hazards Ride High|pages=12|work=Tucson Citizen|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51496539/hazards-ride-highjohn-barkham/|access-date=2020-05-17|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The University of Aberdeen awarded her an honorary DLitt in 1986.<ref name="Alexander" /> The Catherine Gavin Room there is named in her honour.<ref name="Alexander" /> The university has a 1940 portrait of her, in oil, by Elizabeth Mary Watt.<ref name="YourPaintings">{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/catherine-gavin-105195|title=BBC – Your Paintings – Catherine Gavin|work=Art UK|access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref>

Gavin appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme ''Desert Island Discs'' on 24 June 1978.<ref name="DID">{{cite web|title=Desert Island Discs – Castaway : Dr Catherine Gavin|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mynt|work=BBC Online|publisher=BBC|access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref>

== Selected works == Gavin's works of historical fiction include the following titles: * ''Clyde Valley'' (1938)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Finkelstein|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdeqBgAAQBAJ&q=Catherine+Gavin+Clyde+Valley&pg=PA239|title=Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland, Volume 4: Professionalism and Diversity 1880–2000|year=2007|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-2884-1|pages=239–240|language=en}}</ref> * ''The Hostile Shore'' (1940) * ''The Black Milestone'' (1941)<ref>{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=Janet Adam|date=19 July 1942|title=The Literary Scene in Scotland|page=BR7|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|}} }}</ref> * ''The Mountain of Light'' (1944) * ''Madeleine'' (1957)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine Irvine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wbw3AAAAIAAJ|title=Madeleine|date=1957|publisher=St. Martin's Press|language=en}}</ref> * ''The Cactus and the Crown'' (1962)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YV8lwwEACAAJ|title=The Cactus and the Crown|date=1962|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Alexander|first=Charles|year=1962|title=An Old Dream Dies, A New is Born|pages=6|work=Albany Democrat-Herald|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51495449/an-old-dream-dies-a-new-is/|access-date=2020-05-17|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * ''The Fortress'' (1964) * ''The Moon Into Blood'' (1966) * ''The Devil in Harbour'' (1968)<ref name=":1" /> * ''The House of War'' (1970)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=frHkAAAAMAAJ|title=The House of War|date=1970|publisher=Morrow|isbn=9780671819262|language=en}}</ref> * ''Give Me the Daggers'' (1972)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtF5nQAACAAJ|title=Give Me the Daggers|date=2005|publisher=Royal National Institute of the Blind|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Harvey|first=Catherine|date=1972-10-22|title=Catherine Gavin Novel Entertaining|pages=102|work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51496098/catherine-gavin-novel/|access-date=2020-05-17|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * ''The Snow Mountain'' (1973)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine Irvine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-gfAQAAIAAJ|title=The Snow Mountain|date=1974|publisher=Pantheon Books|isbn=978-0-394-49179-0|language=en}}</ref> * ''Traitors' Gate'' (1976) * ''None Dare Call It Treason'' (1978)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine Irvine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8H9UGwAACAAJ|title=None Dare Call it Treason|date=1978|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-57706-3|language=en}}</ref> * ''How Sleep the Brave'' (1980) * ''The Sunset Dream'' (1984)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w7-NHAAACAAJ|title=The Sunset Dream|date=1985|publisher=Coronet|isbn=978-0-340-36656-1|language=en}}</ref> * ''A Light Woman'' (1986) * ''A Dawn of Splendour'' (1989)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine Irvine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yiEBJQAACAAJ|title=A Dawn of Splendour|date=1990|publisher=Grafton|isbn=978-0-586-20345-3|language=en}}</ref> * ''The French Fortune'' (1991)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zPfjAAAACAAJ|title=The French Fortune|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-246-13588-9|language=en}}</ref> * One Candle Burning (1996)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavin|first=Catherine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVfBAAAACAAJ|title=One Candle Burning|date=1997|publisher=HarperCollinsPubl.|isbn=978-0-586-20909-7|language=en}}</ref>

== Personal life == In 1948, Gavin married American advertising executive John Ashcraft<ref name=":0" /> and moved to the United States with him.<ref name="Alexander" /> She was widowed in 1998, and died in 1999, aged 92.<ref name="Alexander" />

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * [https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/catherine-gavin/ Catherine Gavin] at Fantastic Fiction. {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavin, Catherine}} Category:1907 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Place of death missing Category:Writers from Aberdeen Category:Scottish war correspondents Category:Scottish historical novelists Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Category:Academics of the University of Aberdeen Category:Academics of the University of Glasgow Category:Unionist Party (Scotland) parliamentary candidates Category:Scottish expatriates in the United States Category:Scottish women writers Category:20th-century Scottish novelists Category:20th-century Scottish historians Category:British women historians Category:British women historical novelists Category:Scottish women academics Category:British women war correspondents Category:Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service volunteers Category:20th-century Scottish women educators Category:20th-century Scottish educators Category:20th-century Scottish women novelists Category:Women war correspondents of World War II

Catherine Gavin

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