{{short description|British novelist and biographer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Use British English|date=October 2016}} '''Doris Leslie''' (née '''Oppenheim''', later '''Lady Fergusson Hannay''') (9 March 1891 – 30 May 1982), was a British novelist and historical biographer. Her novel ''Peridot Flight'' (1956) was serialised in 10 episodes by [[BBC]] TV in October–December 1960.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3897323/filmoseries#tt1650290|title=Doris Leslie|website=[[IMDb]]}}</ref>
==Life== Leslie was born in 1890. She was the last of four children born to a Jewish couple whose family were both involved in the tobacco trade. Her father recognised her talent and sent her to art school. However she wanted to be an actress and after training she appeared in [[Twelfth Night]] at the [[The Old Vic|Old Vic]] as Viola. She married another actor, who served in the First World War and was then killed in the [[Spanish flu|flu pandemic in 1919]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Ashley |first=Leonard R. N. |title=Leslie [née Oppenheim], Doris [other married name Doris Fergusson Hannay, Lady Fergusson Hannay] (1891–1982), novelist |date=2004-09-23 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-56908 |access-date=2025-08-18 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/56908 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
A number of her books had [[dust jacket]]s with illustrated designs by period artists such as [[Philip Gough (artist)|Philip Gough]] and [[Arthur Barbosa]].
She was married three times:<ref>England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index, 1837-1915: John L Isaacson & Doris Oppenheim, St Marylebone London Sep 1914 Vol 1a Page 1588; Reginald V. Cookes & Doris Leslie, Hampstead Middlesex Mar 1930 Vol 1a Page 1089; Walter F L Hannay & Doris Leslie or Cookes, Westminster Middlesex Dec 1936 Vol 1a Page 1325</ref> in 1914 to John Leslie Isaacson (1889–1919); in 1930 to Reginald Vincent Cookes (1894–1948); and in 1936 to Walter Fergusson Leisrink Hannay, who was knighted in 1951 and died in 1961.
==Works==
*''The Starling'' (1927) *''Fools in Mortar'' (1928) *''The Echoing Green'' (1929) *''Terminus'' (1931) *''Puppets Parade'' (1932) *''Full Flavour'' (1934) *''Fair Company'' (1936) *''Concord in Jeopardy'' (1938) *''Another Cynthia: The Adventures of Cynthia, Lady Ffulkes (1780-1850), reconstructed from her hitherto unpublished memoirs'' (1939) *''Royal William: the Story of a Democrat'' (1940); life of [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]] *''House in the Dust'' (1942) *''Polonaise'' (1942); a romance of [[Chopin]] *''Folly's End'' (1944) *''The Peverills'' (1946) *''Wreath for Arabella'' (1948); life of [[Lady Arabella Stuart]] *''That Enchantress'' (1950); life of [[Abigail Hill]], Lady Marsham *''The Great Corinthian'' (1952); portrait of [[the Prince Regent]] *''A Toast to Lady Mary'' (1954); life of [[Lady Mary Wortley Montagu]] *''Peridot Flight: a novel reconstructed from the memoirs of Peridot, Lady Mulvarnie 1872-1955'' (1956) *''Tales of Grace and Favour'' (comprising Another Cynthia, Folly's End, & The Peverills) (1956) *''As the Tree Falls''(1958); later published as ''The King's Traitor'' (1971),<ref>{{Cite web |title=The king's traitor |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/kings-traitor/oclc/16206362 |access-date=9 October 2024 |website=www.search.worldcat.org}}</ref> based on the life of King [[Henry VIII]] *''The Perfect Wife'' (1960); based on the life of [[Mary Anne Disraeli]] *''I Return: The Story of [[François Villon]]'' (1962)<ref>{{Citation | author1=Leslie, Doris | title=I return : the story of François Villon | publication-date=1962 | publisher=Hodder & Stoughton | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10876348 | accessdate=3 July 2013 }}</ref> *''This for Caroline'' (1964); about [[Lady Caroline Lamb]] *''Paragon Street'' (1965) *''The Sceptre and the Rose'' (1967); life of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] and [[Catherine of Braganza]] *''The Marriage of Martha Todd'' (1968) *''House in the Dust'' (1969) *''The Rebel Princess'' (1970); about [[Sophia Dorothea of Celle]] *''A Young Wives' Tale'' (1971) *''The Desert Queen'' (1972); about [[Lady Hester Stanhope]] *''Dragon's Head'' (1973) *''The Incredible Duchess'' (1974); life and times of [[Elizabeth Chudleigh]] *''Call Back Yesterday'' (1975) *''Notorious Lady'' (1976); life and times of the [[Countess of Blessington]] *''The Warrior King'' (1977); the reign of [[Richard the Lionheart]] *''Crown of Thorns'' (1979); life and reign of [[Richard II]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/307149.Doris_Leslie|title = Books by Doris Leslie (Author of the Prime Minister's Wife)}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leslie, Doris}} [[Category:1891 births]] [[Category:1982 deaths]] [[Category:British historical novelists]] [[Category:20th-century British novelists]] [[Category:20th-century British women novelists]] [[Category:American women historical novelists]] [[Category:American historical novelists]] {{UK-novelist-stub}}