# Susan Kay

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{{Short description|British writer}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see [:Template:Infobox Writer/doc](/source/%3ATemplate%3AInfobox_Writer%2Fdoc). --> 
| name          = Susan Kay
| image         =
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| pseudonym     = Susan Kay
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = {{Birth year and age|1952}}
| birth_place   = [Manchester](/source/Manchester), England
| death_date    = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
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| occupation    = Novelist
| language      = English
| nationality   = British
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| period        = 1985–1990
| genre         = Historical fiction
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| children      = 2
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'''Susan Kay''' (born 1952) is a British writer, the author of two award-winning novels: ''Legacy'' and ''[Phantom](/source/Phantom_(Kay_novel))''.

==Biography==
Kay was born on 1952 in [Manchester](/source/Manchester), England. She worked as a primary school teacher until leaving to bring up a family, and now lives with her husband and two children in [Cheshire](/source/Cheshire).

==Works==
Kay’s first novel was ''Legacy'' (1985), about the life of [Queen Elizabeth I](/source/Queen_Elizabeth_I) and won a [Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize](/source/Georgette_Heyer_Historical_Novel_Prize) and a [Betty Trask Award](/source/Betty_Trask_Award) in 1985.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.societyofauthors.org/betty-trask-past-winners| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110722223137/http://www.societyofauthors.org/betty-trask-past-winners| archive-date = 2011-07-22| title = Betty Trask Past Winners {{!}} Society of Authors - Protecting the rights and furthering the interests of authors}}</ref>

Her second novel, ''[Phantom](/source/Phantom_(Kay_novel))'' (1991), expands upon the history of Erik, the hideous, brilliant character from [Gaston Leroux](/source/Gaston_Leroux)'s ''[The Phantom of the Opera](/source/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera_(novel))'', in an episodic format of seven chapters from different characters' points of view – first Erik's mother, immediately revolted by her own son; then Erik as a boy being exhibited as a circus freak; then Giovanni, a character of Kay's creation, who takes him in; then Nadir, known in Leroux's novel as the Persian, who is greatly expanded upon and gives an account of Erik in the bloodiest days of his life; then Erik, describing how he settled into his role as Phantom of the Opera; then a back-and-forth narrative between Erik and [Christine Daaé](/source/Christine_Daa%C3%A9), whom he loves obsessively; and lastly, Raoul de Chagny, Erik's rival, giving the [denouement](/source/denouement). She did not travel to Iran to research the novel, <!--contrary to the previous Wikipedia entry,-->although she did research in person at the [Paris Opera House](/source/Paris_Opera_House). The novel won the [Romantic Novel of the Year Award](/source/Romantic_Novel_of_the_Year_Award) by the [Romantic Novelists' Association](/source/Romantic_Novelists'_Association) in 1991.<ref name="RoNAAwards">{{Citation|title=Awards by the Romantic Novelists' Association|url=http://www.romanticnovelistsassociation.org/index.php/awards|date=14 July 2012}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* ''Legacy'' (1985)
* ''[Phantom](/source/Phantom_(Kay_novel))'' (1990)

==References and sources==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.kaysphantom.com |title=Susan Kay's Phantom Plans Info on book |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301001719/http://kaysphantom.com/ |archivedate=1 March 2009 |df=dmy-all }}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.ladyghost.com/susan_kay.html |title=Susan Kay interview by Ladyghost |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102080825/http://www.ladyghost.com/susan_kay.html |archivedate=2 January 2011 |df=dmy-all }}
*{{Citation|title=Susan Kay at FantasticFiction|url=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/susan-kay|date=14 July 2012}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kay, Susan}}
Category:1952 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century English novelists
Category:Writers from Manchester
Category:British historical novelists
Category:British women historical novelists
Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period
Category:20th-century English women novelists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Susan Kay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Kay) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Kay?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.