Norma Lorimer

Norma Octavia Lorimer (1864–1948) was a Scots novelist and travel writer, who has been called "One of the most notable early female novelists of the Isle of Man."

Biography

Lorimer was born in Auchterarder, Perthshire, the eighth and youngest daughter in a family of eleven. Lorimer was raised at Ballasherlodge in Colby, Isle of Man, to which "she returned to in her fiction, showing clearly that she had 'lost her heart' to the South of the Island." She attended Castletown High School.

In the 1890s, Lorimer became secretary to Douglas Sladen, with whom she wrote book two of Queer Things about Sicily (Sicily from a Woman's Point of View). She contributed to the Girl's Own Paper and wrote numerous travel books and 26 "rather sentimental novels." "Perhaps her best book was On Etna," her novel A Wife out of Egypt became a best-seller. "The grand sweep of emotions in her Manx novels offers a fresh colouring to the history and scenery of the South of the Island whilst demonstrating the variance and colour to Manx novels."

Lorimer died on 14 February 1948, in Perth, Scotland.

Adaptations

The 1919 American silent film Woman, Woman! is based on Lorimer's 1915 novel On Desert Altars.

The 1921 American film The Lure of Egypt is based on Lorimer's 1922 novel There was a King in Egypt.

The 1924 British film Shadow of Egypt is based on Lorimer's 1923 novel The Shadow of Egypt.

Travel books

By the Waters of Sicily (1901)

Sicily from a Woman's Point of View (1905)

More Queer Things about Japan (1905) (with Douglas Sladen)

By the Waters of Carthage (1906)