Having spent some time as a child in Canada, Elinor and her family returned to Britain in 1872. She married Clayton Glyn in 1892. From 1897, she began to contribute articles to Scottish Life magazine, usually on subjects such as beauty and fashion. In 1900, she published her first novel, The Visits of Elizabeth, and it was an immediate success. Her observations on marriage sex and morals continued in 1902 with The Reflections of Ambrosine. In 1905, The Vicissitudes of Evangeline appeared and in 1906, the equally successful Beyond the Rocks was published. Her next book, Three Weeks was considered scandalous at the time and was banned in the US and Great Britain. Naturally, the scandal helped sales and it became a best-seller. In 1908, she toured America and on her return, began an eight-year affair with Lord Curzon. She was invited to Hollywood in 1920 and for much of the following decade was a screenwriter and director. She became close friends with many Hollywood notables including Valentino, Chaplin, Gloria Swanson and, the star she helped to create, Clara Bow. Glyn had coined the term 'It' for a quality of attraction that Bow possessed. Her novella of the same name achieved instant success in 1927. In 1929, she returned to Britain and continued working in films. In 1936, she published her autobiography, Romantic Adventure. Glyn was one of the best-selling British authors of the 20th century. Glyn's sister Lucy, who married Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, also had her claim to fame as one of the survivors of the Titanic in 1912. Glyn's other works include The Reason Why (1911), The Man and the Moment (1918), His Hour (1924), Love's Blindness (1926), The Price of Things (1930) and The Third Eye. |
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