It’s International Women’s Day today, and it only seemed right that we celebrate some of the inspirational female authors we have here at Biteback and The Robson Press, because we really do have some fantastic ladies on our books. Some of them have excelled in their male dominated fields, some of them have overcome great personal losses, and some of them have worked tirelessly to help others. In a series of blogs throughout the day we will celebrate some of them.
Mavis Batey
Thought wartime intelligence was one for the boys? Think again. Mavis Batey was a Bletchley Park codebreaker from 1940 to 1945, and a key figure in the codebreaking intelligence which led to the British victory at the Battle of Cape Matapan, the biggest naval success since the Battle of Trafalgar. Mavis began her studies at University College London, but she soon left university to apply to work at the Foreign Office, at the outbreak of World War 2. The author of numerous books, Mavis also advised Kate Winslet during the making of the film Enigma. Her book, Dilly: The Man Who Broke Enigmas, a biography of Britain’s leading wartime codebreaker, was released in 2009. Later in life she became a successful literary and garden historian, campaigning to save Britain’s historic parks and gardens.