(née Malagoni, adopted stepfather's name Hooke, married name Thomas) Playwright, biographer, children's writer, and author of six novels. Her trilogy of humorous novels about young people in the 1930s—Striplings (1933), Close of Play (1936), and Own Wilderness (1938)—were published under the name "N. Warner Hooke" and garnered comparisons to Wodehouse, later turned into a successful play. One early fan included Margaret Sanger, whose letter of praise and request for a sequel to Striplings is included in the opening to Close of Play. Hooke's later books were written under "Nina Warner Hooke". Home Is Where You Make It (1952) is a memoir about two Londoners creating the home of their dreams from a row of derelict hovels, while Darkness I Leave You (1956) was described as "a rip-roaring melodrama set appropriately in Victorian England", and Deadly Record (1958) is a crime novel and was also adapted for the stage. In later years, she published several children's books—The Starveling (1958, aka White Christmas and The Snow Kitten), about "how a homeless kitten melts the sad cold heart of a spinster", Pepito (1978, aka Little Dog Lost), A Donkey Called Paloma (1981), and The Moon on the Water (1982). The Seal Summer (1964) appears to be a memoir about her interactions with a friendly wild seal during one summer holiday.