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The Collected Works of Lorna Moon
For the first time, The Collected Works of Lorna Moon brings together her much acclaimed novel Dark Star, collected short stories Doorways in Drumorty, and a selection of her previously unpublished letters and poetry to offer a fresh perspective on this unusual a woman who travelled a long distance from Scotland and yet, imaginatively, took Scotland with her and re-fashioned the experiences of her early years.
The life story of Lorna Moon from her escape from Scotland, a series of romantic adventures, to a career as a script writer in the early days of Hollywood, presents the wildest challenge to our expectations for a woman in rural Scotland in the early twentieth century. Her writing, in equally dramatic fashion, takes the conventional subject of Scottish small-town life, and reshapes it through a combination of satirical analysis and melodramatic romance that no other writer from the north-east has achieved. The Collected Works of Lorna Moon is an enchanting collection, edited and introduced by Glenda Norquay, scholar of Scottish fiction and featuring a foreword by Richard de Mille, the illegitimate son of Lorna Moon and Hollywood director Cecil B. de Mille's brother William, in order to provide insight into the life of an extraordinary woman.
The life story of Lorna Moon from her escape from Scotland, a series of romantic adventures, to a career as a script writer in the early days of Hollywood, presents the wildest challenge to our expectations for a woman in rural Scotland in the early twentieth century. Her writing, in equally dramatic fashion, takes the conventional subject of Scottish small-town life, and reshapes it through a combination of satirical analysis and melodramatic romance that no other writer from the north-east has achieved. The Collected Works of Lorna Moon is an enchanting collection, edited and introduced by Glenda Norquay, scholar of Scottish fiction and featuring a foreword by Richard de Mille, the illegitimate son of Lorna Moon and Hollywood director Cecil B. de Mille's brother William, in order to provide insight into the life of an extraordinary woman.
- GenresFiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2002
39 people want to read
About the author
Lorna Moon
9 books4 followersLorna Moon (born Nora Helen Wilson Low) was a Scottish author and screenwriter from the early days of Hollywood. She was born in Strichen in Aberdeenshire.
In 1907 Nora emigrated to Canada with her husband, William Hebditch. She worked as a journalist in Winnipeg where she adopted a pen-name based on her literary inspiration, Lorna Doone. An anecdote tells how she contacted Cecil B. DeMille and offered a critical appraisal of the screenplays of the day. He challenged her to come to Hollywood and write them herself if she thought she could do better; and by 1921 she did just that, working as a script girl and screenwriter.
Her literary works include Doorways in Drumorty (1925), a collection of short stories, and the novel Dark Star (1929). Dark Star was a critical success, and in 1930 was adapted for the screen as Min and Bill, starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Doorways in Drumorty contained a series of stories set in a fictional Scottish town: however the location and characters were drawn from her memories of Strichen, much to the indignation of certain of the townspeople, and her work was banned from the local library.
During her career in Hollywood she had a child by Cecil B. DeMille’s brother William. This child, Richard, grew up unaware of his mother’s identity; in later years he discovered his parentage and wrote the memoir My Secret Mother, Lorna Moon.
Lorna Moon contracted tuberculosis and died in a sanatorium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1930, aged 44. She was cremated and her ashes were returned to Scotland, to be scattered on Mormond Hill near Strichen.
In 1907 Nora emigrated to Canada with her husband, William Hebditch. She worked as a journalist in Winnipeg where she adopted a pen-name based on her literary inspiration, Lorna Doone. An anecdote tells how she contacted Cecil B. DeMille and offered a critical appraisal of the screenplays of the day. He challenged her to come to Hollywood and write them herself if she thought she could do better; and by 1921 she did just that, working as a script girl and screenwriter.
Her literary works include Doorways in Drumorty (1925), a collection of short stories, and the novel Dark Star (1929). Dark Star was a critical success, and in 1930 was adapted for the screen as Min and Bill, starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Doorways in Drumorty contained a series of stories set in a fictional Scottish town: however the location and characters were drawn from her memories of Strichen, much to the indignation of certain of the townspeople, and her work was banned from the local library.
During her career in Hollywood she had a child by Cecil B. DeMille’s brother William. This child, Richard, grew up unaware of his mother’s identity; in later years he discovered his parentage and wrote the memoir My Secret Mother, Lorna Moon.
Lorna Moon contracted tuberculosis and died in a sanatorium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1930, aged 44. She was cremated and her ashes were returned to Scotland, to be scattered on Mormond Hill near Strichen.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 10, 2019
How could such an amazing Scottish writer be so under-rated? George McKay Brown meets Compton McKenzie meets Louise Welsh meets Jenni Fagan. How weird is that? Definitely worth checking out. Classic Scottish literature.
April 1, 2020
I came to this author via Sara Sheridan’s ‘Where are all the women?’ - a geographical journey mapping out Scotland’s female unsung heroes. I had never heard of Lorna Moon before, never mind her remarkable journey that took her from Strichen, Aberdeenshire to Hollywood. She doesn’t even merit a mention in the four volume History of Scottish Literature covering several centuries that I have sitting on my bookshelves. Maybe she was still being unjustly classified as Kailyard...
I really wanted to be swept away with her writing as I was by her life story, but I struggled initially to feel the love for her short stories and I’m not sure why. They are concise mini-narratives and her characterisation is superb. I admired them but they I wasn’t loving them. Some landed more than others. ‘Feckless Maggie Ann’ however was as brutal as anything Flannery O’Connor has written. And I loved ‘Dark Star’, her novel, which sounded like it would be less sophisticated after reading the introduction. Worth persevering, if like me, you struggle at first. It’s highly likely however that this was more down to me than the author. Deserves a much wider audience for sure.
I really wanted to be swept away with her writing as I was by her life story, but I struggled initially to feel the love for her short stories and I’m not sure why. They are concise mini-narratives and her characterisation is superb. I admired them but they I wasn’t loving them. Some landed more than others. ‘Feckless Maggie Ann’ however was as brutal as anything Flannery O’Connor has written. And I loved ‘Dark Star’, her novel, which sounded like it would be less sophisticated after reading the introduction. Worth persevering, if like me, you struggle at first. It’s highly likely however that this was more down to me than the author. Deserves a much wider audience for sure.
January 18, 2015
Thought the short stories were like a North East Cranford and really enjoyed "Dark Star" too. Think I'll try to read her biography.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews