Pamela Frankau was born in London, England on January 8, 1908. Daughter of Gilbert Frankau and Dorothea Drummond (Black) Frankau, she grew up in England and was educated in Sussex. Frankau came from a literary family; her father was a popular British novelist, her grandmother was an Edwardian novelist under the name of Frank Danby, and her grand-uncle wrote and produced many musicals under the name Owen Hall.

Frankau wrote more than thirty novels, several dozen articles and short stories, and enjoyed the popularity of being a praised novelist in her time. Her first novel, Marriage of Harlequin, was published in 1927, when she was only nineteen. From 1927 to 1939, she worked as a journalist for publications such as the Amalgamated Press, The Daily Sketch, The Mirror, and the Women's Journal. Her novel The Willow Cabin (1949) was her most popular piece of fiction.

Of Jewish descent, both Frankau and her father converted to Roman Catholicism in 1942. Following her conversion, Frankau spent much of her time in the United States, where she met and married the historian Marshall Dill, Jr. in 1945. Frankau and Dill divorced in 1961, after which she divided her time among residences in Britain, France, and the United States. Frankau died at the age of 59 at her home in Hampstead, London on June 8, 1967.

Sources:

Contemporary Authors Online, "Pamela Frankau." Gale, 2002. "Pamela Frankau." Available from: Gale, Reproduced in Biography Resource Center, Boston College Library (Accessed 1 April 2020). Gale Document Number: GALE|H1000033584.

World Authors: 1900-1950. HW Wilson, 1996. "Pamela Frankau." Available from: Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated (Accessed 1 November 2007).