Putney Author Passes Away

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Emma Smith had a successful career of two halves fifty years apart

Emma Smith in Karachi

Emma Smith passed away peacefully at her home on Commondale on 24 April 2018 aged 94. Fifty years after her first work was first published, Emma enjoyed that rare experience of having two acclaimed memoirs re published to great acclaim.

Emma's debut novel, 'Maidens’ Trip', an account of life on the Grand Union Canal during the second world war, was published in 1948 and won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize.

Emma took her nom de plume having hated her childhood nickname 'Spitty' derived from her birthname Elspeth Hallsmith. She worked as a general assistant/secretary for Laurie Lee when she wrote her first book. She traveled to India with Lee in 1946 and was inspired to write her successful novel Far Cry which was published in 1950.

In 1951 she then married Richard Stewart-Jones four weeks after meeting him and stopped writing. Sadly Richard died six years later leaving Emma widowed with two young children and serious debts. She sold up and left London to live in Wales.

During her time in Wales Emma began writing again, including a series of books for children and her new novel 'The Opportunity of a Lifetime' which was published in 1978, not long after this she moved to Putney.

In 2008 Emma wrote her first memoir, The Great Western Beach which gave a vibrant account of her childhood in 1930s Cornwall, and it was an immediate success. In 2013 she wrote her second memoir As Green As Grass (2013), which recalled her postwar adventures again another success.

She is survived by her children, Barney and Rosie, and three grandsons.

Emma Smith (Elspeth Hallsmith), 23 August 1923 - 24 April 2018

April 26, 2018