

FICTION · ROMANCE
Laura Conway
Also known as: Dorothy Phoebe Ansle Keogh, Hebe Elsna
Born Dorothy Phoebe Ansle on 27 July 1890 in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, England, UK, daugther of the second marriage formed by Mary Phillipps (née Embling), who ran a boardinghouse, and Frederick Philip Ansle (1897-1938), who had various profesions, like butcher and wine merchant. She was the younger child in common. She was a pupil at Royal Masonic School for Girls, and went on to some further education at Caversham. She married Irish Francis Ignatius Keogh, and they lived in Dublin before they instaled in London on 1927. On 1928, she published her first novel, under the penname of Hebe Elsna. She published more than 200 novels, mainly romance and dramatic novels or novelized historical biographies, under diferent pseudonyms and titles. She wrote under the pennames Hebe Elsna, Vicky Lancaster, Lyndon Snow, and Laura Conway. She later lived in Surrey and then Hove. Her husband died in 1965. She continued to live in the Hove area till her own death on 7 January 1983.
Most acclaimed

The Abbot's House
This story is set in the last years of the Regency, and is narrated by Ennis Corbyn, a spirited young woman, but no beauty, who is adopted by the rich and lonely Marquesa de Verletta, and by her introduced into the highest flight of society. The Marquesa's wealth and rank, and the flattering attention of the Prince Regent, are responsible for Ennis's social success. In spite of which her life with the Marquesa at The Abbot's House is overshadowed by fear, and the sinister secret hidden behind the locked door of the old wing, which nobody, unless accomplished by the Marquesa, is allowed to enter. Ennis loves the dashing Damien Wynton of the Hell Fire Club, and is resolved she will marry him and no other. But Damien avows that love for him is only sweet for a day, and there is Oliver Embury, one of the Prince Regent's aides, who swears he will be true to her always. This is the background for a sparkling tale of love, adventure and eerie happenings.