Phyllis Bottome
Description
Phyllis Forbes Dennis (31 May 1884 – 22 August 1963) was a British novelist and short story writer who wrote under her birth name, Phyllis Bottome. In 1935, her novel Private Worlds was made into a film. Set in a psychiatric clinic, Bottome's knowledge of Individual psychology proved useful in creating a realistic scene. Bottome saw her share of trouble with Danger Signal which the Hays Office forbade from becoming a Hollywood film. Germany became Bottome's home in the late 1930s, and it inspired her to pen The Mortal Storm, a film which was the first to mention Hitler's name and be set in Nazi Germany. Bottome was an active anti-fascist. In total, four of her works – Private Worlds, The Mortal Storm, Danger Signal, The Heart of a Child – were adapted to film. In addition to fiction she is also known as an Adlerian who wrote a biography of Alfred Adler.
Books
The secret stair
The head doctor of a tubercular sanatorium in Switzerland and his beautiful nurse-wife are estranged because a wounded Nazi has been allowed to die.
Old wine
Dramatizing the international sweep of Phyllis Bottome's political ethics, feminism, and activism, Old Wine is as meaningful today as it was prescient at its publication in 1924. Old Wine traces the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the impact of modernity through an intricate network of political and sexual relationships among Viennese aristocrats, "new women," and Jews, all of whom suffer and survive their conflicts.
Under the skin
"Love drew no color line when a white woman entered a Negro's world!"
The mortal storm
A highly acclaimed anti-fascist novel, The Mortal Storm was Phyllis Bottome's dramatic warning against the warmongering, antisemitism, and misogyny of the Nazis. The story pits the developing political and feminist consciousness of Freya Roth against the Nazi machine that will destroy the fabric of her family and nation. In its combination of adventure and love story, political analysis and history, The Mortal Storm remains a powerful reminder of the greatest crisis of the twentieth century, as well as a riveting personal saga.