Constance Beresford-Howe

The other day I spotted this small obituary in the Globe and Mail:

Constance Elizabeth Beresford-Howe (Pressnell)

Educator. Author, Lover of Literature

Peacefully in Hospice Care at Bury St. Edmunds Suffolk, United Kingdom after a short illness, on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 in her 94th year. Constance Beresford-Howe, beloved wife of Christopher Pressnell, of Lavenham, Suffolk, UK. Dear mother of Jeremy Pressnell (Sandra Swan) and grandmother of Emily Constance Pressnell, all of Kingston, Ontario. Sister of John Howe of North Carolina, USA.

A Celebration of Constance's Life will be held at a date and time to be announced. Arrangements in care of the Robert J. Reid & Sons Funeral Home, Kingston, Ontario (613) 548-7973. As expressions of sympathy, donations in memory of Constance made to St. Nicholas Hospice Care via www.stnicholashospice.org.uk or to Hospice Kingston via www.hospicekingston.ca would be appreciated by the family.

Constance Beresford-Howe was a Canadian author, born (1922) and educated in Montreal. She published several novels, the best-known being The Book of Eve, and also taught English lit and creative writing. 

The Book of Eve, published in 1973, follows a 65-year old woman, who, without warning and without letting them know where she is, walks out of her house and her life with her demanding husband and family and takes up a new life in which she finds a happiness that, in spite of its hardships. brings her a wonderful sense of freedom. It's one of my all-time favourite books.