People like L.P. Hartley

Leslie Poles Hartley (30 December 1895 – 13 December 1972) was a British novelist and short story writer. Although his first fiction was published in 1924, his career was slow to take off. His best-known novels are the Eustace and Hilda trilogy (1944–47) and The Go-Between (1953). The latter was made into a film in 1971, as was his 1957 novel The Hireling in 1973. He was known for writing about social codes, moral responsibility and family relationships. In total, Hartley published 17 novels, 6 volumes of short stories and a book of criticism.

Leslie Poles Hartley was born on 30 December 1895 in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. He was named after Leslie Stephen, the father of the writer Virginia Woolf. His father, Harry Bark Hartley, owned a brickfield and was also a solicitor and justice of the peace. His mother was Mary Elizabeth née Thompson. He had two sisters, Enid and Annie Norah. Hartley was raised in the Methodist faith. While he was young, his family moved to Fletton Tower, near Peterborough. Hartley began his education at home and particularly enjoyed the work of Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote his first story, a fairy tale about a prince and dwarf, when he was 11 years old. In 1908 he attended Northdown Hill Preparatory School in Cliftonville and then briefly Clifton College. It was there he first met Clifford Kitchin. In 1910, Hartley finally settled at Harrow School, where he was a Leaf Scholar and highly regarded by his peers. While there, Hartley converted to Anglicanism but was still greatly influenced by his earlier Methodism.