Rowena Farre
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Rowena Farre (26 February 1921 – 9 January 1979) was a British writer who achieved fame for her first book Seal Morning, published in 1957. Seal Morning describes how, at the age of ten, the writer and her aunt Miriam settled in a remote croft in Sutherland, Scotland, where they lived for seven years with various pets that included a common seal, Lora. The book has been reprinted a number of times and translated into seven languages.[1] Seal Morning was made into a UK television series in 1986, though with considerable alterations and the setting relocated to Norfolk.[2]
According to the publisher’s blurb, Farre’s early childhood was spent in India, the country she looked on as a second home. Because her parents thought it better for her health, she was sent to Britain and left in charge with an aunt - the Aunt Miriam of the book. They lived in Buckinghamshire and Kent before going to Sutherland, and except for a brief period in a kindergarten, all her education was undertaken by her aunt. When her aunt married and moved abroad, the author trained as a typist and took a job in an office but tried to find work outdoors during the summer months. She had travelled extensively in Britain and had lived among Irish Travellers and Romani people.
Although the book became a best-seller, questions were raised concerning the authenticity of parts of the narrative, including the claimed musical abilities of seals. The Northern Times made extensive enquiries but was unable to locate the croft in which she claimed to have lived.[3] Other journalists were also unable to substantiate the claim.[4]
Seal Morning was republished by Edinburgh’s Mercat Press in 2001. Former Scots Magazine editor Maurice Fleming says that, in spite of the enduring charm and freshness of Farre’s book, "a rather large question mark hangs over the credibility of the narrative."[5] The book is now considered an autobiographical novel rather than a strict autobiography.
Seal Morning was followed by A Time from the World (1962), an account of her life among Romani people. In the United States, this was published under the title Gypsy Idyll. She also wrote The Beckoning Land (1969), describing her spiritual pilgrimage in Ceylon and India. Neither book achieved the popularity of Seal Morning.
