Jones was born in Kimbolton, near Feilding, New Zealand. She had six sisters and two brothers and her parents were Louise Mary Claridge (née Taylor) and James Henry Claridge.[1] She grew up in a variety of small towns around the country, as her father was a newspaper editor and worked on a number of regional and small-town papers. In 1931, she married Arthur Thomas Jones.[1]
Jones began her career writing short stories and articles which were published in the literary journal Landfall.[2] However, she is best known for writing the successful play The Tree (1957), the story of ageing parents and their three daughters, one of whom returns to the family home after a 15-year absence.[3] Jones had submitted the play to the 1956 Southland Provincial Centennial competition for an unpublished play, winning second place.[4] Nevertheless, the play was rejected by a number of New Zealand theatres. It was purchased by a London agent, and it had its professional debut in Bristol, England.[3] After success in England, the New Zealand Players, who had previously rejected it, toured the country with the play.[3][5] The play was one of the first New Zealand plays to reach a wide audience, and was praised by critics. The New Zealand Herald newspaper wrote that it was a "compelling and first-class piece of work".[3]
Later in her career Jones wrote radio plays, including the acclaimed Between Seasons (1965) and Julia's Day (1972).[2][6] She also published two papers in the Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal in 1979 and 1980, analysing her father's contributions to the development of newspapers in New Zealand.[7][8]
