Home » Working Women » Women from History » Barbara Cartland A romance novelist and one of the top five best selling authors of all times, Barbara Cartland was also a playwright, decorator, pilot, country councillor, philanthropist, business women and a globe trotter. She is known as the queen of romance.

Barbara Cartland began her career as a writer after World War I, when she was invited by publisher Lord Beaverbrook to contribute paragraphs of gossip to the Daily News. She later expanded her market for her columns to other newspapers such as the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and Tatler.

Her first novel " Jigsaw " written in 1925 drew in part from her own experiences. Her novels depicted the London social life, which she herself relished, with vulnerable virginal heroines attracted to old, wealthy and more experienced men. Most of her novels were set in the nineteenth century.

With over three hundred titles and three hundred and ninety million in sales, Cartland appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific living author.

Her attention was soon drawn towards the importance of a proper diet and adequate nutrition, because of a serious illness. She eventually wrote a series of books on the topic. Among them were " Be vivid, Be vital " in 1956 and " Look lovely, Be lovely " in 1958.

Barbara Cartland was also well known for her numerous well-researched biographies that she wrote on personalities such as Empress of France and Diane de Poitrers. She also wrote advice books on subjects such as marriage and sex. She was active in the St. Johns Ambulance Brigade and the ATS during the Second World War.

Barbara Cartland is essentially known as " The Queen of Romance ", an accolade that captures the writer's sincere desire to keep the fantasy of her readers alive.