Sara Seale

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Biography

Sara Seale, the pen name for Mary Jane MacPherson (d. 11 March 1974) and/or A.D.L. MacPherson (d. 30 October 1978), published over 45 novels, many of which revisited a theme of an orphaned heroine who finds happiness. She also employed blind or disfigured (but still handsome) heroes as standard characters.

Seale was a hugely successful author for Mills & Boon, starting her career in the 1930's and continuing for several decades. She reached the pinnacle of her career in the 1940s and 1950s. As with other M&B authors, Seale found great financial success, earning several thousand pounds a year for her writing (£2,370 in 1949, £3,105 in 1952). (Note 1) Like her fellow authors, Seale's earnings were a combination of royalties from her novels and payments for serialization rights from various women's magazines.

The chapter notes to Joseph McAleer's Passion's Fortune indicate that Seale's works were so popular that readers purchased both the serialized versions in magazines and the books when released. He aided the reading public by ensuring that her work appeared with the same title in both formats (there were often different titles given to the two versions). (Note 2) While Seale's success as a serialized author was great, McAleer notes in several places of his work that her relationship with the process, including famous and dominant Woman's Weekly editor, Winifred "Biddy" Johnson, was often contentious. Johnson, who largely invented the still-popular Marriage in Name Only (MINO) plot device, capitalized on Seale's skill with this type of story.

She was also one of the early authors the publisher distributed in the newly-opened post-World War II markets of Germany and the Netherlands. (Note 1)

As a Harlequin Presents author, Sara Seale wrote two books. Writing for the Harlequin Romance imprint, she published 35 titles.

  • Note 1: McAleer, Joseph. Passion's Fortune: The Story of Mills & Boon (Oxford University Press, 1999), 105.
  • Note 2: McAleer, Joseph. Passion's Fortune: The Story of Mills & Boon (Oxford University Press, 1999), 299.

Books

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