pseudonym of Cecily Isabel Andrews née Fairfield 1892-1983 Irish novelist and critic She was born in County Kerry and moved to Edinburgh with her family when her father, a journalist, left her mother. She was educated at George Watson's Ladies College, and trained for the stage in London, where she adopted (1912) the pseudonym Rebecca West, the heroine of Ibsen's Rosmersholm which she had once played, and who is characterized by a passionate will. She was involved with the suffragettes from an early age, joined the staff of the Freewoman (1911) and became a political writer on the Clarion , a socialist newspaper (1912). Her love affair with H G Wells began in 1913 and lasted for ten turbulent years during which time they had a son. Her first published book was a critical study of Henry James (1916). Her second, a novel, The Return of the Soldier (1918), describes the homecoming of a shell-shocked soldier. After the final break with Wells she went to the USA where she lectured and…