Sarah Gertrude Millin

Sarah Gertrude Millin (1888-1968) was a novelist, short story writer, biographer.

Biography

Born Sarah Gertrude Liebson in Žagarė, Kovno Governorate on March 19, 1889, Lithuania in 1888, she came to South Africa with her parents, Olga and the Isaiah Liebson, at age of six months. Her father worked at Waldeck's Plant in Barkly West. In 1894, when she was six years old, the family moved to the Kimberley diamond diggings where her father opened a trading store. In 1912 she married the Supreme Court Advocate, Philip Millin, (who was appointed as King's Counsel in 1927) and moved to Parktown West, Johannesburg.

Education

She was educated at Girls' High School in Kimberley.

General career

Millin started writing at an early age and had articles published in South African periodicals, notably The State. Her first novel, published I 1920, was "The Dark River," followed by "Middle Class," "Adam's Rest," "The Jordans," "God’s Stepchildren," "Mary Glenn," "An Artist in the Famly,” “The Coming of the Lord," and in 1929, "The Fiddler."

Apart from her novels, she wrote "The South Africans," an essay on the people, races, problems and general characteristics of life in South Africa. She also wrote and published numerous short stones and literary articles in England and American magazines and South African newspapers. While she was recognised as an excellent literary critic, Millin was also acknowledged, both in America and England, as one of the best English language novelists in her day. In 1919 she visited the United States where she lectured on literary subjects and those of special South African interest. She died in 1968.

Sources

The South African Jewish Year Book, 1929 edited by Morris de Saxe and assisted by I M Goodman. Published jointly by The South African Jewish Historical Society and The South African Jewish Board of Deputies.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Sarah_Millin

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