Aileen Armitage

Armitage was born in Luton, Bedfordshire in 1930. She grew up in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, where her father's family had already lived for about 400 years. The family house was in Lindley Moor near Huddersfield. Her grandfather owned a mill in this area. Armitage studied Modern Languages at Hull University and became a teacher, but due to failing eyesight she had to give up teaching.[1] In 1967, she took a creative writing class through night school,[3] and began writing at night with a felt tip pen and had many magazine articles and short stories published before she turned to longer fiction.[4]

Armitage's first novel was accepted by a publisher,[3] who asked her to write more.[3] She has since been widely published in the UK and in the US. She has written under the names Ruth Fabian, Erica Lindley, Aileen Quigley and Aileen Armitage.[5] In the UK, Armitage is a high Public Lending Right earner.[1]

In 1988, Armitage received the Frink Woman of the Year Award.[6][7] In November 2002 Armitage and her husband were awarded honorary Doctor of Literature degree by University of Huddersfield.[1] International Emmy 1999, Nominated for a BAFTA, Winner of the Peabody Prize and Le Priz Crystale all for Lost For Words film, co-written with Deric Longden.

In 1954 Armitage married Peter Quigley, with whom she had four children.[3] The marriage later ended in divorce.[3]

In the mid-1980s she met writer Deric Longden, who at that time was married to his first wife Diana, who was experiencing what was later believed to be chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis. Diana Longden died in 1985.

Armitage married Longden in 1990[1] and they moved to Huddersfield.

Deric Longden died of cancer of the oesophagus on 23 June 2013.[8]

Armitage's life from when she first met Deric Longden is included in Longden's 1989 novel Diana's Story, later made into a TV film Wide-Eyed and Legless (1993). Armitage is played by actress Sian Thomas whilst Longden is played by Jim Broadbent. Longden's book Lost For Words (1991), which continues the story of his life with Aileen and his eccentric mother, was also made into a TV film, Lost for Words (1999), in which Penny Downie plays Armitage and Pete Postlethwaite plays Longden. Thora Hird plays Longden's mother Annie Mary Longden (23 August 1910–1988) in both films.

• Child of Fire, 1971
• King's Pawn, 1971
• Shadow of Dungeon Wood, 1972
• Bloodstone, 1972
• A Theft of Honour, 1972
• Rose Brocade, 1972
• A Scent of Violets, 1973
• A Devil in Holy Orders, 1973
• King Bastard. The Story of William the Conqueror, 1973
• Court Cadenza, 1974
• Empress to the Eagle, 1975
• The Radley Curse, 1975
• The Brackenroyd Inheritance, 1976[9]
• The Devil in Crystal, 1979
• Harvest of Destiny, 1979
• Jacob's Well, 1981
• Hawksmoor, 1981 (Hawksmoor series)
• Pipistrelle, 1982
• A Dark Moon Raging, 1982 (Hawksmoor series)
• Hunter's Moon, 1984 (Hawksmoor series)[3]
• Touchstone, 1987 (Hawksmoor series)
• Chapter of Innocence, 1988
• Hawkrise, 1988 (Hawksmoor series)
• Chapter of Echoes, 1989
• Chapter of Shadows, 1990[10]
• A Midnight Smile, 1993
• The Jericho Years, 1994
• Cedar Street, 1995 (Hawksmoor series)
• Cambermere, 1995
• Annabella, 1996
• The Dark Arches, 1996 (Hawksmoor series)
• Jason's Dominion, 1997
• Mallory Keep, 1998
• The Seamstress, 1999
• A Winter Serpent, 1999
• A Passionate Cause, 2000
• A Double Sacrifice, 2001
• To Catch and Conquer, 2001
• Willerby Manor, 2002
• Flames of Fortune, 2002
• Conflict of Interest, 2005
• The Tudor Sisters, 2005

• Archive of Deric Longden's official website
• Wide-Eyed and Legless at IMDb
• Lost for Words at IMDb
• Aileen Armitage at IMDb