E. M. Delafield (1890-1943), now best known for the comic classic Diary of a Provincial Lady, had an extensive and wide-ranging career. She wrote novels, plays, journalism and non-fiction, was a magistrate and a public speaker, a member of the board of the magazine Time and Tide, an active member of the Women's Institute; she was also mother to two children and managed the family home in Devon. I wrote my PhD thesis on Delafield, and have now embarked on a new biography.