British author Marcia Willett, best known for her books set in the West Country, died on June 30 at age 76. She was a ballet dancer and teacher before launching her writing career at age 50. In an obituary released by Transworld, the publisher noted: "Marcia was born in Somerset but spent many of her years as an author living in a beautiful and wild corner of Devon, a part of the world that inspired the settings of many of her books. She had devoted readers all over the world, and her books have been published in 16 countries. Many of her readers have traveled to the U.K. to visit the settings of her books in the West Country."
Willett's books include the Chadwick Family Chronicles series, as well as A Week in Winter; Seven Days in Summer; Homecomings; Reflections; Facing the Music; Sisters Under the Skin; Memories of the Storm; Postcards from the Past; Indian Summer; Summer on the River; and The Songbird. She wrote a total of 31 novels, including four under the pseudonym Willa Marsh. Her most recent book was The Garden House (2021), in which a young woman unravels her late father's secrets at his countryside home. Willett's final work, the novella Christmas at the Keep, will be published by Transworld on October 20.
