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Portrait image of John Fowles Photo: Ulf Andersen / Hulton Archive via Getty Images (1987)

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Fowles, John

John Robert Fowles was born in a middle-class family in the Essex town of Leigh-on-Sea. His father, Robert Fowles, dreamt of a career in the legal profession, but when the First World War broke out he was instead forced to take over the family's tobacco business. His mother, Gladys May, was a housewife. Fowles grew up in the security of a terraced housing estate, but later in life he confessed...

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Literary figures

Francis Pettigrew

Gender: Male

As a young lawyer he was seen as a rising star, but bad luck and unexpected problems led to Francis Pettigrew never becoming more than a bitter, mediocre barrister. After solving several murder cases, sometimes together with Detective Inspector Mallett, and marrying Eleanor Brown (who was half his age), his fortune changes and he can grow old in satisfaction, reports Cyril Hare (pseudonym for...

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