Photo: Bettmann / Getty Images (1956)
Sample of authors
Kantor, MacKinlay
The author and journalist MacKinlay Kantor was born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor in Webster City, Iowa. His father, John Martin Kantor, a Swedish immigrant, did not stay long in any job and his marriage was a disaster. He abandoned his family when his son was born and from then on all contact with his two children ceased. Benjamin grew up with his mother, Effie McKinlay Kantor, at her parents' house...
Literary figures
Maureen O’Donnell
Gender: Female
She is the protagonist in the prize-winning Garnethill trilogy by the Scottish crime writer Denise Mina. Young Maureen is a human wreck: sexually abused by her father, her mother an alcoholic, her brother a drug dealer. She has spent time in a mental hospital, and started a relationship with her psychiatrist. But she is stubborn and determined, and struggles to solve the problems and crimes she...