Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett, DBE (5 June 1884 - 27 August 1969) was an English novelist, published (in the original hardback editions, ultimately by Gollancz) as I. Compton-Burnett. She was awarded the 1955 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for her novel Mother and Son. The daughter of a well-known homeopathic doctor, Compton-Burnett (pronounced 'Cumpton-Burnit') grew up in Hove and London. Her father had twelve children by two wives and Ivy's mother (the second wife) sent all her stepchildren away to boarding school as soon as possible. In the author biography of the old Penguin editions of her novels there was a paragraph written by Compton-Burnett herself:
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