Ray Coryton Hutchinson (23 January 1907 – 3 July 1975) was a best-selling British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 novelist. His 1975 novel Rising was short-listed for the Booker Prize.

He was born in Finchley

Finchley

Finchley is a district in Barnet in north London, England. Finchley is on high ground, about north of Charing Cross. It formed an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, becoming a municipal borough in 1933, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965...

, Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

 and educated at Monkton Combe School, near Bath. He received his BA at Oriel College

Oriel College

Oriel College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford...

, Oxford in 1927 and joined the advertising department at Colman's in Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

. He married Margaret Owen Jones in April 1929.

His first novel, Thou Hast a Devil, was published in 1930. It was followed by The Answering Glory (1932), and The Unforgotten Prisoner (1933), which sold 150,000 copies in the first month. Subsequent novels also sold very well and in 1935 he left Colman's to begin writing full-time.

In March 1940 he joined the army, and in July was posted as captain in the 8th Battalion of the Buffs Regiment. He travelled widely during the war, while continuing to write. In October 1945, after preparing the official history of the Paiforce campaign, he was demobilised with the rank of Major.

After the war he wrote many more successful novels, often recommended by book clubs. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Royal Society of Literature

The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...

 in June 1962.

He died before completing the last chapter of his novel, Rising (1975). It was published in September of the same year and short-listed for the Booker Prize in November.

His published work comprises 17 novels and 28 short stories, as well as one play, Last Train South (1938).

Novels

• Thou Hast a Devil (1930)
• The Caravan of Culture (1930, unpublished)
• The Answering Glory (1932)
• The Unforgotten Prisoner (1933)
• One Light Burning (1935)
• Shining Scabbard (1936)
• Testament (1938)
• The Fire and the Wood (1940)
• Interim (1945)
• Elephant and Castle (1949)
• Recollection of a Journey (1952)
  • US title: Journey with Strangers
• The Stepmother (1955)
• March the Ninth (1957)
• Image of My Father (1961)
  • US title: The Inheritor
• A Child Possessed (1964)
  • Winner of the W. H. Smith Literary Award in 1966
• Johanna at Daybreak (1969)
• Origins of Cathleen (1971)
• Rising (1975)