Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen (7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer. She was born in Dublin and later brought to Bowen’s Court, near Kildorrery in County Cork where she spent her summers. Her mother died in 1912 and she was brought up by her aunts in England. Bowen inherited Bowen’s Court in 1930, but remained based in England, frequently visiting Ireland. Her husband retired in 1952 and they settled in Bowen’s Court, where he died. For years, Bowen struggled to keep the house going, lecturing in the United States to earn money. In 1959, the house was sold and demolished, leaving her without a permanent home for the remainder of her life. She died of cancer in 1973, aged 73. She is buried, with her husband, in Farrahy churchyard near Kildorrery, close to the gates of Bowen’s Court.