Sylvia Townsend Warner (Harrow, 1893-Maiden Newton, 1978) was one of the essential figures of Anglo-Saxon literary dissidence of the twentieth century, and Communist Party member and an authority on old English music. After the appearance of Lolly Willowes, he published five novels, seven books of poetry, a translation of Proust, fourteen volumes of short stories and a biography of T. H. White.