Most of her historical novels fall into two general categories: biographical novels about queens, among them Anne Boleyn, Isabella I of Castile, and Catherine of Aragon and novels set in East Anglia centered around the fictitious town of Baildon (patterned largely on Bury St. However, the murders still show characteristic Lofts elements. Lofts chose to release her murder-mystery novels under the pen name Peter Curtis because she did not want the readers of her historic fiction to pick up a murder-mystery novel and expect classic Lofts historical fiction. She stood as a Town Councillor for Bury St Edmunds from 1957 to 1962, where she died in 1983. Lofts wed her second husband, Robert Jorisch, a technical consultant to the British Sugar Corporation at the town's sugar beet factory, in 1949. She married Geoffrey Lofts in 1931 with whom she had one son, Clive. In 1925 she attained a teaching diploma from Norwich Training College.

Norah Ethel Robinson was born in Shipdham, Norfolk to Isaac Robinson and Ethel Garner, and grew up in Bury St Edmunds where she was educated at Guildhall Feoffment Girls School and the County Grammar School for Girls in the town. She convincingly recreates the historical era in which each character lives, not merely to set the scene but to add an understanding of why and how they act as they do.Northgate House, Bury St Edmunds, home to Lofts from 1955 until her death in 1983 Her sympathetic touch and ability to imbue each character with life involves us from the first to the last page. In The Town House, Norah Lofts evokes fourteenth- and fifteenth-century life from the perspective of five different characters. The vast scope of The Suffolk Trilogy - continued with The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset - involves the reader in a fascinating journey through time.

In its very foundations it held secrets and lies, passionate love and deep despair. Built in the late fourteenth century by Martin Reed, a runaway serf who had defied his master for the woman he loved, the house was to change and grow for six centuries.

Can a house built from the ashes of tragedy ever be a place of lasting happiness? Can the hereditary mix of wild gypsy lore, fierce independence, magic and mystery truly settle in a respectable home? The Town House is the first in Norah Lofts' enduringly popular Suffolk Trilogy about the Old Vine at Baildon.

The House at Old Vine by Norah Lofts