Celia Fremlin (1914-2009) read classics and philosophy at Oxford's Somerville College. Her WWII experiences with the Mass Observation Project influenced her first book, War Factory, which reflected the attitudes of plant workers at a Wiltshire-based radar equipment factory. Fremlin wrote 16 novels in the course of four decades, in addition to a book of poetry and three volumes of collected stories. Her novel The Hours Before Dawn won the Edgar Award in 1960.