Editing Susan Howatch (section)

==Early life==
Susan Howatch was born on 14 July 1940, in [[Leatherhead]], [[Surrey]], [[England]]; as Susan Elizabeth Sturt. Her father was a stockbroker. As a child, she was educated at [[Sutton High School, London|Sutton High School]]. Even though she was an only child and her father had died during the Second World War, she has often described her childhood to be a happy and satisfied one. After completing her school studies, she entered [[King's College London|King's College]] in London and obtained her degree in law in 1961.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-05-25|title=Susan Howatch|url=https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/susan-howatch/|access-date=2022-01-04|website=Book Series in Order}}</ref>

In 1964, she emigrated to the United States, where she worked as a secretary in New York City. She married Joseph Howatch (4 December 1935 – 25 April 2011),<ref>Social Security Death Index</ref> a sculptor and writer, that year and began her career as a writer, finding success almost immediately with her intricately detailed [[Gothic fiction|gothic]] novels.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
 
The couple had a daughter in 1971. Upon separating from her husband in 1975, Howatch returned to the [[UK]], then moved to the Republic of Ireland in 1976 before returning to the UK permanently in 1980.<ref>''The International Who's Who of Women'', 3rd edition. London:  Europa Publications, 2002.</ref>

After her latter return to England, Howatch found herself "rich, successful, and living exactly where I wanted to live," but feeling a spiritual emptiness that she ascribed to "trying to hold my divided self together" and questioning her life and what she should do with it.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

She had settled in [[Salisbury]] out of love for the beauty of the city, but found herself increasingly drawn to [[Salisbury Cathedral]]; eventually she began to study [[Anglican]] Christianity in earnest. Quotations from contemporary Anglican writers, such as [[Glyn Simon]], Bishop of Llandaff (1958–1970), often appear in her books as chapter headings. She experienced a spiritual epiphany, and concluded that she should continue to write novels, but to "set forth my discoveries in the light of faith, no matter how feeble and inadequate my beginner's faith was."<ref>Myers, Doris T. "Forgiven Sinners: Susan Howatch's Church Novels". ''[[Anglican Theological Review]]'', Winter 1998.</ref> This personal turning point culminated in Howatch's most successful and popular works, the Starbridge series.