Her father committed suicide when she was 14, and her emotionally distant mother generated a rage in her that frequently surfaced in her work. Kavan was born in Cannes, France, but grew up in California, in a well-to-do but troubled environment. She had an identity and past that she longed to put behind her. By 1940, she would be writing under the name Anna Kavan, borrowed from a central character in her novel, A Stranger Still (1935).

Initially, she would write under the name Helen Ferguson, reflecting her first marriage to Donald Ferguson. Writer Anna Kavan was born Helen Woods in 1901, the daughter of C.C.E. Short stories as Anna Kavan:Īsylum Piece and Other Stories (1940) I Am Lazarus (1945) A Bright Green Field and Other Stories (1958) Julia and the Bazooka and Other Stories (1970) My Soul in China: A Novella and Stories (1975).

(as Helen Ferguson) A Charmed Circle (1929) (as Helen Ferguson) The Dark Sisters (1930) (as Helen Ferguson) Let Me Alone (1930, reprinted under Anna Kavan, 1979) (as Helen Ferguson) A Stranger Still (1935) (as Helen Ferguson) Goose Cross (1936) (as Helen Ferguson) Rich Get Rich (1937) Change the Name (1941) The House of Sleep (1947, published in England as Sleep Has His House, 1948) A Scarcity of Love (1956) Eagles' Nest (1957) Who Are You? (1963) Ice (1967). Selected novels, all under the name Anna Kavan, except as noted: Woods and Helen (Bright) Woods attended church school and was privately tutored married Donald Ferguson married Stuart Edmonds (a painter) children: (first marriage) one son (deceased). Born Helen Woods in Cannes, France, in 1901 died in London England, on Decemdaughter of C.C.E. Name variations: original name Helen Woods changed by deed poll to Anna Kavan Helen Ferguson Helen Woods Edmonds. French writer whose work continues to receive considerable attention.

Ice by anna kavan 1967