At age 26, she published the novel "The Colour of Rain" under the name Catherine Aydy. The name and title were both reportedly arrived at by the manipulations of a Ouija board.
Daughter, Rose (born in 1973), with publisher Michael Dempsey.
Daughter, Daisy, with third husband, journalist Alexander Cockburn.
She married her last husband, Tim Owens, after more than thirty years of living with him.
Grand-niece of lady Margaret Asquith and thus cousin to director Anthony Asquith and actress Helena Bonham Carter.
Author born in aristocratic society which she satirized in her first novel under the pen name Catherine Aydy, she later founded the literary magazine Bananas and wrote novels of a different tack and her memoirs.