Rosamond Nina Lehmann was a bestselling literary fiction author from the United Kingdom, born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire. She was the second daughter of Rudolph Lehmann, a liberal MP, and editor of the Daily News, and his wife Alice Davis, an American woman. Lehmann's father was also the editor of Punch magazine and a reputable fencer and oarsman. She had two sisters, one of whom was the famous actress Beatrix Lehmann.
Lehmann was an exceptional woman in her time, attending Girton College, University of Cambridge in 1919 to read English Literature, which was unusual for a woman at that time. In 1923, she married Leslie Runciman (later 2nd Viscount Runciman of Doxford), and the couple moved to Newcastle upon Tyne. However, their marriage was unhappy, and they separated in 1927, finalizing their divorce later that year.
Lehmann's first novel, Dusty Answer, was published in 1927 and received great critical and popular acclaim. The novel's heroine, Judith, is attracted to both men and women, and interacts with openly gay and lesbian characters during her years at Cambridge. Lehmann's later works include A Note in Music (1930), Invitation to the Waltz (1932), The Weather in the Streets (1936), The Ballad and the Source (1944), The Echoing Grove (1953), and A Sea-Grape Tree (1976). She also wrote a play, No More Music (1939), a collection of short stories, The Gypsy's Baby & Other Stories (1946), a spiritual autobiography, The Swan in the Evening (1967), and a photographic memoir of her friends, Rosamond Lehmann's Album (1985).
In 1928, Lehmann married Wogan Philipps, an artist, and had two children, Hugo and Sarah or Sally. However, the marriage quickly fell apart, and her husband left to take part in the Spanish Civil War. During World War II, Lehmann helped edit and contributed to New Writing, a periodical edited by her brother. She had affairs with Goronwy Rees and Cecil Day-Lewis, with whom she had a "very public affair" for nine years.
Lehmann's 1953 novel The Echoing Grove was made into the 2002 film Heart of Me, with Helena Bonham Carter as the main character, Dinah. The Ballad and the Source depicts an unhappy marriage from the point of view of a child and has been compared to Henry James' What Maisie Knew. The Swan in the Evening (1967) is an autobiography in which Lehmann intimately describes the emotions she felt at the birth of her daughter Sally and also when Sally died abruptly of poliomyelitis at the age of 23 in 1958. Lehmann never recovered from Sally's death.
Lehmann was awarded the CBE in 1982 and died at Clareville Grove, London on 12 March 1990, aged 89. She had a remarkable life and career, leaving behind a significant literary legacy that continues to inspire and captivate readers to this day.