About Mary Burchell
Ida Cook (24 August 1904 – 22 December 1986) was a British campaigner for Jewish refugees and, as Mary Burchell, a romance novelist. Ida Cook and her sister Louise Cook (1901–1991) rescued Jews from the Nazis during the 1930s. The sisters helped 29 people escape, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honoured as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel. In 2010 she was recognised as a British Hero of the Holocaust with her sister. Between 1936 and 1985, under the pen name Mary Burchell, Ida Cook wrote 112 romance novels for Mills & Boon — many of which were later republished by Harlequin. She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, serving as its second president from 1966 to 1986. In 1936 Ida published her first romance novels as Mary Burchell.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.