Doris May Tayler, commonly known as Doris Lessing was a literary fiction, horror, mystery, and science fiction author from London, England.
She was born to British parents living in Kermanshah Iran in 1919. Her father had been a soldier who was nearly killed in a burst of shrapnel during World War I in an incident in which he lost his leg.
In 1925, Lessing’s family moved to Zimbabwe to become maize farmers even though they struggled in the endeavor.
It was an unhappy childhood and Lessing remembers living in an inhuman, cold, and provincial society and she was always running from her mother or fighting with her.
Books in order of publication:
Canopus in Argos Books
| Re: Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta | (1979) | |
| The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five | (1980) | |
| The Sirian Experiments | (1980) | |
| The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 | (1982) | |
| The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire | (1983) |
Children of Violence Books
| Martha Quest | (1952) | |
| A Proper Marriage | (1954) | |
| A Ripple from the Storm | (1958) | |
| The Four-Gated City | (1969) | |
| Landlocked | (1969) |
The Diaries of Jane Somers Books
| The Diary of Good Neighbour | (1983) | |
| If the Old Could… | (1984) |
Publication Order of Fifth Child Books
| The Fifth Child | (1988) | |
| Ben, In the World: The Sequel to the Fifth Child | (2000) |
Mara and Dann Books
| Mara and Dann | (1999) | |
| The Story of General Dann and Mara’s Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog | (2005) |
Standalone Novels
| The Grass Is Singing | (1950) | |
| Retreat to Innocence | (1956) | |
| The Golden Notebook | (1962) | |
| A Man and Two Women | (1963) | |
| Winter in July | (1964) | |
| The Black Madonna | (1966) | |
| Particularly Cats | (1967) | |
| Briefing for a Descent Into Hell | (1971) | |
| The Summer Before the Dark | (1973) | |
| The Memoirs of a Survivor | (1974) | |
| The Good Terrorist | (1985) | |
| Playing The Game (With: Charlie Adlard) | (1994) | |
| Love, Again | (1995) | |
| Old Age of El Magnifico | (2000) | |
| The Sweetest Dream | (2001) | |
| The Cleft | (2007) | |
| Alfred and Emily | (2008) |
Short Stories/Novellas
| Through the Tunnel | (1989) | |
| Adore | (2003) |
Publication Order of Collections
| Five | (1954) | |
| The Habit of Loving | (1957) | |
| To Room Nineteen | (1958) | |
| Fourteen Poems | (1959) | |
| African Stories | (1965) | |
| Nine African Stories | (1965) | |
| The Temptation of Jack Orkney | (1972) | |
| Stories | (1978) | |
| The Story of a Non-Marrying Man | (1979) | |
| The Real Thing / London Observed | (1991) | |
| The Doris Lessing Reader | (1991) | |
| Spies I Have Known | (1995) | |
| Play With A Tiger | (1996) | |
| Problems, Myths and Stories | (1999) | |
| The Grandmothers | (2003) |
Collected African Stories Books
| This Was the Old Chief’s Country | (1952) | |
| The Sun Between Their Feet | (1989) |
Non-Fiction Books
| Going Home | (1957) | |
| In Pursuit Of The English | (1960) | |
| On Cats | (1967) | |
| A Small Personal Voice | (1974) | |
| Prisons We Choose to Live Inside | (1986) | |
| The Wind Blows Away Our Words | (1987) | |
| African Laughter | (1992) | |
| Under My Skin | (1994) | |
| Putting the Questions Differently | (1996) | |
| Walking in the Shade | (1997) | |
| Doris Lessing: Conversations | (2000) | |
| Time Bites | (2004) |
Oak Lawn Library Friends 