Her approach suggests an interest in the social reform that became a feature of British post-war society.

Lofts' work set in East Anglia in the 1930s and 1940s shows great concern with the very poor in society and their inability to change their conditions. Her creation of this fictitious area of England is reminiscent of Thomas Hardy's creation of ' Wessex' and her use of recurring characters such that the protagonist of one novel appears as a secondary character in others is even more reminiscent of William Faulkner's work set in ' Yoknapatawpha County,' Mississippi. Most of her historical novels fall into two general categories: biographical novels about queens, among them Anne Boleyn, Isabella I of Castile, and Catherine of Aragon and novels set in East Anglia centered around the fictitious town of Baildon (patterned largely on Bury St. However, the murders still show characteristic Lofts elements. Lofts chose to release her murder-mystery novels under the pen name Peter Curtis because she did not want the readers of her historic fiction to pick up a murder-mystery novel and expect classic Lofts historical fiction. She stood as a Town Councillor for Bury St Edmunds from 1957 to 1962, where she died in 1983. Lofts wed her second husband, Robert Jorisch, a technical consultant to the British Sugar Corporation at the town's sugar beet factory, in 1949. She married Geoffrey Lofts in 1931 with whom she had one son, Clive. In 1925 she attained a teaching diploma from Norwich Training College. Norah Ethel Robinson was born in Shipdham, Norfolk to Isaac Robinson and Ethel Garner, and grew up in Bury St Edmunds where she was educated at Guildhall Feoffment Girls School and the County Grammar School for Girls in the town. Northgate House, Bury St Edmunds, home to Lofts from 1955 until her death in 1983

The Claw by Norah Lofts