Lore Segal, the author who drew from her experiences as a Jewish refugee living in the U.K. and, later, the U.S., has died at 96, the New York Times reports.

Segal, a native of Vienna, was a child when she moved to England as part of the Kindertransport mission, in which children in Nazi-occupied countries were taken to the U.K. to live. She was housed with several foster families in the country before moving with her mother to the Dominican Republic and later Manhattan.

She made her literary debut in 1964 with Other People’s Houses, an autobiographical novel based on her childhood experiences living in foster homes. Twelve years later, she published her second novel, Lucinella, about a poet navigating the New York literary scene.

Her other novels include Her First American; Shakespeare’s Kitchen, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and Half the Kingdom. She was also a prolific author of children’s books, including Morris the Artist, illustrated by Boris Kulikov, and Why Mole Shouted, illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier. Melville House published her final book, the short story collection Ladies’ Lunch, last year. 

Segal’s admirers remembered her on social media. On the platform X, journalist Matthew Shaer wrote, “Lore Segal died this morning, a day after the @NYTmag published my profile of her. I only knew Lore at the end of her life, and our time together was short, but she taught me so much—about writing and death and bravery. Thank you, Lore. I’ll miss you.” 

And academic John Haffenden posted, “Lore Segal, RIP.  Wonderful, true author—her work deserves to be much more widely read in the UK—& deeply kind, encouraging company. I met her at Yaddo in 1975 & found her warmly perceptive & fascinating. She teased me, ‘You English always say my name as though I am a truck!’”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.