Florence Engel Randall

Florence Engel Randall (October 18, 1917 – September 4, 1997) was an accomplished American author.

Over the course of her career, Randall authored five novels and penned more than one hundred short stories.

Randall was born on October 17th in 1917, in Brooklyn, New York City.

She was born to Stewart Engel, a prominent attorney, and his wife Rachel Seligman Engel.

Randall's educational journey led her to New York University, where she pursued her studies in the late 1930s.

She once confessed that she had always harbored a desire to be a writer but initially pursued other creative outlets, including art and music.

Although she had one short story published when she was 18, it wasn't until decades later when Randall's career really began.

On November 5th, 1939, she married Murray Charles Randall, a sales executive, and together they had three children: Susan, Laurel, and Stewart.

Her writing journey began in earnest when her brother gifted her a battered typewriter while her third child was still a toddler.

Her basement, adjacent to the washer, became her creative haven, where she diligently crafted stories amidst household duties.

In the early 1960s, Florence Engel Randall embarked on a prolific journey of crafting short stories that found their home in the pages of prominent women's magazines.

Her regular contributions to Redbook featured signature two-page shorts.

Within these early stories, Randall displayed her adeptness at exploring the intricacies of family life.

She navigated the multifaceted relationships between generations, emphasizing the profound emotional connections that bound them together.

Her narratives captured the challenges and joys of motherhood, while also delving into the nuanced dynamics of human relationships, from the purity of youthful romance to the intricate complexities of marriage.

Randall's literary talent extended to the examination of self-identity, prompting readers to contemplate the evolution of individuals over time and the notion of one's identity mirroring that of their parents.

While these short stories enjoyed immense popularity among readers of the era, it was Randall's ventures into the realms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that left a more lasting imprint.

She contributed two stories to Fantastic Stories of Imagination that foreshadowed future works.

"One Long Ribbon" presented a tale where a young widow inherits a house from her late husband, with a sudden twist into The Twilight Zone when she discovers her invisibility to neighbors, and her son's inability to see the anyone living around them.

Her subsequent tale, "The Boundary Beyond" centered on a mysterious, man-stealing dryad emerging from the depths of the woods.

By the late 1960s, Randall finally pursued her longtime dream of becoming a novelist.

Her first book, “Hedgerow,” is a gothic romance centering on a young dancer who takes a summer babysitting job.

She becomes intrigued by the suicide of the young girl’s mother and starts digging up family secrets, falling for both the girl’s father and uncle in the process.

However, it was her groundbreaking 1965 short story for Harper's Magazine, "The Watchers," that truly shifted her career.

Set in a dystopian society where violence and murder became a form of entertainment, this narrative explored the chilling concept of selected individuals performing violent acts on a stage while society watched in ominous silence.

"The Watchers" gained widespread recognition and found its way into multiple anthologies.

Her next novel, “The Place of Sapphires,” was expanded from a novella that was first published in a 1968 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

Randall diligently researched occult phenomenon, unexpectedly befriending a librarian who held supernatural beliefs in the process.

The story centers on two sisters who move into a Cape Cod home following a tragic accident that claimed their parents.

The injured girl bunks in a room previously occupied by Alarice, a ghost with unfinished business who takes possession of her body.

The story is told from the points of view of both sisters and the ghost.

In 1971, she authored her first book for young adults, “The Almost Year.” Expanding on the research for her previous novel, and inspired by desegregation busing in her neighborhood, Randall spent two years working on the book.

It tells the story of young black girl from the ghetto who fancies herself a witch and is forced to spend nine months living with a wealthy white family.

Tensions within the house rise, and eventually, all of the inhabitants are forced to contend with a poltergeist.

She is most notably recognized for her novel A Watcher in the Woods (1976), a work that inspired a 1980 Disney film adaptation and a 2017 remake for Lifetime Television.

Despite garnering acclaim during her lifetime, the ephemeral nature of Randall's short stories and the extended unavailability of her novels have led her to fade into relative obscurity.

Additionally, it was adapted as a teleplay for the 1985 reboot of The Twilight Zone, although it was ultimately never produced.

Randall died in 1997 in Great Neck, New York, where she lived in her later life.

Her papers are preserved in a collection at the Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.

There is also a scholarship for women writers granted annually from the university, named The Randall Award.