It is not a puzzle why they have been overlooked until now; Bainbridge dismissed them herself. If anyone admired a painting, “she’d pull a face and say, ‘Oh, darling, don’t be silly'”.
Beryl Bainbridge, the celebrated author of An Awfully Big Adventure, painted in her spare time. The Guardian has a slideshow, plus a longer art interview with Bainbridge’s daughter Jojo. Bainbridge died last year at age 75.