Odette Tchernine

Odette Tchernine was born in Paris around 1896-7. Her father, Dimitri, was Russian, and her mother Yvonne was French. They had married on 10 November 1895 in Paris. The 1911 Census records the family at the Royal Palace Hotel Kensington. Between January 1917 and 21 March 1919 Odette is recorded as living at 5 Kensington House Kensington Court W8 while being a Red Cross Society Volunteer with the British Army. She is recorded as working regularly at Surgical dressings and bandages. The 1939 register lists her as Edette Tchernine, born on 3 October 1896, a journalist living in Leinster Square Paddington with her brother Serge and mother Yvonne. Zalma Tchernine who died aged 95 (born 3 October 1896) in Ealing in April 1992 is likely to be Odette. Her father died in Lambeth in 1925 and her mother died aged 75 in Guildford in 1945. Her brother Serge, born in Brighton in 1901, was killed on 22 October 1940 aged 39, in the Whiteley's bombing. Odette had a short story published in the Sphere in 1914 and published her first novel 'Thou Shall not Fail' set in the Australian Bush in 1916. While she wrote several plays during the Great War there is no evidence of them being produced or performed beyond the occasional special matinee. There is evidence of her having short stories published in the press during the 1930s and working as a Freelance Journalist during the 1950s. In 1961 she published 'The Snowman and Company' a book about the yeti legend.