The daughter of Oliver Coles, an insurance inspector, and his wife, Elsie May Fewtrell, Elizabeth Coles was educated at The Abbey School in Reading and then worked as a governess, tutor, and librarian. She married John Michael Taylor, owner of a confectionery company, in 1936. They lived in Penn, Buckinghamshire, for almost all their married life. She was briefly a member of the Communist Party, then a lifelong Labour Party supporter.

Taylor's first novel, At Mrs. Lippincote's, was published in 1945 and was followed by eleven more. Her short stories were published in magazines and collected in four volumes. She also wrote a children's book.

Taylor's work is mainly concerned with the nuances of everyday life and situations, which she writes about with dexterity. Her shrewd but affectionate portrayals of middle class and upper middle class English life won her an audience of discriminating readers, as well as loyal friends in the world of letters.

She was a friend of the novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett and of the novelist and critic Robert Liddell. Anne Tyler once compared Taylor to Jane Austen, Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Bowen -- "soul sisters all," in Tyler's words. In recent years new interest has been kindled by movie makers in her work. Elizabeth Taylor was also a close friend of Elizabeth Jane Howard, who was asked by Elizabeth Taylor's widower to write a biography following Elizabeth Taylor's death. Elizabeth Jane Howard refused due to what she felt was a lack of incident in Elizabeth Taylor's life. See Slipstream, Elizabeth Jane Howard's memoir, for more details on their friendship. Taylor's editor at the UK publisher Chatto & Windus was the poet D. J. Enright.

French director François Ozon made a 2007 film of The Real Life of Angel Deverell entitled Angel, with Romola Garai. US director Dan Ireland made a screen adaptation of Taylor's Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005), with Joan Plowright in the title role.

Elizabeth Taylor died at age 63 of cancer.

Novels

• At Mrs. Lippincote's (1945)
• Palladian (1946) shows most clearly the influence of Jane Austen.
• A View of the Harbour (1947)
• A Wreath of Roses (1949)
• A Game of Hide and Seek (1951)
• The Sleeping Beauty (1953)
• The Real Life of Angel Deverell (published as Angel,1957)
• In a Summer Season (1961) is her most sex-infused work, telling the story of a rich woman who marries a man ten years her junior.
• The Soul of Kindness (1964)
• The Wedding Group (1968)
• Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (1971)
• Blaming (1976), posthumous.

Short story collections

• Hester Lilly (1954)
• The Blush and Other Stories (1958)
• A Dedicated Man and Other Stories (1965)
• The Devastating Boys (1972) includes "Sisters".

Children's book

• Mossy Trotter (1967)

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