Adela E. (Adela Elizabeth Richards) Orpen

Adela Elizabeth Richards Orpen was born on February 3, 1855, in Virginia, and after family losses she moved with her father to Kansas in 1862. Later she went to Europe and eventually made her life in Ireland, where she became known as a writer.

Her background gave her plenty to draw on. She wrote about frontier experiences in Memories of the Old Emigrant Days in Kansas, published after her death, and she also wrote works such as Stories About Famous Precious Stones and the novel Perfection City, which has been noted as an early work of speculative fiction.

Orpen died on February 17, 1927. What makes her especially memorable is the path her life took across the United States, Europe, and Ireland, and the way that travel, hardship, and curiosity seem to run through her writing.