Adeline Sergeant

Born Emily Frances Adeline Sergeant in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, on July 4, 1851, she was educated at home for part of her childhood before attending school in Weston-super-Mare and later studying at Queen's College, London. Her mother also wrote for children, and writing entered Adeline's life early: poems by her were published when she was still a teenager.

After her father's death in 1870, she worked for several years as a governess before turning more fully to literature. Her breakthrough came with Jacobi's Wife, and she went on to become an extremely prolific author of the Victorian era, writing over ninety novels. She also worked closely with the world of serial fiction and later served as a literary adviser to the publisher R. Bentley & Sons.

Her work ranged across sensation, romance, and religious fiction, and her beliefs changed over time as well. She was interested in social questions in London, spent a period drawn to agnosticism, and eventually converted to Catholicism near the end of her life. She died in Bournemouth on December 4, 1904.