Alice Wellington Rollins

author

Alice Wellington Rollins

1847–1897

A sharp-eyed American writer and reform-minded journalist, she wrote across genres while drawing attention to the harsh realities of New York tenement life. Her work also ranged outward into fiction, children's verse, and vivid travel writing about the American West.

1 Audiobook

The Ring of Amethyst

The Ring of Amethyst

by Alice Wellington Rollins

About the author

Born on June 12, 1847, Alice Wellington Rollins was an American author whose work included essays, novels, short stories, children's poetry, and journalism. She is especially remembered for articles in the 1880s that exposed difficult living conditions in New York tenements, showing a strong interest in social issues as well as literary craft.

Rollins also wrote about travel in the American West, adding another dimension to a career that moved easily between observation, storytelling, and commentary. That range gives her writing a lively, curious quality: she could be socially engaged in one piece and imaginative or reflective in the next.

She died on December 5, 1897. Though not as widely known today as some of her contemporaries, her work still stands out for its versatility and for the way it connected literature with everyday urban life and reform.