Charlotte M. Brame

Born in Hinckley, Leicestershire, in 1836, Charlotte M. Brame was an English novelist whose full name was Charlotte Mary Brame. She wrote prolifically in the Victorian era and is closely linked with popular sentimental and sensation fiction, especially stories first published in inexpensive weekly papers for a mass readership.

Her work was also published in America under the pseudonym Bertha M. Clay, a name that became extremely well known and was later attached to books by other writers as well. That publishing history has made her career a little confusing to trace, but sources agree that she was the original author behind many of the best-known Bertha M. Clay titles. Dora Thorne is usually named as her most famous novel.

Brame died in 1884, but her stories continued to circulate widely after her death. Today she is remembered as a major figure in popular Victorian fiction: an author who helped shape the taste for fast-moving, emotional romance long before modern mass-market novels.