author

E. Lee (Emily Lee) Ryan

Best known for a warm, lively story of children growing up in the Australian bush, this early 20th-century writer brought everyday family life to young readers with humor and heart.

1 Audiobook

Five Little Bush Girls

Five Little Bush Girls

by E. Lee (Emily Lee) Ryan

About the author

Little confirmed biographical information is easy to find about E. Lee Ryan, also listed as Emily Lee Ryan. What can be verified from public-domain editions is that she wrote Five Little Bush Girls, a children's novel first printed in 1918 in Australia.

That book centers on family life in the bush and has remained the work most closely associated with her name. Based on the surviving publication record, she appears to have been an Australian author writing for younger readers, with a style grounded in domestic life, resilience, and the rhythms of rural Australia.

Because reliable personal details about her life are scarce in the sources available online, many standard biographical facts cannot be confirmed with confidence. For that reason, it is safest to remember her through the book that endures: a spirited Australian children's story that has continued to find readers long after its original publication.