Frances Milton Trollope

Born Frances Milton in Bristol, she became widely known as Fanny Trollope or Mrs. Frances Trollope. After marrying Thomas Anthony Trollope in 1809 and raising a large family, she began writing in earnest when financial troubles pushed her to find a new way to support them.

A trip to the United States in the late 1820s gave her material for Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832), the lively and controversial book that made her famous. She went on to become a prolific author of novels and travel writing, often bringing social criticism into her fiction and taking on issues such as slavery and industrial life.

She was also the mother of novelist Anthony Trollope, but her own reputation stands on its own: readers in her day knew her as a bold, popular, and sometimes provocative writer. She died in Florence in 1863, after a long career that left a substantial mark on 19th-century literature.