author
Gertrude Forde
Best known for a lively Victorian travel book about Corsica, this elusive writer still feels vivid on the page. Her work mixes curiosity, humor, and a clear eye for place, even though biographical details about her remain frustratingly scarce.
2 Audiobooks
A Lady's Tour in Corsica, Vol. 2 (of 2)
by Gertrude Forde
A Lady's Tour in Corsica, Vol. 1 (of 2)
by Gertrude Forde
About the author
Gertrude Forde was a late 19th-century author whose surviving reputation rests mainly on A Lady's Tour in Corsica (1880), a travel narrative about three Englishwomen exploring the island. Modern reference sources note that her birth and death dates are unknown, and one Victorian fiction database says she "cannot be traced," which makes her an unusually shadowy figure even by the standards of the period.
Even so, her bibliography shows that she was more than a one-book author. Records for Victorian fiction and online library catalogs list novels including In the Old Palazzo (1885), Driven before the Storm (1887), Only a Coral Girl (1888), Geoff (1889), Hugh Errington (1889), Rupert Alison: or, Broken Lights (1891), and Lady Lanark's Paying Guest (1898).
What makes Forde interesting today is the contrast between the missing life story and the very present voice in her writing. A Lady's Tour in Corsica survives through public-domain editions and is remembered for its spirited account of travel, local encounters, and the author's effort to challenge fearful stereotypes about Corsica.