author
Gladys Davidson
1874–1962
Best remembered for retelling opera and classic adventure stories for general readers and children, this British writer also played a notable role in the women's suffrage movement. Her books helped make grand opera feel less distant and more welcoming.
1 Audiobook
Stories from the operas
by Gladys Davidson
About the author
Born Louise Gladys Davidson in Leamington in 1874, she became known for writing accessible books about opera as well as children's stories. Sources available here connect her with titles including Stories from the Operas, Stories from Wagner's Operas, Two Hundred Opera Plots, Stories from Gilbert and Sullivan, Sinbad's Seven Voyages, and The Arabian Nights retellings.
Her work seems to have centered on opening up big, sometimes intimidating subjects for everyday readers. Several early editions of her opera books appeared in the 1900s and 1910s, and later records show that she was still publishing on musical subjects decades afterward.
Davidson's life reached beyond books. A theatre-history source notes that she was appointed General Secretary of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1917. She died on December 3, 1962, at the age of 88.