author

Irene Flemming Forbes-Mosse

1864–1946

A German writer, poet, and translator from a remarkable literary family, she is remembered for atmospheric stories and a clear-eyed, unsentimental feel for character. Her life moved through Baden-Baden, Florence, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, giving her work a quietly cosmopolitan edge.

1 Audiobook

Laubstreu

Laubstreu

by Irene Flemming Forbes-Mosse

About the author

Born in Baden-Baden in 1864, Irene Flemming Forbes-Mosse was a German writer who also worked as a translator. She came from a notable cultural lineage: she was a granddaughter of Bettina and Achim von Arnim, and her older sister was the writer Elisabeth von Heyking.

After an early marriage ended in divorce, she married the English colonel John Forbes-Mosse in 1896 and lived with him in Florence. There she became friends with the writer Vernon Lee and began her own literary career. She wrote poetry, stories, and novels, and contemporary accounts praised her work for its atmosphere and psychological sharpness.

Following her husband's death, she traveled widely and later lived in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. During the First World War she took on social work, and from 1931 she lived in Villeneuve on Lake Geneva with her friend Berthy Moser. She died there in 1946. Sources also note that her books were banned during the Nazi era.