author
John Oliver Hobbes
1867–1906
A sharp-tongued literary celebrity of the 1890s, this Anglo-American novelist and dramatist found instant fame with her first book and brought wit, style, and social observation to both fiction and the stage.
1 Audiobook
Robert Orange Being a Continuation of the History of Robert Orange
by John Oliver Hobbes
About the author
Born Pearl Mary Teresa Richards in Boston in 1867, she wrote under the pen name John Oliver Hobbes and was educated in London and Paris. She became one of the best-known literary figures of her day, moving in high-profile social and artistic circles and building a career as both a novelist and a playwright.
Her breakthrough came with Some Emotions and a Moral in 1891, a debut that sold remarkably quickly and made her famous almost overnight. She went on to publish more fiction and write for the theatre, earning a reputation for polished dialogue, intelligence, and a coolly observant view of society.
Although her work became less widely read after her death in 1906, she remains an intriguing figure from the fin-de-siècle literary world: a bestselling woman writer who chose a masculine pen name, mastered several forms, and captured the tone of her era with elegance and bite.