Lilian Turner

Born in England in 1867, she moved to Australia as a child and later built a writing career alongside her better-known younger sister, Ethel Turner. The two sisters edited magazines for schoolgirls, including Iris and Parthenon, before she went on to write fiction of her own.

She became known for novels for young readers, especially teenage girls, and produced a substantial body of work over many years. Her first novel, The Lights of Sydney, won Cassell’s Novel Competition, helping launch a career that eventually included more than twenty books.

Although she is often mentioned in connection with Ethel Turner, her writing has its own place in Australian literary history. Her books capture the interests, pressures, and hopes of young women in her era, which still makes them appealing to readers curious about earlier Australian popular fiction.