author
M. M. (Matilda Maria) Blake
A little-known 19th-century writer and illustrator, she is best remembered for a sweeping historical novel set in the turbulent years after the Norman Conquest. Her work blends romance, conflict, and a strong sense of place around medieval Norwich.
1 Audiobook
The Siege of Norwich Castle: A story of the last struggle against the Conqueror
by M. M. (Matilda Maria) Blake
About the author
M. M. Blake, also published as Matilda Maria Blake, is the author of The Siege of Norwich Castle: A Story of the Last Struggle Against the Conqueror, a historical novel first published in 1893.
Available catalog and archive records suggest that this is the work she is chiefly known for today. The novel revisits resistance in East Anglia after the Norman Conquest and was issued with illustrations by the author, which also points to Blake working as an illustrator as well as a writer.
Very little firmly documented biographical information appears to survive in widely accessible sources, so most modern references focus on the book itself rather than on her personal life. That relative obscurity is part of her interest now: she offers readers a glimpse of Victorian historical fiction from a voice that has largely slipped out of the spotlight.