author
Mary Frances Sandars
b. 1864
Best known as a biographer of European literary and royal figures, she wrote lively, well-regarded studies of Honoré de Balzac, Christina Rossetti, Queen Adelaide, Mary II, and Louis XVIII. Her work was admired in her lifetime for being both informed and readable.
1 Audiobook
Honore de Balzac, His Life and Writings
by Mary Frances Sandars
About the author
Born on July 5, 1864, Mary Frances Sandars was the eldest daughter of Samuel Sandars of Chalfont Grove, Buckinghamshire. She became known as an English biographer, with a special gift for bringing major historical and literary personalities to life for general readers.
Her books include studies of Honoré de Balzac, Christina Rossetti, Queen Adelaide, Mary II, and Louis XVIII. An obituary in The Times praised her Life of Balzac as probably the best one written by an English author, which gives a sense of the respect her work earned.
Sandars died on June 20, 1934. Though she is not widely remembered today, her biographies still appeal to readers who enjoy clear, character-focused writing about remarkable people from literature and history.