author
Maud Stepney Rawson
A British writer of historical fiction and nonfiction, she was especially drawn to the lives and politics of earlier centuries. Her books revisit Tudor and Regency worlds with a storyteller’s eye for character and setting.
1 Audiobook
Bess of Hardwick and Her Circle
by Maud Stepney Rawson
About the author
Born Alice Maud Fife and later known as Maud Stepney Rawson, she was a British historical novelist born in Pune in the 1860s, the daughter of Lieutenant General James George Fife and Katharine Alice Wharton. She married William Stepney Rawson and published under the name by which readers now know her.
Her work centered on history, especially English subjects, and included books such as Tales of Rye Town, A Lady of the Regency, and Bess of Hardwick and Her Circle. She wrote for readers who enjoyed the atmosphere of the past, blending narrative appeal with a clear interest in historical lives and settings.
Though not a household name today, her books have remained findable through library and public-domain collections, which has helped keep her work in circulation for modern readers curious about early 20th-century historical writing.