author
Rosa M. (Rosa Mulholland) Gilbert
1841–1921
An Irish novelist, poet, and playwright with a gift for vivid storytelling, she wrote popular fiction shaped by Irish life, Catholic themes, and a sharp eye for character. Her career stretched across the Victorian era and into the early 20th century, earning encouragement early on from Charles Dickens.
3 Audiobooks
Hetty Gray; or, Nobody's bairn
by Rosa M. (Rosa Mulholland) Gilbert
The Late Miss Hollingford
by Rosa M. (Rosa Mulholland) Gilbert
Terry; Or, She ought to have been a Boy
by Rosa M. (Rosa Mulholland) Gilbert
About the author
Born in Belfast in 1841, Rosa Mulholland was educated privately and first hoped to become a painter before turning seriously to writing. Her early fiction was encouraged by Charles Dickens, who published some of her work, and she went on to build a long and successful literary career.
Mulholland wrote novels, short stories, poems, and plays, often drawing on Irish settings and people she had known during time spent in the west of Ireland. She also published under the name Ruth Murray, and after marrying the historian and archivist Sir John T. Gilbert in 1891 she was also known as Lady Gilbert or Rosa M. Gilbert.
Remembered today as a notable Irish writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, she combined popular storytelling with strong religious and social themes. She died in Dublin in 1921, leaving behind a large and varied body of work.