Charlotte Riddell

Novelist

Birthday September 30, 1832

Birth Sign Libra

Birthplace Ireland

DEATH DATE Sep 24, 1906 (73)

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About

One of the most successful and prolific writers of the Victorian era, this Irishwoman penned close to forty novels and several short story collections and also served as editor of a prominent literary journal titled St. James's Magazine.

Before Fame

Writing under the pen name of F.G. Trafford, she published her first novel, The Moors and the Fens, in 1858.

Trivia

She wrote numerous ghost stories, and many of her novels -- including The Haunted River and The Nun's Curse -- also contain supernatural themes.

Family Life

Born Charlotte Eliza Lawson Cowan, she grew up in County Antrim, Ireland, as the child of Ellen Kilshaw and Sheriff James Cowan. After relocating to London, England in the mid 1850s, she married civil engineer Joseph Hadley Riddell.

Associated With

She was a contemporary of fellow Victorian writer George Meredith.