Lifespan: 1764- 1838
Nationality: English
Genres: Gothic Fiction
Types of Work: Novels, Poetry, Operas
Contemporaries:
Other Names: Ann Curtis; Ann of Swansea
Style: Gothic style novels; social satire; moral stories.
Bio: Born April 29, 1764, in Worcester, England, Ann Julia Kemble was the daughter of actor Roger Kemble, and sister of actors, Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble.
In 1783, Ann married a fellow actor, C. Curtis, but was left in financial distress after finding out that he was already married. She placed an advertisement in the newspaper, appealing to the public for financial help, and later tried to commit suicide in Westminster Abbey.
Eventually, Ann began to earn a living as a "model" in London brothels, where she was accidentally shot in the face.
In 1792, she married William Hatton, and the couple moved to America, where her popular opera "Tammany" was produced on Broadway.
Ann and her husband returned to England by 1799, settling in Swansea in Wales. There, they ran a bathing-house and guest lodgings near the sea shore. William died in 1806, and afterwards, Ann ran a dancing school and eventually became a well-known writer, beginning with the publication of her first novel, Cambrian Pictures, in 1810. The novel was published under the name of Ann of Swansea. She wrote 14 novels in all between 1810 and 1831.
Novels:
Secrets in Every Mansion
Guilty or Not Guilty
Sicilian Mysteries
Cambrian Pictures
Conviction, or Is She Innocent
Secret Avengers
Chronicles of an Illustrious House
Gonzalo de Baldivia
Secrets in Every Mansion
Cesario Rosalba
Lovers and Friends
Woman's A Riddle
Deeds of An Olden Time
Uncle Peregrine's Heiress
Gerald Fitzgerald, and Irish Tale