Lifespan: 1813-1883
Nationality: English
Genres: Domestic, Sensational
Types of Work: Novels, Poetry
Other Names: Harriet Gordon, Mrs. Gordon Smythies
Bio:
Harriet Maria Gordon Smythies was born about 1813 at Margate, Kent, England. She was the eldest of three children. Her first work, a narrative poem titled The Bride of Siena was published by 22 August 1835. She continued to published for forty-five years until her death on 15 August 1883 at 24 Brunswick Square, London.
Her later poems, all of substantial length, deal with contemporary public events. She set her name to these (after the first) but not for many years to her fiction, which until then she published allusively. Her more than twenty novels begin, like her poetry, with stories of the vicissitudes of courtship, in which at least some of the central lovers need moral improvement or reform before their happy ending. Her later novels become more complex and accomplished in their social satire but the love stories (now lighter in touch) remain dominant.
Information courtesy of http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=smytha
Novels:
1. Fitzherbert: or, Lovers and Fortune-Hunters. 3 vol. London: Saunders and Otley, 1838.
2. Cousin Geoffrey: The Old Bachelor. A Novel. 3 vol. London: Bentley, 1840.
3. The Marrying Man. 3 vol. London: Bentley, 1841.
4. The Matchmaker: A Novel. 3 vol. London: Henry Colburn, 1842.
5. The Jilt: A Novel. 3 vol. London: Bentley, 1844.
6. Breach of Promise. 3 vol. London: T. C. Newby, 1845.
7. The Life of a Beauty: A Novel. 3 vol. London: T. C. Newby, 1846.
8. A Warning to Wives: or, The Platonic Lover. 3 vol. London: T. C. Newby, 1847.
9. Courtship and Wedlock. 3 vol. London: T. C. Newby, 1850. 10. The Bride Elect. 3 vol. London: T. C. Newby, 1852.
11. Married for Love. 3 vol. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1857.
12. A Lover's Quarrel: or, The County Ball. 3 vol. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1858.
13. Hope Evermore: or, Something to Do. 2 vol. London: Cassell, 1860.
14. Alone in the World: A Novel. 3 vol. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1861.
15. The Daily Governess: or, Self Dependence. 3 vol. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1861.
16. True to the Last: A Novel. 3 vol. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1862.
17. Left to Themselves. 3 vol. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1863.
18. Guilty: or, Not Guilty. A Novel. 3 vol. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1864.
19. A Faithful Woman. 3 vol. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1865.
20. Idols of Clay. 3 vol. London: Saunders and Otley, 1867.
21. Acquitted: A Novel. 3 vol. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1870. 22. Eva's Fortune. 3 vol. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1875.