Lifespan: 1839-1908
Nationality: French/English
Genres: sensationalism, pronto-adventure, historical romance, juvenile fiction
Types of Work: Novels, essays, children's stories
Other Names: Ouida
Style: social criticism combined with romanticism, sometimes satirical portraits of the society and locations where she lived; early novels considered "racy and swashbuckling"
Bio:
Maria Louise Rame (Marie Louise de la Ramee) was born on 1 January 1839 in Bury St. Edmunds, England. Her mother, Susan Sutton, was English, but her father was French.
Louise was a bit of an eccentric character. She took up her residence in the Langham Hotel in London in 1867, where she was said to write in bed, by candlelight, with the curtains drawn and surrounded by purple flowers. Her hotel and florists bills were enormous, and she hosted expensive soirees that included soldiers, politicians, popular literary figures (such as Oscar Wilde, Robert Browning, and Wilkie Collins) and artists. Many of the characters in her stories were based on the people in her sphere of acquaintance.
In 1871, Louise moved to Italy, settling permanently in Florence in 1874. In Italy, she continued to write prolifically, and saw great success, however, mismanagement of her finances reduced her to accept a civil pension list of
£150 a year in 1906. She died in Bagni di Lucca, Italy on 25 January 1908. She was buried in the same town. A memorial was set up in her memory in her hometown of Bury St. Edmunds.
Louise wrote over 40 novels, children's books, and collections of short stories and essays, all under the pseudonym "Ouida", which she derived from her own childhood pronunciation of her name.
Probably her best known works-- at least contemporarily-- is A Dog of Flanders and Under Two Flags, of which several film versions have been made.
(A more detailed biography is available on Wikipedia)
Novels:
Held in Bondage (1863)
Two Little Wooden Shoes (1874), also published with the title Bébée
Afternoon (1883)
A House Party (1887)
An Altruist (1897)
Ariadne (1877)
Beatrice Boville and Other Stories (1868)
Bimbi: Stories for Children (1882)
Cecil Castlemaine's Gage (1867)
A Dog of Flanders (1872)
Chandos (1866)
Critical Studies (1900)
Dogs (1897)
Don Guesaldo (1886)
Frescoes: Dramatic Sketches (1883)
Friendship (1878)
Folle-Farine (1871)
Guilderoy (1889)
Helianthus (1908)
Held in Bondage (1863), first published with the title Granville de Vigne
The Silver Christ and A Lemon Tree (1894)
Idalia (1867)
In a Winter City (1876)
In Maremma (1882)
La Strega and Other Stories (1899)
Le Selve and Other Tales (1896)
The Massarenes (1897)
Moths (1880)
Moufflou and other stories (1910)
Muriella; or, Le Selve (1897)
The New Priesthood: A Protest Against Vivisection (1893)
The Nürnberg Stove (1895)
Othmar (1885)
Pascarel (1874)
Pipistrello and Other Stories (1880)
Princess Napraxine (1884)
Puck (1870)
A Rainy June (1885)
Ruffino and Other Stories (1890)
Santa Barbara and Other Stories (1891)
Signa (1875)
The Silver Christ (1894)
Strathmore (1865)
Street Dust and Other Stories (1901)
Syrlin (1890)
The Tower of Taddeo (1892)
Toxin (1895)
Tricotrin (1869)
Two Offenders and Other Tales (1894)
Under Two Flags (1867)
Views and Opinions (1895)
A Village Commune (1881)
Wanda (1883)
The Waters of Edera (1900)