Ellen Wood (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Price) (17 January 1814 – 10 February 1887), better known as Mrs. Henry Wood, was an English novelist. She is best remembered for her 1861 novel ''

East Lynne ''East Lynne, or, The Earl's Daughter'' is an 1861 English sensation novel by Ellen Wood, writing as Mrs. Henry Wood. A Victorian-era bestseller, it is remembered chiefly for its elaborate and implausible plot centering on infidelity and dou ...

''. Many of her books sold well internationally and were widely read in the United States. In her time, she surpassed

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

in fame in Australia.

Life

Price was born in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

, on 17 January 1814. In 1836 she married Henry Wood, who worked in the banking and shipping trade in

Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was ...

in the

south of France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

, where they lived for 20 years. On the failure of Wood's business, the family (including four children) returned to England and settled in

Upper Norwood Upper Norwood is an area of south London, England, within the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borough of Croydon, Croydon, London Borough of Lambeth, Lambeth and London Borough of Southwark, Southwark. It is north ...

near London, where Ellen Wood turned to writing. This supported the family. Henry Wood died in 1866. She wrote over 30 novels, many of which (especially ''East Lynne'') enjoyed remarkable popularity. Among the best known are ''Danesbury House'', ''Oswald Cray'', ''Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles'', '' The Channings'', ''Lord Oakburn's Daughters'' and ''The Shadow of Ashlydyat''. Her writing tone would be described as "conservative and Christian," occasionally expressing religious rhetoric. In 1867, Wood purchased the English magazine ''Argosy'', which had been founded by Alexander Strahan in 1865. She wrote much of the magazine herself, but other contributors included Hesba Stretton,

Julia Kavanagh Julia Kavanagh (7 January 1824 – 28 October 1877) was an Irish novelist, born at Thurles in County Tipperary, Ireland—then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Her numerous contributions to literature have classified her ...

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romanticism, romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well k ...

Sarah Doudney Sarah Doudney (15 January 1841, Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire – 8 December 1926, Oxford)Charlotte Mitchell"Doudney, Sarah (1841–1926)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2005, re ...

and Rosa Nouchette Carey. Wood continued as its editor until her death in 1887, when her son Charles Wood took over.; ODNB entry
oxforddnb.com
Retrieved 31 May 2011. Wood's works were translated into many languages, including French and Russian.

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, in a 9 March 1872 letter to his older brother Sergei, noted that he was "reading Mrs. Wood's wonderful novel ''In the Maze''". Wood wrote several works of supernatural fiction, including "The Ghost" (1867) and the oft-anthologized "Reality or Delusion?" (1868). She died of

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

Works

These are the first published UK editions as catalogued by the British Library, with supplementary information from a specialist booksellers' catalogue.''Women Writers R–Z'' (London: Jarndyce, 2012)

References

External links

* * *
Works by Mrs. Henry Wood
at

Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

* *
Mrs. Henry Wood website
*
''Mrs Henry Wood Bibliography Of Contributions To Periodicals''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Ellen 1887 deaths 1814 births Victorian novelists Victorian women writers Writers from Worcester, England English Christians English women novelists English horror writers British ghost story writers Burials at Highgate Cemetery Deaths from bronchitis British women horror writers 19th-century English women writers British women magazine editors English women editors English women short story writers 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English short story writers Victorian short story writers Sensation novelists

Life

Works

References

Further reading

External links