Allen Raine was the pseudonym of the Welsh novelist Anne Adalisa Beynon Puddicombe (6 October 1836 – 21 June 1908), who was born in

Newcastle Emlyn Newcastle Emlyn ( cy, Castellnewydd Emlyn) is a town on the River Teifi, straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in West Wales. It is also a community entirely within Carmarthenshire, bordered by those of Llangeler and Cenar ...

. Her novels had sold more than two million copies by 1912.

Life

She was born Anne Adalisa Evans in Newcastle Emlyn,

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

, the eldest daughter of a lawyer, Benjamin Evans, and Letitia Grace Evans, his wife, whose father was a lawyer and the grandson of David Davis (1745–1827). Allen Raine's mother was also the granddaughter of Daniel Rowland. In 1849, she was sent to be educated with the family of a Unitarian minister,

Henry Solly Henry Solly (17 November 1813 – 27 February 1903) was an English social reformer.Alan Ruston, �Solly, Henry (1813–1903)��, '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 , accessed 18 April 2010. William Bever ...

, at Cheltenham. The family included literati such as

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

Mrs Henry Wood Ellen Price (17 January 1814 – 10 February 1887) was an English novelist better known as Mrs. Henry Wood. She is best remembered for her 1861 novel '' East Lynne''. Many of her books sold well internationally and were widely read in the United ...

, and

Bulwer-Lytton Bulwer-Lytton is a surname, and may refer to: * Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–1873), novelist and politician * Rosina Bulwer Lytton (1802–1882), feminist writer and wife of Edward Bulwer-Lytton * Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of ...

. She later lived in the suburbs of London with her sister Lettie. In her youth she published a short-lived periodical called ''Home Sunshine'' with the help of a few friends, which was printed at Newcastle Emlyn.

Marital life

Returning to Wales in 1856, she married the banker Beynon Puddicombe at Penbryn Church, Tresaith, Cardiganshire, on 10 April 1872. He was the foreign correspondent of Smith Payne's Bank, London. They lived in the London area until February 1900, when her husband became mentally ill. They then retired to Bronmôr, a house in

Tresaith Tresaith (otherwise Tre-saith) is a coastal village in Ceredigion, Wales, between Aberporth and Llangranog. It is linked to the former by a two-mile section of the Ceredigion Coast Path, part of the Wales Coast Path. Tresaith is within the Cered ...

until his death in 1906. He died on 29 May and was buried at Penbryn Church. She spent time in London for her education and marriage, but eventually returned to her Welsh roots. Wales features largely in her romantic fiction, with titles such as ''A Welsh Singer'' (1896) and ''A Welsh Witch'' (1902). She remained there until her death on 21 June 1908.

Works

*''Ynysoer'' (National Eisteddfod winner, 1894) *'' A Welsh Singer'' (1896) *''Torn Sails'' (1897) *''By Berwen Banks'' (1899) *''Garthowen'' (1900) *''A Welsh Witch'' (1902, republished by Honno Classics, 2013) *''On the Wings of the Wind'' (1903) *''Hearts of Wales'' (1905) *'' Queen of the Rushes'' (1906, republished by Honno Classics, 1998) *''Neither Storehouse nor Barn'' (1908) *''All in a Month'' (short story collection; 1908) *''Where Billows Roll'' (originally Ynysoer, Eisteddfod winner 1894) *''Under the Thatch '' (unfinished at death, completed by Lyn Evans in 1910)

Films

*''Torn Sails'' (1915) *'' A Welsh Singer'' (starring Florence Turner 1915) and ''By Berwen Banks'' (1920)

Notes

References

* * * *

Sally Roberts Jones Sally Roberts Jones (born 30 November 1935) is an English-born Welsh poet, publisher and critic. Biography She was born Sally Roberts in London; her father was Welsh. She studied history at University College Bangor, then qualified as a libraria ...

, ''Allen Raine'', 1979 * Katie Gramich, ''Twentieth-Century Women's Writing in Wales: Land, Gender, Belonging'', Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007.

External links

Allen Raine website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raine, Allen 1836 births 1908 deaths 19th-century Welsh novelists 20th-century Welsh novelists 19th-century Welsh women writers 20th-century Welsh women writers People from Carmarthenshire Welsh short story writers British women short story writers Welsh women novelists 19th-century British short story writers Pseudonymous women writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers