Alice C. Jones (

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

, Alix John; 1853–1933) was a Canadian novelist and travel writer.

Biography

Alice Jones was born August 25, 1853, in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

to Lieutenant-Governor Alfred Gilpin Jones and Margaret Wiseman Stairs. In the 1880s and 1890s she travelled to Europe and the West Indies. During her travels, she wrote short stories for a number of magazines including ''

The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's edi ...

'' and '' Frank Leslie's Monthly''. Her visits to places in the Mediterranean led to the publication of a series of travel essays which appeared in ''The Week''. When she returned to Halifax after her travels, she turned to writing novels. Her first novel, ''The Night Hawk'' was published in 1903 under the pen name, "Alix John". In 1905, she moved to

Menton Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and remained there until her death on February 27, 1933. The women in Jones' stories are prominently strong of character which was unusual at the time. Many of her books featured Canadian themes of wilderness and the relationship between environment and character. In 1903, ''The Canadian Magazine'' called her the 'leading woman novelist in Canada' and the Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature compared her to

Sara Jeannette Duncan Sara Jeannette Duncan (22 December 1861 – 22 July 1922) was a Canadian author and journalist, who also published as Mrs. Everard Cotes (her married name) and Garth Grafton among other names. First trained as a teacher in a normal schoo ...

in her emphasis on strong women characters.

Works

* ''The Night Hawk'' (1901) ritten as Alix John* ''Bubbles We Buy'' (1903) * ''Gabriel Praed's Castle'' (1904) * ''Marcus Holbaech's Daughter'' (1912) * ''Flames of Frost'' (1914)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Alice 1853 births 1933 deaths 20th-century Canadian novelists Canadian women novelists Writers from Halifax, Nova Scotia Canadian travel writers Women travel writers Canadian women non-fiction writers 19th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 19th-century Canadian women writers Canadian expatriates in France 20th-century Canadian women writers Novelists from Nova Scotia