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 () is a town and Community (Wales), community on the River Teifi, in West Wales. The community is wholly in Carmarthenshire, but the built up area also includes Adpar north of the Teifi, which is in Ceredigion. Adpar was formerl ...

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

Life

She was born Anne Adalisa Evans in Newcastle Emlyn,

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

, 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 Beverid ...

, at Cheltenham. Family friends 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, and Bulwer-Lytton. She later lived in the suburbs of London with her sister Lettie. In her youth she contributed to a short-lived periodical called ''Home Sunshine'', which was produced by friends, the Leslie family, and printed at Newcastle Emlyn.

Marital life

Returning to Wales in 1856, she married the banker Beynon Puddicombe at Penbryn Church, Tresaith,

Cardiganshire Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Ab ...

, 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, their summer house in Tresaith until his death in 1906. He died on 29 May and was buried at Penbryn Church. She remained in Tresaith until her death on 21 June 1908.

Works

A fictionalised version of coastal Cardiganshire features largely in each of her novels and the majority of her short stories. In 1897, she published a literary translation of Ceiriog's long poem 'Alun Mabon' in serial form in O. M. Edwards's magazine ''Wales''. *''Ynysoer'' (National Eisteddfod winner, 1894) *''

A Welsh Singer A Welsh Singer (1915) is a British romantic film based on a novel of the same name. Marketing emphasised the attractive scenery of the film's Welsh setting. It was praised by British newspapers but received a mixed review in an American magaz ...

'' (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) *''

'' (starring

Florence Turner Florence Turner (January 6, 1885 – August 28, 1946) was an American actress who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films. Biography Born in New York City, Turner was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by h ...

1915) and ''By Berwen Banks'' (1920)

Notes

References

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

External links

* * * * {{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 Welsh women short story writers Welsh women novelists 19th-century British short story writers Pseudonymous women writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers