Airy Fairy Lilian

About This Book

Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, (Hamilton), (27 April 1855 – 24 January 1897), was an Irish novelist whose light romantic fiction was popular throughout the English-speaking world in the late 19th century. She approached her writing methodically, setting aside three hours every morning for it. The room where she did her writing had neatly organized manuscripts at her desk, surrounded by many reference works, novels, and other books. Her books were first published anonymously, and later as by "Mrs. Hungerford". In the United States, her books were mostly published under the pen name "The Duchess". Some of her early books were published by William Tinsley, a major publisher at the time. Often writing on commission, she wrote many novels, short stories, and newspaper articles. Her books continued selling as fast as she could write them. Her plots follow the usual conventions of romantic novels of the day. They contain delicate love scenes that were never offensive to the ideals of Victorian morals. Her works are characterized as entertaining and charming, though usually not of great depth. She tends to have little in the way of character development, tending more towards flirtatious dialogue. She was adept at capturing the tone of her contemporary fashionable society, and sometimes used Irish settings. Hungerford's best-known novel is Molly Bawn (1878) the story of a frivolous, petulant Irish girl, a flirt, who arouses her lover's jealousy and naively ignores social conventions. Mrs. Hungerford and this book are mentioned in chapter 18 of James Joyce's Ulysses: "...Molly bawn she gave me by Mrs Hungerford on account of the name I don't like books with a Molly in them like that one he brought me about the one from Flanders..." "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" Molly Bawn contains Hungerford's most famous idiom: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Included in this collection: (12 Works) Molly Bawn Faith and Unfaith Mrs. Geoffrey Airy Fairy Lilian Portia The Haunted Chamber Only an Irish Girl April's Lady A Little Rebel The Hoyden The story of my first novel How to Marry Well