Voices

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frances Hodgson Burnett was best known as an English playwright and author. Frances Eliza Hodgson was born on November 24, 1849, at Cheetham Hill, Manchester, England, to Eliza Boond and Edwin Hodgson. She was the middle child of five, with two older brothers and two younger sisters. Frances grew up in a comfortable home. Mr. Hodgson sold brass goods to upper class households, and the family had a maid, a nurse-maid, and a horse and carriage. However, in the early 1850's when Frances was only three or four years old, her father died of a stroke, and the family was forced to sell their house and move. Her mother carried on the business, and Frances was often left in the care of her grandmother, who taught her to read. Her future as a writer might have begun here. When she was about sixteen, the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. From then until she was nineteen, Frances supported them by selling her stories to magazines. In September 1873, she married Swan Burnett. The couple moved to Paris for two years and had there two sons. In 1892, following the death her son Lionel from tuberculosis, Frances suffered severe depression. In 1898, she divorced Swan Burnett and remarried two years later; this second marriage only lasted a year. Frances settled in Long Island, New York, where she lived for the rest of her life. She died in 1924 and rests in Roslyn Cemetery in Greenvale, New York, next to her other son, Vivian.Read the rest

Biography from Open Library, CC BY-SA

The Stacks

The Book

The one title the catalogue holds so far.

In the Margins

What Readers Said

The most recent reviews of Frances Hodgson Burnett's books, newest first.

The Secret Garden reviewed by @margaretreads
7 out of 10
Superb in the middle, indefensible at the start
The Secret Garden@margaretreads2 Oct 2025

The Reading Room

On These Lists

Member-built lists that make room for this writer.

Books With The Botany Right
by @dr_bramble
1 book

The Secret Garden reviewed by @margaretreads

Books With The Botany Right

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden reviewed by @margaretreads

Books With The Botany Right