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Mrs. Henry Wood

ELLEN PRICE was born at Worcester, England, January 17, 1814, the daughter of a glove manufacturer. In 1836 she married Henry Wood, head of a large shipping and banking firm, whose business kept them for some twenty years in France. Her husband died in 1886, but she lived till February 10, 1887. Her literary career began with a Pound 100 prize temperance tale. She began making contributions to "Bentley's Miscellany," and in 1867, after her husband's death, she became editor and proprietor of "The Argosy," in which appeared her later novels. Her first great success was "East Lynne," in 1861, the book by which she is known to-day. The vogue of the story was enormous; it was translated into several languages, and theatergoers of an older generation in both England and America knew various very successful versions of it. She wrote some forty long novels and many short tales, some of which ranked as "best sellers" long before the invention of that phrase. Her powers ranged from extreme melodrama to the portrayal of every-day life. She was perhaps unduly prized in her day and is unduly appreciated now, but that is the way with best sellers. "The Shadow of Ashlydyat" was her own favorite; her Johnny Ludlow tales are perhaps her most artistic work. "East Lynne," however, is the book her name suggests to readers.