Sarah Tytler (1827–1914)

Sarah Tytler was the pen name of Henrietta Keddie, a prolific Scottish author. At the age of 16, she was sent to Edinburgh to complete her education; there she met physician and essayist John Brown, who encouraged her to write. Her early work appeared in Blackwood's Magazine. In 1848, following the death of their father, Henrietta and three of her sisters set up a private school in her native village of Cupar. Eventually, the success of her writing allowed Henrietta and her older sister Margaret to move to London. After Margaret's death in 1880, Henrietta went on a European tour with friends and an adopted daughter, and then moved to Oxford for 20 years. She also lived in Bristol before returning to London, where she died. During her nearly 60-year publishing career, she produced more than a book a year. Her work, which consisted of historical and contemporary novels, short stories, biographical sketches, travel books, advice to young girls, and other journalistic pieces, appealed to a predominantly female audience. The novels often were set in Scotland; Logie Town (1887), perhaps her best-known novel, was a fictionalized portrait of everyday life in Cupar. Her autobiography, entitled Three Generations of a Middle-Class Scottish Family (1911) was an entertaining account of her girlhood years and literary life.