Born in Manchester, England, in 1849, Frances Hodgson Burnett experienced financial hardship early in life following her father's death in 1853. This prompted her family to emigrate to the United States in 1865, settling in New Market, Tennessee. To help support her family, she began writing and publishing stories in magazines at the age of nineteen. In 1873, she married Swan Burnett, with whom she had two sons, Lionel and Vivian.\n\nBurnett's writing career flourished with the publication of her first novel, That Lass o' Lowrie's, which received positive reviews. She achieved widespread fame and commercial success with her 1886 children's novel, Little Lord Fauntleroy. While she also wrote popular romantic novels for adults during the 1890s, she remains most celebrated for her children's literature. She actively adapted her works for the stage, helping to produce theatrical versions of her popular stories.\n\nThroughout her life, Burnett traveled frequently between the United States and England, purchasing a home in England where she wrote her masterpiece, The Secret Garden (1911). Her personal life was marked by tragedy and upheaval, including the death of her eldest son Lionel from tuberculosis in 1890, which worsened her lifelong struggle with depression, and two divorces. She eventually settled in Nassau County, New York, where she died in 1924. Her legacy is commemorated by a memorial sculpture in Central Park's Conservatory Garden.
