Best known work

• "The Girl of the Period", 1868

Other well known work(s)

• The Rebel of the Family, 1880
• Autobiography of Christopher Kirkland, 1885

Genres

• Fiction - Novels
• Journalism
• Travel Writing / Translation

Nom de plume

Elizabeth Lynn

Social class

Working class

Parental background

Though she was the daughter of a vicar, the early death of her mother compelled her to earn her own living as soon as possible and she was largely self-educated.

At publication of best known work

• Age: 46
• Marital status: Separated
• Number of children: 0

Physical description

"In appearance, Miss Lynn at that time was slight and graceful in figure, not very tall, with an oval face wearing generally a reserved and rather grave look.[…] she wore spectacles, which probably made her look more serious than she would naturally. She appeared to me to be about six or seven and twenty years of age" (attributed to Captain F. Fox in G. S. Layard, Mrs Lynn Linton: her life, letters and opinions [1901]). "She was always well dressed by an expensive dressmaker in Germany. She had thick, dark brown hair coiled under a dainty lace bow-shaped cap [...]. She cared very much for her dress and personal appearance" (note by Mrs Hartley [nee Sichel] in Layard, as before).

Did you know?

Linton inherited Gad's Hill Place, Rochester, Kent from her father, who purchased the property when he was curate of nearby Strood. Eliza Lynn Linton later sold the house to Charles Dickens. She was a regular contributor to Dickens's journals Household Words and All the Year Round.

Additional information

Victorian Web is a good place to start for information about Linton. A 1901 biography of Linton by George Somes Layard is digitised at the Internet Archive.