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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Flora Frances Wylde

Author: Flora Frances Wylde (1812–1888)

Alternate Name(s): Macdonald (maiden name)

Biography: Flora Frances Wylde was born in 1812, the daughter of John Macdonald and Frances Maria Chambers, the daughter of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Bengal. Her paternal grandmother and namesake was the Jacobite heroine Flora Macdonald (1722–1790) and Wylde edited Macdonald's autobiography in 1870. She married Edward Randyll Wylde, R.N. and the couple lived in Cheltenham. After her husband died in 1853, Wylde turned to literature. Her first novel, The Tablette Booke of Ladye Mary Keyes (1861), professes to be the journal of Lady Jane Grey's younger sister complete with Tutor grammar and spelling. Her second novel, The Life and Wonderful Adventures of "Totty Testudo" (1873), is the 200-year autobiography of a tortoise brought to Portugal. Her last novel, The Widow Unmasked (1875), is a more traditional domestic romance. She died in 1888 at home.

References: Daily News (30 November 1888); Gentleman's Magazine (August 1853); Alexander Macgregor, The Life of Flora Macdonald (1901)

Fiction Titles:

  1. The Tablette Booke of Ladye Mary Keyes, Owne Sister to the Misfortunate Ladye Jane Dudlie: In Wiche wille be founde a faithfulle Historie of alle the Troubels that did com to them and theire Kinsfolke, writt in the Yeare of Oure Lorde Fifteene Hundred and Seventie-seven.  1 vol.  London: Saunders and Otley, 1861.
  2. The Life and Wonderful Adventures of "Totty Testudo": An Autobiography.  1 vol.  Edinburgh: W. P. Nimmo, 1873.
  3. The Widow Unmasked: or, The Firebrand in the Family. A Novel.  3 vol.  London: Samuel Tinsley, 1875.