At the Circulating Library

Author: Emily Jolly

Author: Emily Jolly (1834–1917)

Biography: Emily Jolly was born about 1834 in Margate, the elder daughter of Thomas Jolly, the one-time mayor of Bath. (Her brother William Cracknell Jolly also served a term as mayor.) As a young woman she began writing fiction, beginning with "A Wife's Story" first published in Dickens's Household Words in 1855. She followed with nearly a dozen novels up to 1875. After a hiatus of twenty years, she wrote another novel published as a newspaper serial in 1895. She never married and lived for twenty years with Sydney and Emily Dobell. After the poet's death in 1874, Jolly edited a life and letters of Dobell in 1878 and later moved to Dorset with Emily (who died in 1900). Jolly died in 1917 in Dorset.

References: British Census (1881, 1891, 1901); Bath Chronicle (20 October 1917); Cheltenham Chronicle (9 June 1900)

Fiction Titles:

1. Mr. Arle: A Novel.  2 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1856.
2. Caste.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1857.
3. Love in Light and Shadow: Tales.  2 vol.  London: Groombridge, 1857.
4. Bond and Free.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1860.
5. Entanglements: A Romance.  2 vol.  London: Smith, Elder, 1862.
6. Cumworth House.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1864.
7. The Cypresses: A Romance.  2 vol.  London: Bentley, 1865.
8. My Son's Wife.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1867.
9. Pearl.  2 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1868.
10. Viola.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1869.
11. Bruna's Revenge, and Other Tales.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1872.
12. Colonel Dacre.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1873.
13. Safely Married.  2 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1874.
14. A Wife's Story, and Other Tales.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1875.