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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Caroline Sophia Lunn

Author: Caroline Sophia Lunn (1823–1893)

Alternate Name(s): Grundy (maiden name); Linus (pseudonym); Mrs. J. Calbraith Lunn (familiar name)

Biography: Caroline Sophia Lunn was born in 1823 in Fenny Drayton, Leicestershire, the daughter of John Grundy, a prosperous farmer. In 1851, she married John Calbraith Lunn, an Irish-born unitarian minister. The couple had no children. Her husband served a number of midlands congregations, including King's Lynn, Evesham, Lancaster, and Leicester Free Church. In addition, he was a gifted amateur astronomer and was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1883. Lunn wrote a collection of poetry under the pseudonym "Linus" in 1860 before turning to novels. They include: Only Eve (1873) about an orphan who becomes a singer; The Masters of Claythorpe (1874), which centers on a legal plot; Clare Stellar (1883), whose character's name is no doubt inspired by her husband's hobby; and Shamrock and Rose (1888), an Irish-novel in name only. Lunn's husband died in 1891 and she followed in 1893.

References: George Eyre Evans, Midland Churches: A History of the Congregations on the Roll of the Midland Christian Union (1899)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Only Eve.  3 vol.  London: Sampson Low, 1873.
  2. The Masters of Claythorpe.  3 vol.  London: Sampson Low, 1874.
  3. Clare Stellar: A Novel.  2 vol.  London: Remington, 1883.
  4. Shamrock and Rose: A Novel.  3 vol.  London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1888.