Ella MacMahon

Eleanor Harriet MacMahon was a prolific Irish romance novelist.

Early life

Ella MacMahon was born to Rev. John Henry MacMahon, curate of St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin and Frances Snagge on 23 July 1864 in Dublin. She was the older of their two children. Her father later worked as chaplain of Mountjoy Prison. Rev. MacMahon was on the board of religious education of the Church of Ireland as well as editor of the Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette. He wrote four books. His daughter was educated at home and had similar interests in a literary career.

Career

In her twenties, MacMahon began contributing to periodicals such as the New Ireland Review, and her first novel was published in 1894. Her best-known books were A New Note and A Modern Man. In addition to fiction, she wrote Hints on Letter-Writing, based on a French guide, and "Is Humor Declining?", an essay in The Living Age.
While her main income was from her novels, MacMahon worked for various government departments including the new Intelligence department during World War I.

Reception

A reviewer in Godey's wrote that McMahon's A Pitiless Passion "is in no sense a great work, but it is an unusual and an absorbing story told with a good eye for contrasts." "Miss MacMahon can write very pleasantly, and knows just how much detail of dress and furniture is interesting to her readers," explained a reviewer in 1898. "She makes no attempt to avoid femininity, and succeeds none the worse on that account."

Personal life

In the post-war years MacMahon moved to Brockenhurst, Hampshire, and later retired on her government pension. At some point in her life, she converted to Catholicism. She died 19 April 1956.