L. T. Meade


Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith, writing under the pseudonym L. T. Meade, was a prolific writer of girls' stories. She was born in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland, daughter of Rev. R. T. Meade, of Nohoval, County Cork. She later moved to London, where she married Alfred Toulmin Smith in September 1879.
She began writing at 17 and produced over 280 books in her lifetime, being so prolific that no fewer than eleven new titles under her byline appeared in the first few years after her death.
She was primarily known for her books for young people, of which the most famous was A World of Girls, published in 1886. A World of Girls sold 37,000 copies and was highly influential on girls’ school stories of the twentieth century and contributed to the idea of New Woman. However, she also wrote "sentimental" and "sensational" stories, religious stories, historical novels, adventure, romances, and mysteries, including several with male co-authors. The first of these was Dr. Clifford Halifax, with whom she first collaborated in 1893 and wrote six books. A year later she first teamed with Robert Eustace, and turned out eleven volumes with him.
Her last co-author was Sir Robert Kennaway Douglas ; they produced only one book, in 1897. The Eustace partnerships are notable for two female villains, Madame Sara and Madame Koluchy. Meade and Eustace also created the occult detective and palmist Diana Marburg, who first appeared in the US edition of Pearson's Magazine in 1902.
One of her most unusual titles is Dumps; A Plain Girl. She was also the editor of a popular girls' magazine, Atalanta.
Meade was a feminist and a member of the Pioneer Club. Following the death of women's-rights pioneer and Pioneer Club founder Emily Langton Massingberd, Meade wrote a novel in 1898 based on her life titled The Cleverest Woman in England.

List of her works

Books for young readers

  1. Scamp and I: A Story/Study of City Byways
  2. Lettie's Last Home
  3. David’s Little Lad
  4. Water Lilies and Other Tales
  5. The Children’s Kingdom: The Story of a Great Endeavor
  6. Outcast Robin, or Your Brother and Mine: A Cry from the Great City
  7. Great St. Benedict's: A Tale
  8. Water Gipsies: A Story of Canal Life in England
  9. Dot and Her Treasures
  10. Andrew Harvey's Wife
  11. A Dweller in Tents
  12. Mou-Setse, a Negro Hero, with The Orphan's Pilgrimage
  13. Mother Herring's Chicken
  14. The Children's Pilgrimage
  15. Scarlet Anemones
  16. The Autocrat of the Nursery
  17. The Angel of Love
  18. A Little Silver Trumpet
  19. A World of Girls: The Story of a School
  20. The Palace Beautiful: A Story for Girls
  21. Sweet Nancy
  22. Deb and the Duchess: A Story for Girls
  23. Nobody's Neighbors
  24. A Band of Three
  25. The Golden Lady
  26. Polly: A New-Fashioned Girl
  27. The Little Princess of Tower Hill
  28. Those Boys, a Story for All Little Fellows
  29. The Honorable Miss: The Story of an Old-Fashioned Town
  30. Frances Kane's Fortune, What Gold Cannot Buy
  31. A Girl of the People
  32. Little Trouble-the-House
  33. Engaged to Be Married: A Tale of Today
  34. The Heart of Gold
  35. Dickory Dock
  36. Just a Love Story
  37. The Beresford Prize
  38. Marigold
  39. Hepsy Gipsy
  40. A Sweet Girl Graduate
  41. The Children of Wilton Chase
  42. Little Mary and Other Stories
  43. Bashful Fifteen
  44. Jill, A Flower Girl
  45. Four on an Island: A Story of Adventure
  46. The Lady of the Forest: A Story for Girls
  47. Out of the Fashion
  48. A Ring of Rubies
  49. Beyond the Blue Mountains
  50. Betty, A School Girl
  51. Red Rose and Tiger Lily; or, In a Wider World
  52. Girls, New And Old
  53. The House of Surprises: A Story for Girls
  54. Good Luck: A Story for Girls
  55. A Girl in Ten Thousand
  56. Playmates: A Story for Boys and Girls
  57. The Merry Girls of England
  58. A Little Mother to the Others
  59. Wild Kitty: A School Story
  60. Bad Little Hannah: A Story for Girls
  61. Catalina: Art Student
  62. A Handful of Silver
  63. A Bunch of Cherries: A Story of Cherry Court School
  64. Cave Perilous
  65. The Rebellion of Lil Carrington
  66. Mary Gifford, M.B./S.
  67. Me and My Dolls: The Story of the Joys and Troubles of Miss Bo-Peep and Her Doll Family... The Strange Adventures of Mopsy and Hans
  68. A Public School Boy: A Memoir of H. S. Wristbridge
  69. The Desire of Men: An Impossibility
  70. The Odds and the Evens
  71. A Brave Poor Thing
  72. The Temptation of Olive Latimer
  73. Light o' the Morning: The Story of an Irish Girl
  74. How Nora Crena Saved Her Own
  75. The Time of Roses: A Story for Girls
  76. A Lonely Puppy, & The Tambourine Girl
  77. Daddy’s Girl
  78. A Big Temptation and Other Stories
  79. Miss Nonentity: A Story for Girls
  80. Girls of the True Blue: A School Story
  81. The New Mrs. Lascelles
  82. The Cosey Corner, Or How They Kept A Farm
  83. A Sister of the Red Cross: A Tale of the South African War
  84. A Very Naughty Girl
  85. The Rebel of the School
  86. The Girls of the Forest
  87. The Squire's Little Girl
  88. Drift
  89. The Princess Who Gave Away All, & The Naughty One of the Family
  90. Margaret
  91. Queen Rose: A Girl's Story
  92. The Manor School
  93. Peter the Pilgrim: The Story of a Boy and His Pet Rabbit
  94. The Witch Maid
  95. A Gay Charmer: A Story for Girls
  96. Stories from the Old, Old Bible
  97. That Brilliant Peggy
  98. Tic-Tac-Too, & Butterfly Valley
  99. Petronella, & The Coming of Polly
  100. The Girls of Mrs. Pritchard's School
  101. A Madcap
  102. Nurse Charlotte
  103. A Modern Tomboy: A Story for Girls
  104. A Bevy of Girls
  105. A Young Mutineer: A Story for Girls
  106. The Colonel and the Boy
  107. A Golden Shadow
  108. The Hill-Top Girl
  109. Turquoise and Ruby
  110. Sue: The Story of a Little Heroine and Her Friend
  111. Queen of the Day
  112. A Girl from America
  113. The Red Cap of Liberty
  114. The Little School-Mothers: A Story for Girls
  115. The Scamp Family: A Story for Girls
  116. Three Girls from School
  117. The Lady of Jerry Boy's Dreams: A Story for Girls
  118. The Court Harman Girls
  119. Betty of the Rectory
  120. Sarah's Mother
  121. The School Queens: A Story for Girls
  122. Blue of the Sea
  123. Blue Shoes and Black
  124. Daddy's Boy
  125. Betty Vivian: A Story of Haddo Court School
  126. Rosa Regina: A Story for Girls
  127. Nance Kennedy
  128. Pretty-Girl and the Others
  129. Their Little Mother: A Story for Girls
  130. The Girls of Merton College
  131. For Dear Dad: A Story for Girls
  132. Corporal Violet
  133. How It All Came Round
  134. Kitty O'Donovan: A School Story
  135. The Chesterton Girl Graduates: A Story for Girls
  136. The Girls of King's Royal: A Story for Girls
  137. The School Favorite: A School Girls Story
  138. Golden Hours Story Book
  139. A Band of Mirth
  140. The Wooing of Monica
  141. The Queen of Joy
  142. The Girls of Castle Rocco: A Home Story for Girls
  143. Greater Than Gold
  144. The Daughter of a Soldier: A Colleen of South Ireland
  145. Jill, the Irresistible
  146. Winter Fun for Merry Hearts
  147. Hollyhock: A Spirit of Mischief
  148. Better Than Riches
  149. ''Cassie, & Little Mary''

Mysteries

  1. This Troublesome World
  2. The Arrest of Captain Vandaleur: How Miss Cusack Discovered His Trick
  3. The Ponsonby Diamonds: Stories from the Diary of a Doctor
  4. A Princess of the Gutter
  5. The Voice of the Charmer
  6. Dr. Rumsey's Patient: A Very Strange Story
  7. A Son of Ishmael: A Clever Detective Story
  8. Stories from the Diary of a Doctor, Second Series
  9. Under the Dragon Throne
  10. Where the Air Quivered
  11. The Cleverest Woman in England
  12. On the Brink of a Chasm: A Record of Plot and Passion
  13. A Master of Mysteries
  14. Mr. Bovey's Unexpected Will
  15. An Adventuress
  16. The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings
  17. The Gold Star Line
  18. Wages: A Novel
  19. The Outside Ledge
  20. The Sanctuary Club
  21. Where the Shoe Pinches
  22. The Blue Diamond
  23. The Secret of the Dead
  24. Wheels of Iron
  25. A Race With the Sun
  26. Confessions of a Court Milliner
  27. A Double Revenge
  28. The Dead Hand: Being the First of the Experiences of the Oracle of Maddox Street
  29. Fingertips: One of the Sensational Experiences of Diana Marburg, the Oracle of Maddox Street
  30. The Sorceress of the Strand
  31. The Lost Square
  32. The Face in the Dark
  33. The Adventures of Miranda
  34. At the Back of the World
  35. A Maid of Mystery
  36. Silenced
  37. The Lady Cake-Maker
  38. The Oracle of Maddox Street
  39. His Mascot
  40. Bess of Delaney's
  41. A Golden Shadow
  42. From the Hand of the Hunter
  43. The Home of Sweet Content
  44. The Maid With the Goggles
  45. The Girl and Her Fortune
  46. The Chateau of Mystery
  47. The Curse of the Feverals
  48. The Home of Silence
  49. Kindred Spirits
  50. The Red Ruth
  51. The Courtship of Sybil
  52. The Fountain of Beauty
  53. I Will Sing a New Song
  54. The Necklace of Parmona
  55. The Pursuit of Penelope
  56. The Stormy Petrel
  57. Wild Heather
  58. The A. B. C. Girl
  59. Micah Faraday, Adventurer
  60. Twenty-Four Hours: A Novel of Today
  61. The House of Black Magic
  62. The Great Lord Masareene
  63. The Passion of Kathleen Duveen
  64. Her Happy Face
  65. The Maid Indomitable
  66. ''The Detections of Miss Cusack''

Other titles

  1. A Knight of Today
  2. Bel Marjory: A Tale
  3. Miss Toosey's Mission
  4. Laddie
  5. The Floating Light of Ringfinnan, and Guardian Angels
  6. A Band of Three
  7. A London Baby: The Story of King Roy
  8. How It All Came About
  9. Hermie's Rosebuds and Other Stories
  10. Tip Cat
  11. The Two Sisters
  12. Our Little Ann: A Tale
  13. Merry Chimes for Happy Times
  14. Faithful Friends: Stories of Struggle and Victory
  15. Beforehand
  16. Letters to Our Working-Party
  17. The O'Donnells of Inchfawn
  18. Pen
  19. Poor Miss Carolina
  20. A Farthingful
  21. A Life for a Love: A Story of Today
  22. A Soldier of Fortune
  23. Kitty O'Hara
  24. The Least of These, and Other Stories
  25. The Heart of Helen
  26. The White Tzar
  27. The Way of a Woman
  28. The Secret of Emu Plain
  29. The Siren
  30. The Girl of St. Wode's
  31. The Cleverest Woman in England
  32. All Sorts
  33. A Plucky Girl
  34. In a Time of Roses
  35. A Stumble by the Way
  36. Stories from the Diary of a Doctor, Third Series
  37. The Blood-Red Cross
  38. Madame Sara
  39. The Face of the Abbot
  40. Through Peril for a Wife
  41. The Pursuit of Penelope
  42. The Burden of Her Youth
  43. Resurgam
  44. By Mutual Consent
  45. Followed
  46. Rosebury
  47. Love Trumphant
  48. Castle Poverty
  49. Bride of Tomorrow
  50. Nurse Charlotte
  51. The Other Woman
  52. Dumps: A Plain Girl
  53. Willful Cousin Kate: A Girl's Story
  54. Old Readymoney's Daughter
  55. Little Wife Hester
  56. Loveday: The Story of an Heiress
  57. The Other Woman
  58. The Face of Juliet
  59. Victory
  60. In the Flower of Her Youth
  61. The Colonel’s Conquest
  62. Little Josephine
  63. The Lady of Delight
  64. The Love of Susan Cardigan
  65. The Aim of Her Life
  66. Hetty Beresford
  67. A Lovely Fiend/Friend and Other Stories
  68. Brother or Husband
  69. Alwyn's Friends
  70. Oceana's Girlhood
  71. The Princess of the Revels
  72. "The Least of These" and Other Stories
  73. Belinda Treherne
  74. Sue, a Little Heroine
  75. A Girl of Today
  76. The Wild Irish Girl
  77. Lady Anne
  78. Miss Gwendoline
  79. Desborough's Wife
  80. The Doctor's Children
  81. The Soul of Margaret Rand
  82. The Girl from Spain
  83. Mother and Son
  84. A Bunch of Cousins and the Barn Boys
  85. Love's Cross Roads
  86. Lord and Lady Kitty
  87. Peggy from Kerry
  88. The Girls of Abinger Close
  89. Elizabeth's Prisoner
  90. A Girl of High Adventure
  91. The Darling of the School
  92. Madge Mostyn's Nieces
  93. The Fairy Godmother
  94. Miss Patricia
  95. Roses and Thorns
  96. Old Rail Fence Corners
  97. Without Witnesses
  98. Mrs. Reid's Terror
  99. The Pearl: A Complete Story
  100. A Botanical Ladder for the Young
  101. ''The Grass-Green Carpet''

Short stories

Although most of Meade's shorter work remains confined to the pages of magazines, examples may be found in the following anthologies:
  • A Pretty Pair: Stories
  • Fifty-Two Stories of Pluck, Peril, and Romance for Girls
  • The Kingfisher's Egg, and Other Stories
  • Sweet Bright Eyes: A Volume of Original Pictures, Stories, and Verses
  • Seaside Story Book, With Tales
  • Sunny Days: A Volume of Original Pictures, Stories, and Verses
  • A Golden Apple, and Other Stories
  • The Merry Wheelers
  • Seaside Holiday Frolics, With Stories
  • Stories for Holiday Times
  • The Story-Teller: A Volume of Original Pictures, Stories, and Verses
  • ''Happy Hearts and Merry Eyes: A Book of Stories and Verses''