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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Emily Jolly

Author: Emily Jolly (1834–1917)

Biography: Emily Jolly was born 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. In the 1870s, Jolly gave up writing fiction. She never married and lived for twenty years with Emily Dobell, the widow of the poet Sydney Dobell (d. 1874). Jolly edited a life and letters of the poet in 1878. After Dobell's death in 1900, she moved to Dorset where she died in 1917.

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.