Elizabeth von Arnim

Elizabeth von Arnim, also known as Mary Annette Beauchamp, is a renowned literary fiction author who hails from Australia. She was born in Sydney to a wealthy family that resided in the exclusive suburb of Kirribilli Point. Her father, Henry Heron Beauchamp, was a shipping merchant based in Sydney, having been born in London to a cultured and artistic family.

Elizabeth, Countess Russell, was not only a British novelist but also a member of the German nobility, with the title Mary Annette Gräfin von Arnim. She was born in Sydney, Australia, and was raised in England. In 1891, she married Count Henning August von Arnim, a Prussian aristocrat and the great-great-great-grandson of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia. The couple had five children and lived in Berlin before moving to the countryside, where they settled in Nassenheide, Pomerania, on the von Arnim family estate. It was here that Elizabeth started her literary career in 1898, publishing "Elizabeth and Her German Garden," a semi-autobiographical novel about a rural idyll, which she released anonymously. The book was highly successful and was reprinted 21 times within the first year. She went on to write another 20 books, all published under the pseudonym "By the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden."

Count von Arnim died in 1910, and in 1916, Elizabeth married John Francis Stanley Russell, the 2nd Earl Russell, who was Bertrand Russell's elder brother. The marriage ended in disaster, and Elizabeth eventually escaped to the United States, where she and her husband agreed to get a divorce in 1919. She also had an affair with H. G. Wells. Elizabeth was a cousin of Katherine Mansfield, whose full name was Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp. She spent her old age in London, Switzerland, and on the French Riviera. When World War II broke out, Elizabeth permanently took up residence in the United States, where she died in 1941, aged 74.