Frances Hodgson Burnett was born on November 24, 1849, in Cheetham, England. She was the daughter of a small shopkeeper and the third of five children. After her father's death in 1852, the family fell on hard times, and in 1865, they immigrated to the United States, settling near Knoxville, Tennessee. It was there that Burnett began writing to help support the family, publishing stories in magazines from the age of 19.
Burnett's mother died in 1870, and in 1872, she married Swan Burnett, who became a medical doctor. The Burnetts lived in Paris for two years, where their two sons were born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which was published to good reviews. However, it was her third novel, Little Lord Fauntleroy, published in 1886, that made her a popular writer of children's fiction. Burnett also wrote romantic adult novels in the 1890s, which were also popular.
Burnett is primarily remembered today for her trio of classic children's novels - Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911). She was also a popular adult novelist in her own day. Burnett maintained homes in both England and America, traveling back and forth quite frequently. She died in her Long Island, New York home, in 1924. Burnett's life was marked by personal tragedy, including the death of her oldest son, Lionel, in 1890, which caused a relapse of the depression she had struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898 and married Stephen Townsend in 1900, before divorcing him in 1902. Despite these challenges, Burnett's literary legacy remains significant, and her works continue to be cherished by readers of all ages.