Frances Hodgson Burnett Books In Order

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Publication Order of The Head of the House of Coombe Books

Publication Order of A Lady of Quality Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

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Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett was born November 24, 1849 at 385 Cheetham Hill Road, and was the daughter of a small shopkeeper and the third of five kids.

She had an active imagination and wrote stories that she made up in old notebooks. A favorite novel of hers was Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and she spent a lot of time acting out scenes from this story.

Frances was educated at The Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Gentleman until she was fifteen, at which time the family ironmongery, which her mom was running, failed, and the family emigrated to Knoxville, Tennessee. She was described as being “romantic” and “precocious”. It was here that she started to write, in order to supplement the family’s income, assuming full responsibility for the family when her mom died, in the year 1870.

Frances had an active social life and enjoyed telling her cousins and friends stories, and in her mom, she found a good audience, although her brothers typically teased her about her stories.

Frances started writing short stories based on those that were in popular English magazines, with immediate recognition and success.

She married a local doctor, named Dr. Swan Burnett, in the year 1872 and with whom she had two sons, Vivian and Lionel. Her literary success conflicted with his work and they ended up divorcing in the year 1898 at the same time that Vivian graduated from Harvard. The official cause for divorce was given as desertion, however but they had orchestrated the dissolution of their marriage some years prior.

She married again, this time to an actor named Stephen Townsend in 1900 until the year 1902 when they got divorced as well. It is believed that he only married her so she would help with his acting career and to support him financially.

While unable to live with Townsend, she rented a house in London during the winter of 1900-1901. Here she socialized with her friends and wrote. She worked on two books: “The Shuttle”, a longer and more complex, and “The Making of a Marchioness”, which she wrote in just a few weeks and published to good reviews.

After her great success as a children’s author, novelist, and playwright, she maintained homes in America and England, traveling back and forth rather frequently.

Frances was a controversial figure in her later years, due to her devotion to mystic cults and her strong mindedness. She died October 29, 1924 at the age of 74 in her home in Long Island, New York.

Her popular novel, “The Secret Garden”, has been adapted extensively in film, stage, and television and has been translated into all the major languages of the world. In the year 1991, the novel was adapted into a Japanese anime which aired on television in Japan.

Frances’ debut novel, called “That Lass o’Lowrie’s”, was released in the year 1874. Her work was from the inspirational and children’s fiction genres.

“Little Lord Fauntleroy” is a stand alone novel that was released in the year 1886. Cedric Errol is a kind, generous, and exemplary middle class American boy that is found to be the heir of the Earl of Dorincourt. While saying his loving goodbyes to his working class friends, he heads off to England along with his mom to embrace his newfound fortune. His grandpa, the old earl, is a bitter old man ridden with gout and his foul temper, and he doesn’t trust anybody.

However this angelic boy elicits one profound transformation in the grandpa, which doesn’t just benefit the castle household but the entire populace of the earldom. If the old man’s heart would only soften toward Cedric’s estranged mom, the family would finally be healed.

When another possible heir to the earldom makes their claim, it appears that everything is in fact lost. However all things are possible through a kid’s innocent trust, unconditional love, and true friendship.

This is a beloved children’s novel that made a major impact on the nineteenth century public, and shaped everything from boys’ clothing fashions to copyright law.

“The Secret Garden” is a stand alone novel that was released in the year 1909. Mary Lennox, a young English girl, returns to England having been in India, having suffered the immense trauma of losing both of her parents in an epidemic of cholera. But, her memories of her parents aren’t pleasant ones, as they were a pleasure seeking, selfish, and neglectful couple.

Mary is sent to the care of her uncle Arichibald Craven, whom she’s never met. She goes to his home, Misselthwaite Manor which is located in gloomy Yorkshire, which is a vast change from the warm and sunny climate she’d grown used to. When she shows up, she’s a stubborn, rude, and given to have stormy temper tantrums. But her nature undergoes quite the gradual transformation once she learns of the tragedies that’ve befallen her disciplinarian and strict uncle whom she originally despised and feared.

Once while he is away from the home, she finds a charming walled garden which always remains locked. The mystery starts deepening when she hears the noise of sobbing from somewhere inside her uncle’s huge mansion. The kindly servants just ignore her questions or act like they haven’t heard. Which only spikes Mary’s curiosity that much more.

“The Lost Prince” is a stand alone novel that was released in the year 1914. This is the enchanting tale of a young boy that discovers his true destiny. Marco, age twelve, knows that he is being trained for something, but is just unsure of what. All of his life he has traveled with his dad in secret, learning many different languages and the ways of a gentleman, however is forbidden to speak about Samavia, their country of origin.

Samavia has been fraught with some war or other for the past five hundred years now, ever since that prince vanished mysteriously. However now, there is some hope that peace might come, as it’s been rumored that there is a descendant of the lost prince might’ve been discovered.