Burnett, Frances Eliza Hodgson

Burnett, Frances Eliza Hodgson (1849-1924), American novelist, born in Manchester. She emigrated to the United States at the close of the American Civil War. She was the author of the well-known children's books Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) and The Secret Garden (1911). The latter, which she considered her best novel, is still popular today and has been adapted for television and film several times. Her novel A Little Princess (1905) was also very popular in Britain and was serialized on television. In Little Lord Fauntleroy she established the central character, based on her own son, as a mother's model for young sons. Burnett's plays include Esmeralda (1881), which she wrote with the American playwright William H. Gillette.