She was born in
Manorcunningham,
County Donegal, daughter of the Reverend Alexander Rentoul, and had seven brothers and sisters. Before going to the
Queen's University of Belfast she received some of her education in
Nîmes and Berlin. After marrying doctor and science writer Robert Esler she lived in Belfast and London. Her novels have rural settings in Ireland or England.
The Wardlaws (1896), the story of an Irish landowning family whose financial troubles raise moral questions about how to live one's life, is considered one of her best works. Other fiction includes
The Way of Transgressors (1890),
The Way they loved at Grimpat (1894), '' 'Mid Green Pastures
(1895), Youth at the Prow
(1898), Awakening of Helena Thorpe
(1901), and The Trackless Way'' (1904), a particularly religious book, subtitled "The story of a man's quest for God." She published as
E. Rentoul Esler. ==References==