Julia Kavanagh

Born in Thurles, a small town in Munster, Ireland, Julia was the only child of Morgan Kavanagh (died 1874), author of various philological works and some poems, and Bridget Kavanagh (née Fitzpatrick). On 9 January she was baptized in the "Big Chapel," a Catholic church, where the clerk misspelled her name as "Cavanah." Before she was a year old, her family moved to London, and soon after to Paris. Kavanagh's literary career began in 1844 at the age of 20, when she moved with her mother, after separating from her father in France. Thereafter she supported herself and her almost blind mother, Bridget (a lifelong companion), with her writing career. At first she started to write small essays and tales for journals and newspapers. Among the different journals she wrote for were ''Chambers Edinburgh Journal, Household Words, All the Year Round, The Month, People's Journal, Popular Record, Temple Bar, and Argosy''. She is buried with her mother in the Cimitiere du Chateau, on the hill above the Old Town to the east of Nice. Bridget continued to live in Nice until her death in 1888. In 1884 she donated a painting of Julia by Henri Chanet to the National Gallery of Ireland. ==Works==

The scenes of Kavanagh's stories are almost always set in France. Her style is domestic, simple and pleasing, aimed at younger woman readers; her main characters tend to be strong independent and resourceful women. Modern scholars see a pronounced awareness of gender politics in Kavanagh's writing and view her as a writer whose works consciously exposed the anomalies of social and sexual difference while still adhering to the conventions of the time. Her works include: • The Three Paths (1847) • Madeleine, a Tale of Auvergne (1848) • Women in France during the Eighteenth Century (1850) • Nathalie (1851) • Women of Christianity (1852) • Daisy Burns (1853) • Rachel Gray (1855) • Grace Lee (1855) • Adele (1857) • A Summer and Winter in the Two Sicilies (1858) • Seven Years and Other Tales (1859) • French Women of Letters (1862) • English Women of Letters (1862) • Queen Mab (1863) • Beatrice (1865) • Dora (1868) • Silvia (1870) • Bessie (1872) • ''Sybil's Second Love'' (1872) • John Dorrien (1875) • The Pearl Fountain and Other Fairy Tales (1877) • Forget-Me-Nots (1878, posthumous edition, preface by C. W. Wood) Journals: contributions of non-fiction • 'The Montyon Prizes' in Chambers Miscellany. (1846) • 'The French Working Classes' in ''People's Journal.'' (1846) • 'Prizes of Virtue in France' in ''People's Journal. (''1846) • 'Literature of the Working Classes of France' in ''People's Journal.'' (1847) Journals: contributions of short stories • Chambers Edinburgh Journal (All reprinted in Seven Years and Other Tales) • 'Gaiety and Gloom', (1847) • 'Young France', (1847) • 'Soirée in a Porter's Lodge', (1847) • 'The Cheap Excursion', (1847) • 'The Mysterious Lodger', (1847) • 'A Comedy in a Courtyard', (1847) • Household Words (Also reprinted in a revised form in Seven Years and Other Tales) • 'An Excellent Opportunity', (1850) • Temple Bar • 'Mimi's Sin', (1868) • 'By the Well', (1868) • 'My Brother Leonard', (1869) • 'By the Well', (1869) • All the Year Round (Reprinted in Forget-Me-Nots ) • 'Sister Anne' (1868) • Argosy (All reprinted in Forget-Me-Nots and ''Littell's Living Age'' ) • 'Miller of Manneville', (1872) • 'Nina, the Witch', (1873) • 'Clement's Love', (1877) • Story of a Letter', (1878) • 'Perpétue: A sketch', (1878) • ''Littell's Living Age'' • 'Annette's Love Story' (1870) • 'Story of Monique' (1876) ==References==