A Modern Tomboy: A Story For Girls

Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith (1844-1914), a prolific author of novels for girls, used the pen name L. T. Meade. She was the daughter of Rev. R. T. Meade of Nohoval, County Cork, and was born in Bandon, Ireland. In September 1879, she wed Alfred Toulmin Smith after relocating to London. In her lifetime, she wrote over 280 volumes, starting when she was just 17 years old. She was so productive that eleven new books with her name on them appeared in the first few years after her passing. She was most recognized for her young adult novels, the most well-known of which was A World of Girls, which was released in 1886. 37, 000 copies of A World of Girls were sold, and it had a significant impact on novels about girls' schools written in the 20th century. She did, however, also write "sentimental" and "sensational" tales, religious tales, historical novels, journeys, romances, and mysteries, some of which had male co-authors. Meade was a pioneer club member and a feminist. Meade wrote The Cleverest Woman in England, a novel based on the life of women's rights activist and Pioneer Club founder Emily Langton Massingberd (1847-1897), after her passing in 1898.