Born Louise, her adopted pseduonym of Ouida was her mispronunciation of her name, Louise, when she was a child. She began her literary career with the publication of short stories in Bentley's Magazine during 1859 to 1860. The first of her 45 novels, Held in Bondage, was published in 1863. This was followed by the highly successful Under Two Flags (1867), her tale of the French Foreign Legion which was very popular. Her other novels include Tricotrin (1869), Puck (1870, Two Little Wooden Shoes (1874), Moths (1880) and Bimbi: Stories for Children (1882). She also wrote some animal stories and her A Dog of Flanders (1872) was her most enduring and extremely popular with children. Ouida settled in Florence in 1874 and remained in Italy until her death. |
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