Eliza Bray's novels receive little attention today, but during her lifetime her writings were so popular that two editions of her complete works appeared (1845 and 1884), and her publishers included such leading nineteenth-century firms as Thomas Longman and John Murray. Described as "a modest imitator of Scott" in volume seven of Ernest Baker's History of the English Novel (1936), Bray, who published all of her novels and most of her nonfiction under the name Mrs. Bray, was the author of twelve historical novels and a dozen nonfiction books, including biographies of historical figures--all published between 1820 and 1884. Her romances typically involve royalty and their associates in specific historical or local settings, which are described in realistic detail. Bray, who considered herself an amateur historian and artist, strove to create "living history" for the reader through carefully researched and vividly presented descriptions. She emphasized setting and history more than the characters, who...