Some of E. Marlitt's works were available in English, sometimes in two competing editions, even before they were published in book form in Germany. The dates are the result of the manner in which her works were originally published in German. E. Marlitt, the pen name of Eugenie John, was the star author in Die Gartenlaube (The Garden Bower), the most popular magazine in Germany during the second half of the nineteenth century. Her novels generally appeared as books the year after being serialized in the magazine. So great was the demand for the latest Marlitt novel that translators worked from the magazine versions of her texts.

Although she was an immediate success with the German reading public, it took John a long time to develop her talents as a writer; her life was filled with detours on the way to her eventual vocation. She was born on...