Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-born American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (published in 1885–1886), "A Little Princess" (1905), and "The Secret Garden" (1911). Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1852, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in Jefferson City, Tennessee. There, Frances began writing to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines from the age of 19. In
Frances Hodgson Burnett into "A Little Princess". In 1888, Burnett returned to Manchester, where she leased a large home off Cromwell Road, had it decorated, and then turned it over to cousins to run as a boarding house, after which she moved to London, where she again took rooms, enjoyed the London season, and prepared "Phyllis" for production, a stage adaptation of "The Fortunes of Philippa Fairfax". When the play ran she was disappointed by the bad reviews, and turned to socializing. During this period she began to see more of Stephen Townsend, whom she had met during the Jubilee year. In December