The Shuttle (novel) lay their coronets, and incidentally their hearts, at the feet of the all-conquering American Girl.’ The building and grounds of ‘Stornham Court’ were modelled after Great Maytham Hall, near Rolvenden in Kent, which had a beautiful garden that Bettina starts restoring in "The Shuttle" and which also inspired the titular garden of "The Secret Garden". Angelica Shirley Carpenter writes in "In the Garden, Essays in Honor of Frances Hodgson Burnett" that Burnett's depiction of Sir Nigel's abuse of Rosalie mirrors the abuse that Burnett herself suffered at the hands of her second husband Stephen: "All the classic signs of abuse,
Frances Hodgson Burnett in 1879, where she met Louisa May Alcott, and Mary Mapes Dodge, editor of children's magazine "St. Nicholas", Burnett began to write children's fiction. For the next five years she had published several short works in "St. Nicholas". Burnett continued to write adult fiction as well: "Louisiana" was published in 1880; "A Fair Barbarian" in 1881; and "Through One Administration" in 1883. She wrote the play "Esmerelda" in 1881, while staying at the "Logan House" inn near Lake Lure, North Carolina; it became the longest running play on Broadway in the 19th century. However, as had happened earlier in Knoxville,