Matilda Betham-Edwards was an English novelist, travel writer, Francophile, and prolific poet who corresponded with several well-known English male writers of the day. In addition, she wrote several children's books. Betham-Edwards was the fourth child of Edward Edwards (1808-1864), a farmer, and his wife Barbara (1806-1848), daughter of William Betham (1749-1839), an antiquary and preacher. She was educated in Ipswich and worked as a governess-pupil at a school in London. Her first novel, The White House by the Sea (1857), was an immediate success, reissued numerous times, pirated in the United States, and remained in print for forty years. Matilda studied French and German abroad before moving to Suffolk with her sister to oversee her father's farm. Not happy with solely rural jobs, she occasionally contributed to Household Words, benefiting from Dickens' connection and an early association with Charles and Mary Lamb, her mother's companions. After her sister died, she relocated to London and authored a number of novels on French life based on her numerous journeys to France and intimate knowledge of provincial French households, as well as children's and non-fiction works about France. She was published by George and Richard Bentley. She resided in Algeria with feminist educator Barbara Bodichon and accompanied her on trips to France and Spain.