Elizabeth von Arnim (1866 - 1941), born Mary Annette Beauchamp, was an Australian-born British novelist. By marriage she became Gr fin (Countess) von Arnim-Schlagenthin, and by a second marriage, Countess Russell. Although known in her early life as Mary, after the publication of her first book, she was known to her readers, eventually to her friends, and finally even to her family as Elizabeth and she is now invariably referred to as Elizabeth von Arnim. She also wrote under the pen name Alice Cholmondeley. Writing was her refuge from what turned out to be an incompatible marriage. Arnim's husband had increasing debts and was eventually sent to prison for fraud. This was when she created her pen name 'Elizabeth' and launched her career as a writer by publishing her semi-autobiographical, brooding, yet satirical Elizabeth and her German Garden (1898). It was such a success that it was reprinted twenty times in its first year. A bitter-sweet memoir and companion to it was The Solitary
