born Nov. 22, 1857, Wakefield, Yorkshire, Eng.
died Dec. 28, 1903, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France
British novelist.
He had a brilliant academic career but an unhappy personal life; twice involved in miserable marriages, he experienced the life of near poverty and constant drudgery that he described in New Grub Street , 3 vol. (1891), his best-known work, and The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903). Inspired by Honoré de Balzac , he wrote a cycle of 22 novels, which included Born in Exile (1892) and The Odd Women (1893). His realistic novels of lower-middle-class life are noted for their acute perception of women's social position and psychology.