A comprehensive collection of the bizarre tales of Mrs Molesworth pThe writer who was always known by her formal title Mrs Molesworth, was in fact born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands to English parents in 1839 and christened Mary Louisa Stewart. Her father was a successful Manchester businessman and Mary was educated both in England and Switzerland. In 1861 she married Major R. Molesworth, a nephew of Viscount Molesworth, an Irish aristocrat. Their marriage was ultimately unsuccessful and they were legally separated in 1879. Her first fiction-the 1869 novel 'Lover and Husband'-was published under the pseudonym Ennis Graham. As was common among authors of the day she wrote in a number of genres but-curiously-she was most prolific as a writer of children's' fiction, particularly for girls who were too old for fairytales but to young for adult fiction. These tales were for those who would eventually become Victorian wives and mothers and so were rich with the sentiments of duty and moral