A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Kavanah, Julia
KAVANAH, JULIA,
Is a distinguished writer of the present day; although of Irish birth and parentage, she has devoted her pen chiefly to depict the manners and scenery of France, amid which the greater part of her life has been passed. The date of Miss Kavanah's birth is 1824; the place, Thurles, in the county of Tipperary; her mother's maiden-name was Sophia Fitzpatrick, and her father was Morgan Kavanah, of an old Limerick family. Whilst she was yet a child her parents left Ireland, and after a brief sojourn in London, passed over to France, and took up their abode in Paris, where Julia received her education, and acquired that intimate knowledge of French society which she has turned to such good account in her works. In her twentieth year, that is in 1844, Miss Kavanah came to London, with the determination of devoting herself to literary pursuits. She commenced by contributing tales and essays to various periodicals, by which she acquired considerable popularity, and in 1847 published her first book, a juvenile tale, entitled "The Three Paths;" this was followed, in 1848, by "Madeleine," a story of great and powerful interest. In 1850, came out "Women of France in the Eighteenth Century," two volumes filled with pleasant piquant cabinet pictures of the female celebrities of a most extraordinary and exciting period of French history. We have next, bearing date 1851, a novel, entitled "Nathalie," the scene of which is laid in a remote department of the south of France; it is extremely picturesque, and full of character, finely and firmly drawn. "Women of Christianity," issued in 1852, was the next product of Miss Kavanah's fertile pen; it consists of biographical sketches of women of all ages eminent for piety and benevolence. "Daisy Burns," and "Grace Lea," both three-volume novels, and "Rachel Grav," a single-volume tale, make up the catalogue of our author's published works. She writes pleasantly and fluently, with an esprit more French than English, but her usual tone is sound and healthy, notwithstanding her continental education.