ABSTRACT
Emily Eden lived her life in the aristocratic surroundings she depicts in her two novels. She was the twelfth child and seventh daughter of the First Baron Auckland, a commissioner in America after the Revolutionary War, Chief Secretary in Ireland, MinisterPlenipotentiary to Versailles, and Ambassador to both Spain and Holland. Her uncle, Robert Eden, was the last colonial governor of Maryland. Her family's descendants were equally illustrious: novelist Eleanor (Lena) Eden was her niece; Violet Dickinson, friend of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, was her great-niece; and Prime Minister Anthony Eden was her greatgreat nephew.
