Thanet, Octave, 1850-1934

American novelist and short story writer.

Alice French, author of dozens of "local color" short stories, as well as articles, essays and novels, was born in Andover, Massachusetts, on March 18, 1850. Clover Bend, Arkansas provided the inspiration for many of her local color pieces, as well as her 1910 novel, By Inheritance. Her leading works are: Knitters in the Sun (1887); the novella Expiation (1890); Otto the Knight and Other Trans-Mississippi Stories (1891); Stories of a Western Town (1893), a favorite of President Teddy Roosevelt; An Adventure in Photography (1893); The Missionary Sheriff (1897); The Heart of Toil (1898); A Slave to Duty and Other Women (1898); The Captured Dream (1899); The Man of the Hour (1905); The Lion's Share (1907); Stories that End Well (1911); A Step on the Stair (1913); and The Captain Answered (1917). With the fading of the market for local color stories, the decline of paternalism and, later, failing health, Alice French published little after 1913. Economically ravaged by the depression, Alice French fell to influenza in Davenport in 1934, at the age of eighty-four.

American fiction writer.

Alice French was a popular and prolific author of short fiction, publishing primarily under the pseudonym of Octave Thanet. Born into a well-to-do New England family later transplanted to Iowa, she settled in Arkansas with a friend; her stories show the influence of each experience. Her most popular works were regional tales set in either Arkansas or Iowa, with a wealth of local details and humorous themes. Although her motivation was financial, her work was critically acclaimed, and she acted as mentor for other regional writers.

Alice French was a critically acclaimed, prolific writer of short stories and journalistic essays who wrote under the pseudonym Octave Thanet. George French, Alice's father, moved his family to Davenport, Iowa in 1856. Her first published work was the story "Hugo's Waiting" printed in the Davenport Gazette in 1871. In 1883 French and a widowed friend set up a winter home at Clover Bend Plantation in Lawrence County, Arkansas.

Pseudonym of Alice French.

Pseudonym of American author Alice French.

Born in New England, but raised in Davenport, Iowa, French wrote numerous short stories, three novels, two volumes of non-fiction sketches, and many articles of social commentary. Published mainly between 1887 and 1911, her stories of people in Arkansas and Iowa explore regional themes and focus on the lives of workers and women.