The dim lantern

c.1885 – 6 July 1953

Irene Temple Bailey was born in Petersburg, Virginia. Her childhood was spent in Washington, D.C. and went to a girls' school in Richmond, Virginia. In the early 1900s, she got her fiction published in national magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Cavalier Magazine, Cosmopolitan, American Magazine, McClure's, Woman's Home Companion, Good Housekeeping, and McCall's. Her success with short stories inspired her to try her hand at novels, and her first book, Judy, was published in 1907. In 1914 she wrote the screenplay for the Vitagraph Studios film "Auntie". She wrote over 25 highly popular books and was one of the most successful authors of her time.