Julia Kavanagh (7 January 1824 – 28 October 1877) was an Irish novelist, born at Thurles in County Tipperary, Ireland—then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Her numerous contributions to literature have classified her as one of the non-canonical minor novelists of the Victorian period (1837–1901). Although she is mainly known for the novel and tales she wrote, she also published important non-fiction works that explored the theme of female political, moral and philosophical contributions to society. The appeal of her works is represented by the fact that several of her works have been translated into French, German, Italian, Dutch and Swedish. Her texts also reached North America, where some of her works appeared in Littell's Living Age, an American magazine. Moreover, she was known to celebrated writers of domestic fiction such as Charles Dickens. Before she was a year old, her family moved to London, and soon after to Paris.
Kavanagh's literary career began in 1844 at the age of 20, when she moved with her mother, after separating from her father in France. Thereafter she supported herself and her almost blind mother, Bridget (a lifelong companion), with her writing career. At first she started to write small essays and tales for journals and newspapers. Among the different journals she wrote for were Chambers Edinburgh Journal, Household Words, All the Year Round, The Month, People's Journal, Popular Record, Temple Bar, and Argosy. She is buried with her mother in the Cimitiere du Chateau, on the hill above the Old Town to the east of Nice. Bridget continued to live in Nice until her death in 1888. In 1884 she donated a painting of Julia by Henri Chanet to the National Gallery of Ireland.
Works
The scenes of Kavanagh's stories are almost always set in France. Her style is domestic, simple and pleasing, aimed at younger woman readers; her main characters tend to be strong independent and resourceful women. Modern scholars see a pronounced awareness of gender politics in Kavanagh's writing and view her as a writer whose works consciously exposed the anomalies of social and sexual difference while still adhering to the conventions of the time.