Annie S. Swan ("Mrs. Burnett Smith", "David Lyall")

Her first commercial success as a novelist was "Aldershyde" (1883). She became hugely popular, especially through serialisation in "The People's Friend" and other magazines. Her novels owed something to the style of Margaret Oliphant, though Oliphant complained (in a review of "Carlowrie") that Swan presented a distorted view of Scotland; certainly, her books were idealised romances, which have not withstood the test of time. In later years she claimed to have lost count of them - in the end there were more than 150.

She wrote some stories for the "British Weekly" under the pseudonym "David Lyall", dealing with the Boer War, which were thought by some readers at the time to have been written by a genuine war correspondent. All her novels were published under her maiden name, apart from "The Pendulum" (1926), a departure from her usual style featuring an unhappy marriage and a daughter who spends a weekend with a lover. It was published under the name "Mrs. Burnett Smith", but her fans did not approve of the experiment, and she returned to safer territory. She died at Gullane on l7 June 1943. "My Life" (1934) is her autobiography, and her collected letters were published in 1945. AC

Ups and Downs (1878); Bess (1880); Grandmother's Child (1882); Into the Haven (1882); Katie's Christmas Lesson (1882); Tom's Memorable Christmas (1882); Aldersyde (1883); For Lucy's Sake (1883); Marion Forsyth (1883); Mistaken (1883); A Year at Coverley (1883); The Better Part (1884); Carlowrie (1884); Mark Desborough's Vow (1884); Adam Hepburn's Vow (1885); A Divided House (1885); Holidays at Sunnycroft (1885); Warren Chase (1885); Freedom's Sword (1886); Robert Martin's Lesson (1886); Thankful Rest (1886); Thomas Dryburgh's Dream (1886); The Gates of Eden (1887); Jack's Year of Trial (1887); The Straight Gate (1887); Briar and Palm (1888); Doris Cheyne (1888); Hazell and Sons, Brewers (1888); Miss Baxter's Request (1888); The Secret Panel (1888); St Vida's (1889); A Vexed Inheritance (1890); Climbing the Hill (1891); Maitland of Laurieston (1891); Who Shall Serve? (1891); A Bachelor in Search of a Wife (1892); The Guinea Stamp (1892); A Bitter Debt (1893); Courtship and Marriage (1893); Homespun (1893); A Foolish Marriage (1894); A Lost Ideal (1894); Love gives Itself (1894); The Bonnie Jean (1895); Elizabeth Glen (1895); A Victory Won (1895); Kinsfolk (1896); Memories of Margaret Grainger (1896); A Stormy Voyager (1896); The Curse of Cowiden (1897); Mrs Keith Hamilton (1897); The Ne'er do Well (1897); Wilful Winnie (1897); Not Yet (1898); Wyndham's Daughter ( 1898); A Son of Erin (1899); An American. Woman (1900); A Blessing in Disguise (1902); The False and the True (1902); From a Turret Window (1902); Good out of Evil (1902); Love Grown Cold (1902); An Only Son (1902); The Secret of Dunstan Mere (1902); Stephen Glyn (1902); A Mask of Gold (1906); Nancy Nicolson (1906); Love unlocks the Door (1907); Ann Hyde (1908); The Broad Road (1908); Hester Lone (1908); The Inheritance (1909); The Magic of Love (1909); The Old Moorings (1909); Margaret Holroyd (1910); The Mystery of Barry Ingram (1910); Rhona Keith (1910); What Shall it Profit? (1910);The Last of their Race (1911); Songs of Memory and Hope (1911); The Bridge Builders (1913); The Fairweathers (1913); The Farrants (1913); Love's Crown (1913); Prairie Fires (1913); Corroding God (1914); A Favourite of Fortune (1914); The Girl who Helped (1914); Meg Hamilton (1914); Letters to a War Bride (1915); The Stepmother (1915); The Homecoming of the Boys (1916); The Woman's Part (1916); Young Blood (1917); Hands across the Sea (1919); America at Home (1920); The Ruling Passion (1920); Woven of the Wind (1920); Christian's Cross (1921); Love's Miracle (1922); Shadowed Lives (1923); Macleod's Wife (1924); A Maid of the Isles (1924); Wrongs Righted (1924); Across the Path (1925); Grannie's Little Girl (1925); Closed Doors (1926); Elsie Thorburn (1926); The Pendulum (1926); Mary Garth (1927); Love the Master Key (1928); Twice Tried (1928); The Burden Bearers (1929); A Wild Harvest (1929); Forerunners (1930); A House on the Rock (1930); The Marching Feet (1931); The Luck of the Livingstones (1932); The Maclure Mystery (1932); The Shore Beyond (1932); Christians against the World (1933); The Last of the Laidlaws (1933); The Little Stranger (1933); Ursuki Vivian (1933); A Winsome Witch (1933); My Life (1934); The Pride of Fiona MacRae (1934); The Purchase Price (1934); Between the Tides (1935); The Bondage of Riches (1935); Dorothea Kirk (1935); A Homing Bird (1935); The Way of Escape (1935); We Travel Home (1935); The Ayres of Studleigh (1936); The Land I Love (1936); An American Wife (1937); A Breaker of Hearts (1937); A Daughter of Destiny (1937); For Love of Billy (1937); Peggy Fordyce (1937); The Road to Damascus (1937); Seed Time and Harvest (1937); The Enchanted Door (1938); The Family Secret (1938); The Greater Freedom (1938); The Head of the House (1938); The White House of Marisaig (1938); A Witch in Pink (1938); Double Lives (1939); Fiona MacRae (1939); Love the Prodigal (1939); These are Our Masters (1939); A Trust Betrayed (1939); The Uninvited Guest (1939); The Elder Brother (1940); The Outsider (1940); Proud Patricia (1940); The Secret of Skye (1940); The Third Generation (1940); The Dark House (1941); Dreams Come True (1941); The Mischief Makers (1941); Rebel Hearts (1941); The Younger Brother (1941); The Family Name (1942); Who are the Heathen? (1942).

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