Marie Louise von François (27 June 1817 in Herzberg (Elster) – 25 September 1893 in Weißenfels) was a German writer, best known for her historical novel Die letzte Reckenburgerin (1871). She was a friend and correspondent of Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer.

Life

Louise von François belonged to the school of realism. She was the daughter of an aristocratic officer from an old Noble French family and her mother was of Saxon nobility. François educated herself by reading the works of Adolf Müllner and Fanny Tarnow. Her fathered died when she was young and her mother remarried multiple times. François' uncle took custody of her in Potsdam, where her writing career began. Her guardians squandered her inheritance and as consequence François' fiance, Count Alfred of Görtz, broke off their engagement. Penniless, François moved back to live with her mother and step-father in Weissenfels where she stayed until her death. At 54 she published Die letzte Reckenburgerin [The Last Lady of Reckenburg] her most popular novel. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer sent François admiring letters about Die letzte Reckenburgerin, starting a lengthy correspondence that was eventually published in 1905.

Works

Marie Louise von François' published works as cited by An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers