Mysterious Miss Marie Corelli

Book excerpt: 'Who was Marie Corelli?' shrieked the news headlines after she died in 1924, but no-one really knew. Her past was obscured by such a fog of lies and concealment that it was impossible to unravel.In the 1890s her novels were eagerly devoured by millions around the world, her readers ranging from Queen Victoria and Gladstone to the lowest of shop girls. It was known that the famous authoress had dined with the Prince of Wales, entertained Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry, and even managed to split Stratford-upon-Avon into warring factions.In all she wrote thirty-one books, the majority of which were phenomenal bestsellers, in which she dealt intriguingly with the popular themes of the day, spiritualism, science, romance, transcendentalism and religion. At the height of her success Corelli was reputedly one of the most highly paid, and undoubtedly the best selling author in England. Yet the critics generally ignored her or belittled her work.Setting Corelli's story against the context of her time, it tells how she blazed into fame from nothing to become the bestselling novelist of her generation. Born around 1855, Marie, desperate to escape the shame of illegitimacy, had fabricated several different pasts, changed her name from Minnie Mackay to Marie Corelli and knocked fourteen years off her age. In 1886 she published her first novel, A Romance of Two Worlds and rapidly achieved success.In 1899, after a serious illness she moved to Stratford-upon-Avon with her devoted companion, Bertha Vyver. Here she became one of the first conservationists. She bestowed money on many worthy causes, but was constantly at war with the local council for her insistence on the preservation of the town's old houses. When she died in 1924 crowds gathered outside her home. The press - capitalising on her outstanding popularity - invented fantastic stories about her origins. The mystery of Marie Corelli, however, has never been solved. After her death she faded from public memory, but today she is once again being recognised for her extraordinary place in Victorian society and her remarkable ability to captivate the reading public of her era.