History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Alice French
ALICE FRENCH
(Octave Thanet)
ALICE FRENCH was born March 19, 1850, in Andover, Massachusetts, and was educated at Abbott Academy in Andover. She came to Iowa with her parents in 1857, making her home at Davenport. At an early age Miss French developed a talent for story writing and eventually became one of the best known authors of fiction in the West. Her character delineations of the west and southwest are among the most graphic to be found, showing close observation of the salient peculiarities of the types of that region. Among her best known works of fiction are “Knitters in the Sun,” “Otto the Knight,” “Stories of a Western Town,” and “Expiation.” She is perhaps more widely known as “Octave Thanet” a nom de plume adopted. Her stories have been in demand by the best magazines of the country and are among the most fascinating in American fiction.