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Ellen Glasgow  was born to a prominent Old Virginian family, in 1873.  Deaf since early childhood, and often in poor health, her mother decided to school her from home.  Her mother would not live to see her the fruits of her labors–she died when Glasgow was 23.

Glasgow anonymously published her first novel, The Descendant when she was 24.  One year later she published Phases of an Inferior Planet. In 1899, upon returning from a trip overseas, she met a man in New York, whom she called Gerald B—-in her autobiography.  Her intense love for him, despite the fact that he was a married man, seem to empower her.  Her deafness did not restrict her as much, and she wrote with new vigor.

Among her works during this time was one of her most well-known works, The Voice of the People— this was the first in a series of novels depicting the social and political history of Virginia since 1850.  The Battle-Ground quickly followed, as did The Deliverance, The Miller of Old Church, Virginia, Life and Gabriella, and One Man in His Time.

Gerald B died in 1905. Her sorrow is felt in The Romance of a Plain Man.

As Glasgow matured, her work took on more complex topics.  Barren Ground, published in 1925 was met with critical success, as did Vein of Iron. In the late twenties and early thirties Glasgow observed the decline of Southern aristocracy and the advancement of modern industrial civilization in three critically praised comedies.  In 1941, she published her last novel, In This Our Life, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

She died in Richmond, Virginia, on November 21, 1945. Her memoirs were published posthumously in 1954 as The Woman Within.

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