On this day in 1877, Julia Kavanagh, Thurles- born author and friend of Charlotte Bronte was born.
Dr. Sinead Sturgeon of Queen’s University Belfast claims that Brontë’s 1853 novel Villette ‘probably owes its storyline and setting to Kavanagh’s critically and commercially successful novel Nathalie (1850).’
Julia Kavanagh was born in Thurles in 1824 to Bridget Fitzpatrick and Morgan Kavanagh. She spent much of her childhood in Normandy and Paris, settings which would later provide her with inspiration for her novels. Kavanagh’s father, a failed writer himself, later abandoned his wife and daughter and Kavanagh turned to writing in order to support herself and her mother.
Her romantic novels and stories were very successful and secured her a loyal following among young women. Among her most popular novels were Madeleine: A Tale of the Auvergne (1848), Adele (1858), Rachel Gray (1856) and Beatrice (1864). The success of these novels brought her to the attention of Charles Dickens, George Eliot and of course, Charlotte Bronte, with whom she became friends and corresponded with for many years.
Kavanagh’s fiction is populated with resolute and independent female characters. She became increasingly preoccupied with the position of women in society and what she regarded as their deliberate effacement in male-authored societies. Indeed, her works include biographies such as ‘Women in France during the 18th Century’ (1850), ‘Women of Christianity’ (1852) and ‘French Women of Letters’ (1862).
Despite leaving Thurles at a relatively young age, she evidently maintained a close interest in Irish affairs. In a letter to Charles Gavan Duffy, she described herself as ‘Irish by origin, birth and feeling, though not by education; but if I have lived far from Ireland she has still been as the faith and religion of my youth.’
Though Kavanagh's works remained popular for many decades after their publication, her popularity waned in the 1890s and she is seldom spoken about today. Kavanagh died in Nice in 1877 and is buried in the Catholic cemetery there. Her portrait, painted by Henri Chanet hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland.
Sources:
https://www.dib.ie/biography/kavanagh-julia-a4385
