Wednesday 3 June 2026
10:00
Masonic Hall
'Ouida' – An English Novelist from Bury St Edmunds.
Speaker: Catharine Buchanan
Description:
Since her retirement, Catherine Buchanan's new hobby has been researching local history and giving talks. It keeps her brain active and, hopefully, keeps dementia at bay. Her aim is to entertain as well as educate — with perhaps a little more emphasis on the entertainment!
Catherine's subject is Ouida. Born in 1839 in Bury St Edmunds, she famously hated the town. Although she was one of the most widely read female authors of her generation, few people today have heard of her. She became famous for writing some of the Victorian era’s earliest and most flamboyant “bodice-ripper” novels.
Ouida was the pseudonym of Bury St Edmunds born Marie Louise de la Ramee who was the highest paid female novelist of her day.
She wrote more than 40 novels, children's books and collections of short stories and essays. In her early period, her novels were considered “racy” and “swashbuckling”, but later her work was more typical of historical romance, though she never stopped comment on contemporary society.
Her children’s book ‘The Dog Of Flanders’ is still in print in Japan and Korea where it has a cult following.
A memorial tribute to Ouida can be found on Vinery Road in Bury St Edmunds which was funded by readers of the Daily Mirror, friends and admirers. The two figures on the memorial pay testament to Ouida's character - a sword depicting courage and a lady holding a dog which represents her fondness for animals.
