Ada Leverson
Ada Leverson (nee Beddington) was born in 1862. She married Ernest Leverson at the age of 19, against her parents' consent, but the marriage was not a success. She became a contributor to several literary and artistic journals including Black and White, St Stephen's Review and, most notably, The Yellow Book in the 1890s.
It was at this time, after she published a brilliantly successful sketch parody of his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, that Oscar Wilde desired to meet her, and dubbed her The Sphinx. They became the greatest of friends, and she was instrumental in helping him after the disaster of his trial, when many others deserted him.
Her six sparklingly witty novels were published between 1907 and 1916. She died in 1933.
