- Born
- 1858
- Alternative Names
- Alien (pseudonym)
Summary
Baker was born at Aston, England, and moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, with her family aged seven. She married in 1874 and had two children, but separated from her husband in 1886, moving to Dunedin in order to pursue her ambitions in writing and journalism. She soon began working for the Otago Witness as well as becoming active in the women's movement. After failing to find a local publisher for A Daughter of the King Baker left for London in 1894, and the novel came out with Hutchinson that year. Baker often wrote under the pseudonym of 'Alien', publishing nearly twenty novels as well as many newspaper articles and columns. Much of her work is set in New Zealand and England, though A Daughter of the King (1894) has Australian content.