Bird of Paradise

Ada Leverson (1862-1933) was a British novelist. Born into a middle-class Jewish family, Leverson was raised alongside eight siblings by Samuel Henry Beddington, a wool merchant, and his wife Zillah. At 19, she married Ernest Leverson, with whom she would raise a daughter, Violet. In the 1890s, she embarked on a career as a professional writer, submitting stories and articles to Punch, The Yellow Book, and The Saturday Review. Through her work as a theater critic, she gained a reputation for her abundant wit and satirical tone, parodying friends and enemies alike in some of England¿s most popular magazines and newspapers. She was a devoted friend of Oscar Wilde, who supported her literary pursuits and shared her humorous outlook on life. When Wilde was put on trial for his homosexuality, Leverson offered him a place to stay and continued corresponding with the Irish author until the end of his life. She wrote several novels throughout her life, including The Twelfth Hour (1907) and Little Ottleys (1908-1916), a trilogy inspired by her troubled marriage to Ernest, who abandoned her in 1905 to move to Canada. Although far from a bestselling author in her time, Leverson has come to be seen as a pioneering artist whose works display a keen understanding of society¿s triumphs and shortcomings.