Submitted for the approval of her curious and loving public, Records of a Girlhood (1878) is actress Frances Kemble's attempt to tell her own story. A member of the theatrical Kemble family and the subject of much of the era's celebrity tattle, she jokingly concluded that she would rather gossip about herself than have others do it for her. Based on her personal letters of 40 years, this charming work recounts for Kemble's fans what she hopes will be an entertaining, if not, poignant life of an independent woman making her way in the Victorian era. British author FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE (1809-1893) was an outspoken abolitionist and later in life became an inspiration to author Henry James. Her most popular books are Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation (1863) and Records of Later Life (1882).