Eugenie Marlitt

Born into a wealthy family in Thuringen, she was sent by her parents to study music with Fürstin Mathilde von Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, then attended the Vienna Conservatory (1844-1846). She appeared as an opera singer in Vienna and Leipzig, but gave up her career in 1853, due to an ear infection. She began her literary career in 1863, publishing novels and short stories in Die Gartenlaube, which were so popular that circulation doubled between 1866 and 1876. Her most well-known novel, Die zweite Frau, was published in 1874.