Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-73), became a Maid of Honour to Queen Henrietta Maria, travelling with her into Parisian exile in 1644. There, she married William Cavendish, Marquis (later Duke) of Newcastle. Between 1653 and 1668 Margaret Cavendish published a dozen substantial books including poetry, moral tales, speculative fiction, romance, scientific treatises, natural philo­sophy, familiar letters, closet drama, orations, an autobiographical memoir and a biography of her husband. The sheer quantity and variety of Cavendish's published writing was unprecedented amongst earlier English women.

Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-73), became a Maid of Honour to Queen Henrietta Maria, travelling with her into Parisian exile in 1644. There, she married William Cavendish, Marquis (later Duke) of Newcastle. Between 1653 and 1668 Margaret Cavendish published a dozen substantial books including poetry, moral tales, speculative fiction, romance, scientific treatises, natural philo­sophy, familiar letters, closet drama, orations, an autobiographical memoir and a biography of her husband. The sheer quantity and variety of Cavendish's published writing was unprecedented amongst earlier English women.