Ouida 
The Massarenes (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

This somewhat scandalous 1897 novel brought Ouida her last fleeting success; afterward, she sank into a poverty and illness from which she never emerged.  It focuses on the upper classes, and is as much a work of social satire as it is a lurid celebration of eccentricity and excess.

About the author

Ouida (1839-1908), born Maria Louise Ramé, was a prolific English writer of novels for adults and children.  A self-proclaimed “serious artist, ” her works combined social commentary with swashbuckling adventure plots that often veered into melodrama.  After a life as extravagant as her fiction, she died in poverty in Italy.