Holmes, Mary Jane: Dora Deane. V1. 1 July 2010
 

Mary Jane Hawes was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts in 1825. At age 13 she taught in a school. She married Daniel Holmes and they settled in Versailles, Kentucky. In 1854 she wrote her first novel, Tempest and Sunshine. The theme for most of her novels was domestic life. She died in 1907, at the age of 82, in Brockport, New York.

Excerpt
Poor little Dora Deane! How utterly wretched and desolate she was, as she crouched before the scanty fire, and tried to warm the little bit of worn-out flannel, with which to wrap her mother's feet; and how hard she tried to force back the tears which would burst forth afresh whenever she looked upon that pale, sick mother, and thought how soon she would be gone!