Ann Radcliffe was born Ann Ward in London on July 9, 1764, into a well-connected and well-educated family. Despite her connections, Radcliffe was known for being shy and withdrawn. Her sole childhood companion was Sukey Wedgwood, future mother of the naturalist Charles Darwin. In 1787 Ann married the Oxford-educated journalist William Radcliffe, who worked for a progressive newspaper and encouraged her interest in a literary career.

Radcliffe published her first novel The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne in 1789, followed the next year by A Sicilian Romance. Her third novel, The Romance of the Forest (1791), made her famous, and her next work, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), made her the most popular novelist in England. Radcliffe was paid handsomely for the novel, and the establishment of her reputation and the income she received from publishing allowed the Radcliffes to spend time traveling. When Radcliffe published The Italian in 1797, she earned £800, a sum significantly higher than most men’s or other authors’ annual income. This was the last novel that she would publish in her lifetime, and the Radcliffes spent much of their later years traveling.

Radcliffe died of a chest infection leading to pneumonia on February 7, 1823, at the age of 58.