Clotilda Jennings

Clotilda Jennings, whose full name was Amelia Clotilda Jennings, was a Canadian poet and novelist associated with nineteenth-century Halifax and Montreal. Isabel Leicester appeared as a romance under her known pseudonym Maude Alma, although later records also attribute the work directly to Jennings. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography describes the novel as the story of a formerly wealthy young woman who becomes a governess and must negotiate pride, friendship, work, and social position. Jennings also published Linden Rhymes and The White Rose in Acadia, and periodical writing formed an important part of her career. Much of that work drew on Nova Scotian life, while Isabel Leicester moved beyond a specifically regional setting. The surviving title page and modern bibliographic record make the link between Jennings, Maude Alma, and the novel especially important to understanding its authorship.