The Country Doctor

Mary Rackham, born in 1848 in Norwich to a merchant family, embarked on a writing career in the 1880s after marrying farmer Fairman Joseph Mann and settling in Shropham, Norfolk. Drawing from her experiences at the local workhouse, she published her first novel, The Parish of Hilby, in 1883, which received critical acclaim and marked the beginning of a prolific career that produced thirty-three novels, numerous short stories, and fourteen plays centered on rural life and the struggles of poverty in Norfolk. After her husband’s death in 1913, she relocated to Sheringham and continued to be a significant figure in East Anglian literature until her passing in 1929.