Ada Cambridge Biography

Ada Cambridge was a prolific and gifted author. Reading her works, one can get terrific insights into the sensibilities and styles of the then English colonial society. Most of her novels have conventional romantic subtleties and paint vivid pictures of Toorak mansions or pastoral homesteads as the backdrops of her story settings. Her central characters were usually newly arrived English gentlemen or ladies on the shores of uncharted British colonies. The storyline followed their trials and trepidations, while searching for love and life partner. Throughout her career, her novels continued to explore the basis of marital choice and this quest was often combined with several lesser written about topics of the time like exile, sexual passion and the substitutes of organized religion. She released her first formal publication called ‘Hymns on the Litany’ and went on to publish many masterpieces till ‘Nightfall’, which was her final article. During her lifetime she amassed a huge body of interesting and intriguing literal work, which included around 21 novels, three compilations of poetry, and two in depth autobiographies. Besides these, she wrote several works for journals, such as the Atlantic Monthly and the Australian Ladies' Annual. Today, many of her writings are considered unconventional and radical, as they seem to question the then prevalent social norms.