Edith Somerville and Martin Ross were second cousins born to distant branches of a prominent Anglo-Irish Ascendancy family. They lived together at the Somerville home for most of their adult lives, traveling frequently to Europe and collaborating on numerous books and articles. Their most famous novel, The Real Charlotte, was published in 1894. After Ross's death in 1915, Somerville continued to write and publish under both names, claiming that the partnership endured beyond the grave.