Florence Louisa Barclay (nee Charlesworth) (1862- 1921) was an English romance novelist and short story writer. The mother of eight children, in her early forties health problems left her bedridden for a time and she passed the hours by writing what became her first romance novel, The Wheels of Time (1908). Her next novel, The Rosary (1909), is a story of undying love and its success saw the book translated into eight languages and made into five motion pictures. According to the New York Times, it was the No. 1 best-selling novel of 1910 in the United States. Her next novel, The Mistress of Shenstone (1910), was made into a 1921 silent film. Other works include: The Following of the Star (1911), Through the Postern Gate (1911), The Upas Tree (1912), The Broken Halo (1913), The Wall of Partition (1914), The Golden Censer (1914), My Heart's Right There (1914), The White Ladies of Worcester (1917), Returned Empty (1920), Shorter Works (1923) and Guy Mervyn (1932).