Ouida: - "Maria Louise Ramé (January 1, 1839 - January 25, 1908), also known as Marie Louise de la Ramée and under the pen name Ouida, was an English novelist. Ouida wrote almost 40 novels, as well as short tales, children's books, and articles over her career. She was moderately successful and lived a life of luxury, entertaining many literary figures of the time. One of her most famous works, Under Two Flags, was about the British in Algeria. It expressed sympathy for the French colonists, with whom Ouida identified strongly, and, to a lesser extent, the Arabs. The novel was adapted for the stage and six times filmed. In most of Asia, her novel A Dog of Flanders is considered a children's classic. One of the causes for the American author Jack London's literary success was her novel Signa. Her extravagant lifestyle finally led to poverty, and her works were auctioned off to pay her debts. She died of pneumonia in Italy. Soon after her death, her friends arranged a public subscription in her birthplace of Bury St Edmunds, where a fountain for horses and dogs was erected in her honor."