Catherine Grace Frances Gore (Moody) (1799 – January 29, 1861) was a British novelist and dramatist, daughter of a wine merchant at Retford, where she was born. She is amongst the well-known of the silver fork writers - authors of the Victorian era depicting the gentility and etiquette of high society. Gore was born in London and raised in East Retford and London. Her first novel Theresa Marchment, or The Maid of Honour was published in 1824. Her first major was success was Pin Money, published in 1831, but her most popular and well-known novel was to be Cecil, or Adventures of a Coxcomb published in 1841. Gore also found success as a playwright, writing eleven plays that made their way to the London stage, though her plays never quite became as famous as her witty novels. She married a Captain Gore, with whom she resided mainly on Continental Europe, supporting her family by her voluminous writings. Between 1824 and 1862 she produced about 70 works, the most successful of which were novels of fashionable English life. Among these may be mentioned Manners of the Day (1830), Cecil, or the Adventures of a Coxcomb (1841), and The Banker's Wife (1843). She also wrote for the stage, and composed music for songs. Gore's 1861 obituary in The Times concluded that Gore was "the best novel writer of her class and the wittiest woman of her age." This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.