The Australian writer Henry Handel Richardson (1870–1946) was christened Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson: she adopted a male nom de plume in anticipation of professional prejudice. Although she made an international reputation as a novelist, she first trained as a pianist, and she wrote songs all her life – but they remained unpublished, so that her output as a composer has been completely overlooked. Her songs are straightforward and melodious, drawing their inspiration from Romantic German Lieder and Edwardian drawing-room ballads, lullabies and parlour songs in the manner of Bridge, Ireland, Quilter and other such composers. © Toccata Classics