Rosa Nouchette Carey (27 September 1840 - 9 July 1909) was an English children's writer and popular novelist, whose works reflected the values of her time and were thought of as wholesome for girls. However, they are "not entirely bereft of grit and realism." Born in Stratford-le-Bow, Rosa was the sixth of the seven children of William Henry Carey. She was brought up in London at Tryons Road, Hackney, Middlesex and in South Hampstead. She was educated at home and at the Ladies' Institute, St John's Wood, where she was a contemporary and friend of the German-born poet Mathilde Blind (1841-1896). Her first novel, Nellie's Memories (1868), arose out of stories she had told to her younger sister.