When The Gadfly was first published in 1897, the publishers feared an outcry amongst the public against its subject of revolution and revolt. But instead, it was greeted with enthusiasm and became one of the first of the large number of social and political novels in world literature today.A story of love and conspiracy within the Italian Risorgimento. The author's research included the Marucelliana Library of Florence and the State Archives & Civic Museum of Bologna.She was the girlfriend of Sidney Rosenblum, otherwise known in Britain as “Sidney Reilly” or “Reilly Ace of Spies.” With Rosenblum's last £300 the couple went off to Italy. Here under the Mediterranean sun and under the influence of the Roman Catholic religion, which touched every facet of Italian life and awoke emotionally charged memories of his Catholic upbringing, Sidney bared his soul to his mistress. He was not angry when she later published The Gadfly, much praised by the critics, which was largely inspired by his early life.Although she wrote other books, the author was never to repeat the success of this book, her first. Since the Second World War, there has been an enormous sale of The Gadfly in Russia. In Russia, the name of Ethel Lilian Voynich is bracketed with Shakespeare and Dickens as being amongst the greatest writers.She later married a Polish revolutionary who fought for Poland's freedom from Russian rule and died in New York in 1960 at the age of ninety-six.