10. Carolyn Keene: Prolific writer of the never-ending Nancy Drew girl-detective series, Keene is actually the invention of the Stratemeyer Syndicate in New York, who commissioned Mildred Wirt Benson to write the first 23 titles. Paid a starting fee of US$125 with no royalty, Benson’s authorship was not publicly acknowledged until her identity was revealed in a court case during the 1980s.
9. George Eliot: originally born Mary Ann Evans, she was the writer of classics such as Middlemarch and The Lifted Veil. Dying in 1880 at the age of 61, Evans continued to write under the pseudonym until kidney failure removed George and his female associate from all worldly writing influence.
