Karen Blixen

The Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke was born Karen Dinesen in Denmark in 1885. Her father, diagnosed with syphilis, hanged himself when his daughter was nine; she herself was given syphilis by her husband, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, a Swedish cousin whom she married, for convenience, after an unsuccessful affair with his brother. They separated in the eighth year of their marriage, and divorced four years later. Karen's friendship with Denys Finch-Hatton eventually developed, after her divorce, into what Wikipedia calls "a long-term love affair," with no result--Denys was killed in the crash of his biplane shortly before Karen was forced to leave Africa due to bankruptcy. While her syphilis was apparently cured, she suffered from ulcers, and was entirely unable to eat by the end of her life, when she died of malnutrition. She wrote in English for the most part, translating her works into Danish once they were finished, and eventually publishing simultaneously in both languages. Out of Africa was her second book, and her most popular work in English.