Ada Esther Leverson (née Beddington; 10 October 1862 – 30 August 1933) was a British writer who is known for her friendship with Oscar Wilde and for her work as a witty novelist of the fin-de-siècle.

[citation needed] She was a loyal friend to Oscar Wilde, who called her Sphinx;[7] Max Beerbohm; and George Moore.

"[11] Two years later, after Wilde was released from HM Prison Pentonville in the early morning of 19 May 1897, Leverson and her husband were part of a small group of friends that met him at the house of Stewart Headlam.

[13]Although Ada Leverson visited Wilde once more in Paris in 1898, their friendship continued largely through telegrams and letters until his death in 1900.

[14] Charles Burkhart believes that it is most fitting for Leverson's last work, Letters to the Sphinx from Oscar Wilde, with Reminiscences of the Author, to be a remembrance of the friend who expanded her career.

It is interesting that she never acted upon this beyond a single unfinished play;[15] it is assumed that this is because, for Leverson, writing was a hobby rather than a means of financial security.

Dennis Poupard says, "some have found Leverson's characters merely vehicles for her wit, others believe she conveys accomplished characterization deftly and swiftly in the epigrammatic dialogue".

[16] John Mason Brown recommended that Leverson's work be read by "those who find laughter no hardship, high comedy a delight, nonsense relaxing, and who are not made uncomfortable by worldlings both comfortable and conscienceless".

[17] Margaret Crosland summarized several critics' feelings toward Leverson and reports that she is seen "as a distant descendant of Jane Austen, sensitive to the hidden motives of behavior, ready to laugh at vanity, understanding of married couples, parents, and children, yet seemingly preoccupied with all that was going on in the world outside".