After the success of No Gentlemen (1881), other books followed, including A Sane Lunatic (1882), Dearly Bought (1884), Next Door (1886), Young Maids and Old (1888), The Mistress of Beech Knoll (1890), and Miss Bagg's Secretary (1892).

She was one of six children, and the oldest daughter of Dr. George Frederick Root, the musical composer, and the former Mary Woodman.

A return for several summers to the old homestead in North Reading, Massachusetts, together with the memory of the first years of her life, gave her an acquaintance with New England dialect and character, which she used later in her work.

Recalling her lifelong ability for rhyming, she wrote some poems for children, which were accepted and published by Wide Awake, and that success fixed her determination.

Besides her novels, Burnham wrote the text for several of Root's most successful cantatas, and contributed many poems and stories to The Youth's Companion, St. Nicholas Magazine, and Wide Awake.

[2] Clara Louise Burnham died at the family home at Casco Bay, Bailey Island, Maine, June 20, 1927.