[1] Her first novel, The White House by the Sea (1857) was an immediate success, reprinted several times, pirated in the United States, and in print for forty years.

[2] Matilda studied French and German abroad and then settled with her sister in Suffolk to manage the farm which had belonged to her father.

On her sister's death, she moved to London and wrote a number of novels of French life based on her frequent visits to France and her intimate knowledge of provincial French homes, as well as children's books, and non-fiction books about France.

[3] She stayed in Algeria with the feminist educationalist Barbara Bodichon and visited France and Spain with her.

[2] Of Huguenot descent, she considered France her second native land and made it her mission to bring about better understanding and sympathy between the two countries which shared her allegiance.