A reader living in the early 20th century would have no need to ask, "Who is Elinor Glyn?" She was the best-read romantic novelist of her day, and the author of a passionate book that led to a poem about her sinning on a tiger skin. Born in Jersey, Channel Islands, Britain in 1864, Elinor (Nellie) was a dreamy romantic who survived an unpromising childhood to rise to fame and fortune. Many men fell in love with her, a redhead without a dowry, but she refused to marry for wealth or station until she met Clayton Glyn. The romance she wrote about sadly escaped her in real life, for she was...