She was born in Measham, Leicestershire, the daughter of Thomas Jewsbury, a Manchester merchant.

In 1845, Jewsbury had her first of five novels published. In addition, she wrote two stories for children, The History of an Adopted Child (1852) and Angelo, or the Pine Forest in the Alps (1855). From 1848 to 1871, she contributed more than 1700 reviews to the Athenæum, a London periodical published weekly. She reviewed novels as well as works of non-fiction, children's books, and poetry.

Author, Charles Dickens was a great fan of Jewsbury's writing and in 1850 sent her a letter inviting her to contribute to his new weekly literary journal, Household Words.

Jewsbury, who never married, is also noted for a collection of 126 letters she wrote to Jane Welsh Carlyle, the wife of historian Thomas Carlyle, during their more than twenty-year friendship.

Geraldine Jewsbury died in London and was interred there in the Brompton Cemetery.