Sara Jeannette Duncan published 22 books, including two volumes of personal sketches and a collection of short stories. One of her most famous sayings is "One loses many laughs by not laughing at oneself."She was a very lively person and loved to laugh. She is an amazing author and many of her books are recommended to be read.

Her first book, A social departure: how Orthodocia and I went around the world by ourselves, published in London by Chatto and Windus in 1890 documented an around-the-world trip. On this trip, she met Everard Cotes, a journalist and museum curator based in Calcutta, whom she wed in 1891. After her marriage, Duncan moved from journalism to fiction.

Duncan is best known today for her 1904 novel The Imperialist, which tells the story of Lorne Murchison, a young lawyer in the fictional town of Elgin, Ontario who becomes an advocate of imperial preferential trade and unsuccessfully runs for the Parliament of Canada for the Liberal Party. The book has been widely praised by scholars as a sensitive and perceptive portrait of small-town Ontario at the turn of the twentieth century, and at the social mores of the time and place. While it has been lauded for its subtle grasp of women's place in society, it has also been criticized for focusing on upper-class and middle-class people over workers and the poor, and for its brutally racist depiction of Aboriginal people.

At the time of its publication, The Imperialist was not successful, but many of Duncan's other novels were. Most involved a character out of his or her national culture, and the tensions and complexities that resulted. Like Henry James, Duncan's literary world was Transatlantic. [Broadview Press] has republished The Imperialist, as well as two other Duncan novels, Set in Authority and The Pool in the Desert. Project Gutenberg has republished 'A Daughter of To-Day'; 'Hilda A Story of Calcutta'; 'The Imperialist'; 'The Path of a Star'; 'The Pool in the Desert'; 'The Story of Sonny Sahib' and 'A Voyage of Consolation.'

Sara Jeanette Duncan's "Cousin Cinderella: a Canadian girl in London (by Macmillan in New York and Methuen in London, 1908) features Graham, a Royal Military College of Canada graduate, and his sister Mary Trent. Graham and Mary's father, Senator Trent has earned a fortune in the family lumber business. After serving in South Africa and entering the family lumber business Graham Trent travels with his sister Mary from Minnebiac, a fictional small town in Ontario to England. There, Graham Trent becomes engaged to Barbara Pavisay, a member of a proud old English family whose line extends back to the Tudors. When Barbara Pavisay breaks off the engagement to Graham, his sister Mary becomes engaged to Barbara's brother Lord Pavisay. It is assumed that Graham Trent will return to Canada, continue in the family business and be elected to Parliament. "A Voyage of Consolation" is a sequel to the experiences of "An American girl in London". Studies in Canadian Literature at www.lib.unb.ca

Her novels include:

• 'The simple adventures of a memsahib' (London and New York, 1893);
• 'A daughter of to-day' (London and New York, 1894);
• 'On the other side of the latch' (London, 1901);
• An American Girl in London" (1891);
• 'Hilda: A Story of Calcutta';
• 'The Path of a Star';
• 'The Pool in the Desert;
• 'The Story of Sonny Sahib';
• 'Set in authority' (London and New York, 1906);
• 'The burnt offering' (London, 1909);
• 'His Royal Happiness' (Toronto and New York, 1914);

Her collection of novellas, 'The pool in the desert' (New York, 1903).

Sara Jeannette Duncan authored 'Two girls on a barge', (London and New York, 1891), under the pseudonym V. Cecil Cotes, and 'Two in a flat' (London, [1908?]), under the pseudonym Jane Wintergreen.