Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (1873 - 1945) was an American novelist who portrayed the changing world of the contemporary south. Glasgow's first novel, The Descendant (1897) was written in secret and published anonymously. The novel features an emancipated heroine who seeks passion rather than marriage. Although it was published anonymously, the novel's authorship became well known the following year, when her second novel, Phases of an Inferior Planet (1898), announced on its title page, "by Ellen Glasgow, author of The Descendant." The novel portrays the demise of a marriage and focuses on "the spirituality of female friendship."