We have published two novels, both page-turners, by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) who is probably best known now for The Secret Garden (1911). A favourite theme in her fiction is the reversal of fortune, something she experienced in her own often complicated and unhappy life as she shuttled between England and America. From an early age she published stories to help the family financially, later becoming one of the most famous and popular writers of her day. There is a fountain dedicated to her in Central Park, and the garden at Great Maytham Hall which was her home for some years opens through the National Garden Scheme. 

Although we mostly publish books dating from the mid-twentieth century, we also have several Victorian writers and books set in the C19 on our list. So this week on the Post we are looking back at a number of astonishingly successful and prolific female authors who wrote in order to support their families. The fascinating life and work of Mrs Frances Trollope (1779-1863) is now overshadowed by that of her equally prolific son, Anthony, but in her time she was famous for her travel writing and social novels. This portrait (c1832) is by Auguste Hervieu c1832 and is in the NPG.

The Hospice Comtesse in Vieux-Lille was founded in 1237; the C17 buildings now house a museum which illustrates Lille's history and includes Flemish art, paintings, ceramics, and tapestries. It also has a sickroom (1468) and a C17 kitchen which is where these beautiful Delft tiles can be seen.

The tiny chapel designed by John Loughborough Pearson and built in 1891 is all that is left of the Middlesex Hospital in central London. It is now almost hidden away, surrounded by new buildings, and is known as the Fitzrovia Chapel. With its Byzantine-inspired interior, tiles, gold, mosaics, marble, and stained glass, it is breathtakingly beautiful. 

Any effort today to make children's hospital wards cheerful and bright cannot match the large-scale picture tiles depicting fairy tales and nursery rhymes which were common from the 1870s to the 1930s. The Princess Elizabeth children's ward in Ealing's King Edward Memorial Hospital, for example, had an extensive scheme made in the 1930s by Carter & Co. of Poole. The hospital was demolished in the 1980s and the tiles were saved; most were installed in the new hospital while some are in the Jackfield Tile Museum.  

CFA Voysey (1857-1941) designed just one hospital, and this is the Grade II* listed Winsford Cottage Hospital (1900), now owned by The Landmark Trust. "Every detail was planned with great care - from the architectural motifs of hearts, birds and trees, to perfectly detailed window fittings and door furniture", and it is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. It closed in 1998 and has been restored to how it would have looked in 1914. One of the loveliest features is the long, sand-coloured - almost gold - mosaic corridor floor which was painstakingly uncovered by volunteers after being cemented over by the NHS. Happily, one no longer has to be ill to stay there.

Inspired by the discovery of this extraordinary tiled hospital ward, on the Post this week the theme is beauty in medical buildings, something which is not one of the top priorities today. This is the Art Nouveau Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona, part of a huge complex which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was built between 1902 and 1930, is close to the Familia Sagrada, and following restoration work which began in 2009, is open to visitors.