Jean Adam (Q387357)

Overall: Adam came from modest origins, but was inspired to write her own poetry after reading Milton and Sidney. Her first and only volume, however, was a commercial failure, and she spent the rest of her savings on shipping copies to Boston, Massachusetts, where they did not sell. Unable to sustain herself on her meager income as a domestic worker, she ultimately died destitute in a pauper's grave. She is best known for the vernacular song, ?There's nae luck about the house,? attributed to her by local tradition, though the authorship is questionable.