E. Marlitt is the pseudonym of Eugenie John (1825–1887), a popular German novelist, born at Arnstadt. Her father was a portrait painter; her patroness was the Princess of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, who sent her to Vienna to study music. She became deaf, lived for 11 years at court, and then, withdrawing to Arnstadt, began there her novelistic career. Die zwölf Apostel (1865), Goldelse (1868), Das Geheimnis der alten Mamsell (1868), Thüringer Erzählungen (1869), Reichsgräfin Gisela (1870), Heideprinzeßchen (1872), Die zweite Frau (1874), and other novels are familiar in English translations. Her collected works appeared in 10 volumes (Leipzig, 1888-90; second edition, 1891-94).
She published several works in the German weekly magazine "Die Gartenlaube" (such as "Reichsgräfin Gisela" in 1869).