Charlotte Mary Brame (usually known as Charlotte M. Brame, last name sometimes mistakenly given as Braeme, appeared under pseudonyms in America, notably Bertha M. Clay, and was sometimes identified by the name of her most famous novel, Dora Thorne) (1 November 1836 - 25 November 1884) was an English novelist. She was born in Hinckley, Leicestershire, to Benjamin and Charlotte Agnes Law, devout Roman Catholics. After attending convent schools in Bristol and Preston and a finishing school in Paris, she worked as a governess before marrying Phillip Edward Brame (1839-1886), a London-based jeweller, on 7 January 1863.