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==Irodalmi pályája==
1869-ben Leonowens New Yorkban élt, és utazási cikkeket írt egy bostoni lap, az ''Atlantic Monthly'' számára. Ezek között volt a ''The Favorite of the Harem'' című cikk, mely a New York Timesban úgy jelent meg, mint egy igaz történeten alapuló keleti szerelmes történet.<ref>'September Magazines', ''New York Times'' (2 September 1872), p. 2.</ref> Cikkét két részes emlékirattá bővítette, első volt a ''The English Governess at the Siamese Court'' (1970), mely nagy, de egyben szenzációhajhász hírnevet is szerzett neki. Írásaiban kritikusan fogalmaz az udvari életről, beszámolója nem mindig hízelgő az udvarra nézve, ezt számos vita tárgyát képezte Thaiföldön. Azzal is megvádolták, hogy felnagyította a királyra gyakorolt befolyását.<ref>Henry Maxwell, Letter to the Editor: 'The King and I', ''The Times'' (19 October 1953), p. 3, col. F.</ref><ref>Direck Jayanama, Letter to the Editor: '"The King and I" Foreign Policy of a Siamese Ruler', ''The Times'' (26 October 1953), p. 11, col. F.</ref>
By 1869 Leonowens was in New York, and began contributing travel articles to a Boston journal, Atlantic Monthly, including 'The Favorite of the Harem', reviewed by the New York Times as 'an Eastern love story, having apparently a strong basis of truth'.[11] She expanded her articles into two volumes of memoirs, beginning with The English Governess at the Siamese Court (1870), which earned her immediate fame but also brought charges of sensationalism. In her writing she casts a critical eye over court life; the account is not always a flattering one, and has become the subject of controversy in Thailand; she has also been accused of exaggerating her influence with the king.[12][13]
Leonowens was a [[first-wave feminism|feminist]] and in her writings she tended to focus on what she saw as the subjugated status of Siamese women, including those sequestered within the ''Nang Harm'', or royal [[harem]]. She emphasised that although Mongkut had been a forward-looking ruler, he had desired to preserve customs such as prostration and [[sexual slavery]] which seemed unenlightened and degrading. The sequel, ''Romance of the Harem'' (1873), incorporates tales based on palace gossip, including the king's alleged torture and execution of one of his concubines, Tuptim; the story lacks independent corroboration and is dismissed as out of character for the king by some critics.<ref>{{cite news|author=Erlanger, Steven|title=A Confection Built on a Novel Built on a Fabrication|date=7 April 1996|work=[14[New York Times]]|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E5D91339F934A35757C0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|accessdate=2008-08-08}}</ref> A great granddaughter, Princess Vudhichalerm Vudhijaya (b. 21 May 1934), stated in a 2001 interview: 'King Mongkut was in the monkshood[[Bhikkhu|monk's]] hood for 27 years before he was king. He would never have ordered an execution. It is not the [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] way.' She added that the same Tuptim was her grandmother and had married Chulalongkorn.[15]<ref>Nancy Dunne, '"Life as a royal is not for me": A Thai princess tells Nancy Dunne the truth about "The King and I" and how she prefers a simple life in the US', ''Financial Times'' (25 August 2001), p. 7.</ref> (He had 36 wives.)
While in the United States Leonowens also earned much-needed money through popular lecture tours. At venues such as the house of Mrs. Sylvanus Reed in Fifty-third Street, New York City, in the regular members' course at Association Hall, or under the auspices of bodies such as the [[Brooklyn Historical Society|Long Island Historical Society]], she lectured on subjects including 'Christian Missions to Pagan Lands' and 'The Empire of Siam, and the City of the Veiled Women'.[<ref name="Mrs. Leonowens' First Lecture' 1874 p. 4">'Mrs. Leonowens' First Lecture', ''New York Times'' (20 October 1874), p. 4.</ref><ref>'Amusements', ''New York Times'' (31 October 1871), p. 4.</ref><ref>'Lectures and Meetings to Come', ''New York Times'' (16][17][18][19] November 1874), p. 8.</ref><ref>A Boston Letter', ''Independent'' (10 October 1872), p. 6.</ref> The ''New York Times'' reported: 'Mrs. Leonowens' purpose is to awaken an interest, and enlist sympathies, in behalf of missionary labors, particularly in their relation to the destiny of Asiatic women.'[16]<ref name="Mrs. Leonowens' First Lecture' 1874 p. 4" /> She joined the literary circles of New York and Boston and made the acquaintance of local lights on the lecture circuit, such as [[Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.|Oliver Wendell Holmes]], [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] and [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]], author of ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'', a book whose [[abolitionism|anti-slavery]] message Leonowens had brought to the attention of the royal household,. andShe whichsaid shethe saidbook influenced Chulalongkorn's reform of slavery in Siam, a process he had begun in 1868, and which would end with its total abolition in 1915.[20]<ref>David Feeny, 'The Decline of Property Rights in Man in Thailand, 1800-1913', ''Journal of Economic History'', Vol. 49, No. 2, The Tasks of Economic History (Jun., 1989), p. 293.</ref>
==Késői évei==
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