American novelist. In 1822 when writing what was intended to be a religious tract she found it expand into A New England Tale, which on publication attained instant success. Redwood published in 1824 was soon translated into several European languages. The merit of this story and of Hope Leslie (1827), her best work, was their vivid presentation of the peculiar features of New England country life and scenery. To these she added Clarence (1830) and Linwood (1835), a tale of the Revolution. Many moral tales and books for children were the products of her pen and enjoyed a wide celebrity. To Sparks’s American Biography she contributed a Memoir of Lucretia M. Davidson, one of two precocious poetical sisters of Plattsburg, NY. Of her earlier works a select edition in 3 volumes was published in 1857, but she still continued to add to their number, the last being Letters to my Pupils (1862). She died at Roxbury, MA, on the 31st of July 1867. Her Life and Letters (1871) edited by Mary E. Dewey shows the same cheerful, home-loving disposition which breathes from all her books. See also “Daniel Prime”; Literary Criticism.
