E. D. E. N. Southworth

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth (December 26, 1819 – June 30, 1899) was an American writer of more than 60 novels in the latter part of the 19th century. She was the most popular American novelist of her day.

In her novels, her heroines often challenge modern perceptions of Victorian feminine domesticity by showing virtue as naturally allied to wit, adventure, and rebellion to remedy any unfortunate situation. Though The Hidden Hand (1859) was her most popular novel, Southworth's favorite of her works was her novel Ishmael (1876). She studied in a school kept by her stepfather, Joshua L. Henshaw. She later recalled her childhood as a lonely one, with her happiest moments spent exploring the Tidewater region in Maryland on horseback. During those rides, she acquired an abiding interest in the area's history and folklore. of Utica, New York. She moved with her husband to Wisconsin, where she became a teacher. After 1843, she returned to Washington, D.C. without her husband and with two young children. After the birth of their second child, Frederick abandoned his family in search of Brazilian gold. Southworth never divorced her husband on conscientious grounds.

In 1844, she began to write stories to support herself and her children. Her first story, "The Irish Refugee", was published in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter. although the Ledger provided her work to The London Journal for publication in Britain during this period of exclusivity.

The exclusive contract Southworth signed with Bonner in 1856 and royalties from her published novels earned her about $10,000 a year, making her one of the country's best-paid writers. Southworth and her children were in ill health through much of the 1850s, but Bonner's contract guaranteed her income regardless of any periods of inactivity brought on by poor health. This arrangement remained intact for 30 years. Georgetown University Library has an exhibition on her home and work.

Her best known work, The Hidden Hand, first appeared in serial form in the New York Ledger in 1859, and was serialized twice more (1868–69, 1883) before being published as a book in 1888. Bonner used the appeal of the novel to "give an occasional boost to his weekly's already massive circulation." It features Capitola Black, a tomboyish protagonist who finds herself in a myriad of adventures. Southworth stated that nearly every adventure of her heroine came from real life. Most of Southworth's novels deal with the Southern United States during the post-American Civil War era. She wrote over sixty; some of them were translated into German, French, Chinese, Icelandic and Spanish; in 1872, an edition of thirty-five volumes was published in Philadelphia.

Bonner was asked by a reporter in 1889 "Who were your most successful story writers?" His reply was: "Mrs. Southworth and Sylvanus Cobb Jr. I think that the most popular and successful stories ever printed as serials were Cobb's 'The Gunmaker of Moscow' and Mrs. Southworth's 'Hidden Hand.' "

Death Southworth died in Georgetown, on June 30, 1899. She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.