Warner, Susan Bogert (1819–1885)

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Warner, Susan Bogert (1819–1885)

American writer. Name variations:(pseudonym) Elizabeth Wetherell. Born Susan Bogert Warner, July 11, 1819, in New York, NY; died Mar 17, 1885, in Highland Falls, New York; dau. of Henry Whiting Warner (lawyer) and Anna (Bartlett) Warner; sister of Anna Bartlett Warner (1827–1915).

Writing under pseudonym Elizabeth Wetherell, published 1st book, The Wide, Wide World (1852), which featured a character not unlike a female Huck Finn and was phenomenally popular, making her the 1st American to sell over a million copies of a book; shedding pen name, followed this with 2 more moderately successful novels, Queechy (1852) and The Law and the Testimony (1853); published The Hills of the Shatemuc (1956), which sold 10,000 copies on the day of its release; a prolific writer, published at least one book each year from 1856 until her death.

See also Women in World History.