Hannah Webster Foster (1758 - 1840)

Hannah Webster Foster

Hannah Webster Foster, born Hannah Webster, was an American writer.

Hannah received a good academic education for women and began writing political articles for Boston newspapers in the 1770s. In 1797, a sentimental novel she wrote, The Coquette, or the Story of Eliza Wharton, was published anonymously. The novel was based on a true story involving seduction, elopement, and a tragic death, and was a great success. The book was reprinted dozens of times, but it wasn't until the 1866 edition, many years after Foster's death, that the author's real name was placed on the title page for the first time.

Hannah Foster's second book, The Boarding School, or Lessons of a Female Educator to her Female Educators (1798), was devoted to the subject of education.