author
Anna M. (Anna Mariska) Fitch
1840–1904
Among the first Californian women to publish a novel, this 19th-century writer moved through the literary worlds of California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Her work includes social fiction and a collaborative utopian novel that reflects the ambitions and anxieties of its era.
1 Audiobook
Better days; or, A Millionaire of To-morrow
by Thomas Fitch, Anna M. (Anna Mariska) Fitch
About the author
Born in Vermont in March 1840, Anna Mariska Fitch was an American writer remembered as an early woman novelist of the American West. Sources describe her as one of the first Californian women to produce a novel, and they also note that she wrote under several names, including Anna Guesner, Anna Kluesner, and Marisa A. Guesner.
Her books include Bound Down and Better Days; or, a Millionaire of To-Morrow, the latter written with her husband, the politician and orator Thomas Fitch. Biographical sources connect her life with California, Nevada, Hawaii, and later Los Angeles, showing how closely her writing career was tied to the fast-changing western United States of the 19th century.
She died on April 15, 1904. Though not widely known today, she remains a fascinating figure in early western and women's literary history, especially for readers interested in overlooked voices from the frontier period.