author
Edward Noyes Westcott
1847–1898
Best remembered for the warmly comic novel David Harum, this Midwestern banker-turned-writer published his most famous book only after his death. His work offered readers a lively picture of small-town American life and became a major bestseller at the turn of the century.
2 Audiobooks
David Harum A Story of American Life
by Edward Noyes Westcott
The Christmas Story from David Harum
by Edward Noyes Westcott
About the author
Born in Syracuse, New York, in 1847, Edward Noyes Westcott built his career in banking rather than in literary circles. He worked for years in a bank in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and wrote fiction alongside that everyday professional life, which helps explain the practical, observant feel of his writing.
He is chiefly known for David Harum, a novel centered on a shrewd and memorable upstate New York character. The book was published in 1898, shortly after Westcott's death, and went on to become an enormous popular success. That posthumous breakthrough gave him a lasting place in American popular fiction, even though his writing career was cut short.
Westcott died in 1898 at the age of 50. Though he left only a small body of work, David Harum kept his name alive for generations because of its humor, regional flavor, and affectionate view of everyday people.