Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 22, 1872, Eleanor Hallowell Abbott grew up in a deeply literary household. She was the daughter of clergyman Edward Abbott and Clara Davis Abbott, who edited Literary World, and she later studied at Radcliffe College.

She first gained notice as a writer of verse and short fiction, winning prizes from Collier’s and The Delineator. Abbott went on to publish many stories in widely read magazines, especially Ladies' Home Journal, and became known for light, engaging novels that were especially popular in the 1910s and 1920s.

Her best-known books include Molly Make-Believe, Little Eve Edgarton, and The White Linen Nurse. She married Fordyce Coburn in 1908 and spent much of her later life in New Hampshire, where she died in Portsmouth on June 4, 1958.