author

Eleanor Stuart

1876–1920

Best known for the novel Stonepastures, this early American writer built a reputation for vivid, unsentimental fiction and magazine work. Her life also took her far beyond the usual literary circles, including several years in Zanzibar, which later shaped some of her nonfiction and fiction.

1 Audiobook

Stonepastures

Stonepastures

by Eleanor Stuart

About the author

Writing under the name Eleanor Stuart, Eleanor Stuart Childs was an American novelist and short story writer whose work appeared in magazines such as Harper's Magazine, Scribner's Magazine, and McClure's Magazine. She was publishing while still very young, and her first novel, Stonepastures (1895), drew notice for its tough, forceful picture of industrial life.

She later published other novels including Averages: A Story of New York (1899), The Postscript (1908), and The Romance of Ali (1913). Reviewers of her early work praised its energy and seriousness, and her writing ranged beyond fiction into essays and travel pieces.

After marrying Harris Robbins Childs in 1903, she spent time in Zanzibar, an experience that fed into articles for National Geographic and other publications. Some library records list her as “Eleanor Stuart, 1876–1920,” but biographical sources identify her as Eleanor Stuart Childs, born June 2, 1872, and deceased April 27, 1952.