Elizabeth Strong Worthington

Elizabeth Strong Worthington was an American writer born on October 5, 1851, in Rushville, New York, and she died on October 2, 1916, in Los Angeles, California. She published fiction in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and some sources note that she also wrote under the pen name Griffith A. Nicholas.

Her first books, When Peggy Smiled: A Love Story and The Biddy Club, appeared in 1888. Later works included The Little Brown Dog (1898), How to Cook Husbands (1899), The Gentle Art of Cooking Wives (1900), and The Tocsin: Our Children in Peril (1901). Her best-known titles use humor and exaggeration to poke at marriage, housekeeping, and the social expectations placed on women.

Worthington's work still stands out for its playful, satirical take on everyday life. Even from the titles alone, her books suggest a writer who enjoyed flipping familiar domestic advice on its head and giving readers something funny, knowing, and a little subversive.