Ethel Lynn

Born in California on February 13, 1881, Ethel Grace Lynn was an American novelist, physician, artist, public speaker, suffragist, socialist activist, and political candidate. Her life moved across medicine, politics, and literature, giving her writing a grounded, adventurous quality.

She is best known for The Adventures of a Woman Hobo (1917), a semi-autobiographical account of a cross-country journey made under difficult circumstances. The book draws on personal experience and stands out for its direct, observant picture of travel, hardship, and independence in the American West.

Lynn's wide-ranging career helps explain the energy of her work: she wrote not as a distant observer, but as someone deeply involved in the social and political questions of her time. She died in 1960, leaving behind a life story as compelling as the one she put on the page.