author
Fanny Forester
1817–1854
A popular 19th-century American writer, she won readers with lively sketches and poems published under the pen name Fanny Forester before her life turned toward missionary work. Her story blends literary success, hard-earned education, and unusual determination.
1 Audiobook
Effie Maurice Or What do I Love Best
by Fanny Forester
About the author
Born Emily Chubbuck in Eaton, New York, in 1817, she grew up in poverty and worked hard for her education. She became a teacher and began publishing early, first writing children's books and then gaining wide attention in magazines under the pseudonym Fanny Forester.
Her writing made her a well-known literary figure in the 1840s, admired for its warmth, sentiment, and energy. Later she married the missionary Adoniram Judson and was also known as Emily Judson, writing biography, poetry, and religious work alongside the demands of family and mission life.
She died in Hamilton, New York, in 1854, still in her thirties. Though her name is less familiar now than it once was, Fanny Forester remains a memorable example of a writer who rose from difficult beginnings to become a widely read voice of her time.