author
Hannah Webster Foster
1759–1840
Best known for the early American novel The Coquette, this writer helped shape fiction in the young United States. Her work blends social drama, moral questions, and a sharp eye for the limits placed on women’s lives.
2 Audiobooks
The Coquette, or, The History of Eliza Wharton A Novel: Founded on Fact
by Hannah Webster Foster
About the author
Born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, in 1758 or 1759, Hannah Webster Foster became one of the notable American novelists of the early republic. She married the Reverend John Foster in 1785 and later wrote under the name "A Lady of Massachusetts."
Her best-known book, The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton (1797), was published anonymously and became widely read. Framed as an epistolary novel, it was advertised as being founded on fact and is often remembered for the way it explores reputation, desire, and the narrow choices available to women. She also wrote The Boarding School (1798), another novel focused on women’s education and conduct.
Although her name was not printed on The Coquette during her lifetime, the novel endured and helped secure her place in American literary history. She died in Montreal in 1840, and her work continues to be read for its insight into early American culture and women’s lives.