Harriet A. (Harriet Avery) Gaul

Born in 1886, Harriet A. Gaul—also published as Harriet Avery Gaul—was an American writer whose work included fiction, plays, and biography. Public catalog records connect her with the novel Five Nights at the Five Pines, and also show that she co-authored John Alfred Brashear, Scientist and Humanitarian, 1840–1920 with Ruby Eiseman.

Gaul also had a presence in the theater. Archive records for the Cape Playhouse identify her as the author of Who’ll Take Papa? and credit her as director of that production, suggesting a career that reached beyond writing alone.

She died in 1972. While only limited biographical detail is easy to confirm online, the record that remains shows a versatile early-20th-century author whose work touched mystery-tinged fiction, regional drama, and nonfiction portraiture.